Scott wrote; >I think there was another reason they didn't wet exit. This sounds >silly, but I don't think they knew how to swim. Remember that these >were freezing waters much of the year. Why and how would they learn to >swim? Feel free to correct my history if I am wrong! My dear boy, of course they could swim. It was the Inuit who invented the butterfly stroke which they learned while drifting across Mexico on giant Rossby waves while wearing their inflatable underwear. The Inuit where highly observant and could add two and two to get five quite easily. The leap from the butterfly the butterfly stroke was child's play. Archaeologists have unearthed huge Inuit femurs in Pingo excavations that indicate that they could swim much faster than any modern man. It only stands to reason. would you not learn to swim pretty quickly if you fell in such cold water. Of course you would. It was the Inuit who first smeared themselves with muktuk to protect themselves from the cold on long distance swims thus paving the way for assorted Brit swimmers to swim the English Channel in the days before the Chunnel. It is a shame that the Brits lost the swimming skills learned from the Inuit for had they been able to swim they would have not needed boats to escape from Dunkirk. Even imported culture is worth preserving. Dr. Peregrine Inverbon, Ph.d., DD, LL.d, Ph.G Transcribed by his humble servant John Winters *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Jul 12 1998 - 05:53:03 PDT
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