Drowning and GA Tech

Drowning is supposedly a peaceful way to go. I’m not sure how “they” know that. Maybe people who were resuscitated at the last second report that to be the case. I’ve never been in a situation where I thought I was going to drown, and I’ve never been waterboarded, thus I don’t recall that feeling of drowning, but if it ever happened to me, it was at Georgia Tech: In a 25-meter pool (that’s about 82 feet), with my feet tied together, my hands tied behind my back and a five-pound rubber brick hanging around my neck. Been there, done that. Most Techies born before 1970 know from whence I come.

Tech had a mandatory physical education class called Drownproofing 1010. Developed by the legendary Fred Lanoue, the class was designed to teach us how to survive in the water in disaster scenarios. Disasters like your Navy Destroyer going down in the Pacific. It is claimed that more men died from drowning than bullets in World War I. To reduce the losses, the Navy adopted Lanoue’s drownproofing techniques. Coach Lanoue had developed a process to teach how to stay afloat in different situations. Coach Lanoue had long since retired when I arrived on campus. From 1940 to 1964, Coach Lanoue, known as Crankshaft due to his unusual gait, taught more than 20,000 kids how to stay alive in the water. I took the course with different sadists as teachers, but to be fair, they didn’t let any of us drown.

The main test was just to stay afloat. For 60 minutes, you stayed in the pool without touching the sides or the bottom. Almost no one could do that on their first try. I recall one young coed whom God had amply endowed, who could fold her arms and legs and still her head was entirely out of the water. Me, I was skinny and had so little body fat that I went straight to the bottom. I had to learn the techniques, while just simple endurance or buoyancy works for many. 

Pitiful, skinny, but freakishly tall, Kelly had legs more like lead weights. I would sink if not moving. The goal was to exert just enough energy to flap my arms or legs ever so slightly that my head would bob out of the water. I’d take a deep breath and drop back into the water, keeping my red-headed afro just under the water. Every 15-30 seconds, I’d pop up high enough to breathe, and then sink again. Doing that got me a “B.”

The sadists weren’t satisfied with that though. Some of the fun challenges included going to the bottom of the pool and retrieving a rubber ring off the bottom, with my teeth, no hands. Being as how I was as blind as a bat without my glasses, the biggest obstacle was finding the ring before my air gave out. I never completed that one. The final test was to swim the length of the pool and back (50 meters, or about 164 feet) with hands tied behind my back and my feet tied together, staying underwater as long as I could. I didn’t make that either, and I refused to pass out, even though they’d give you an “A” for passing out. 

Tech did away with the course altogether in 1988 due to downsizing of the physical education department. I think most Techies agree with me that the course should still be taught. It was useful, it was unique and it was classic Georgia Tech: incredibly tough but doable. There was a sense of great pride merely for having survived the course.

Interestingly, Coach Lanoue’s book, Drownproofing (1963) is on sale on Amazon for $987.25. I think shipping is free though. There is a website www.drownproofing.com that shares Coach Lanoue’s vision and techniques if you are interested.

Kelly Burke, retired attorney, former district attorney and magistrate judge, writes about the law, rock ’n’ roll, and politics or anything that strikes him. These articles are not designed to give legal advice but are designed to inform the public about how the law affects their daily lives. Contact Kelly dakellyburke@gmail.com  comment on this article or suggest articles that you’d like to see, and visit his website at www.kellyrburke.com to view prior columns and contact Kelly. 

HHJ News