Activities and Sports

The Buddy Board–

Published on by Kathy Baker

398208_2145508495496_1330346019_nVisual aids from the Red Cross for boating and swimming, bulletin boards with pertinent articles to the waterfront, and charts such as “Swim and Stay Fit” or “Basic Survival” hung in and around the boathouse during Nancy Sautter’s 1969 waterfront director days. Even charts with the swimmer’s progress to boost enthusiasm graced the doors near the all important buddy board.

There was a drill, under her careful direction, for the protection and safety of all the girls under her watch. The bell would ring at 4:30 and the buddies would line up by the board. A diagram showed the assigned spots for qualified staff, and they were instructed not to talk to anyone, but to be on guard. One person was assigned to the board to check the swimmers in. Rings and buoys were at the end of the “L” dock and inside the lifeboat.

The swimmers attached their tags on the same hook together under the area in which they were swimming. Each level had to swim in the appropriate area according to their swim level, except area four, and they could swim anywhere. They all had to swim in doubles or triples.

Once the girls turned their tags, they grabbed their bathing caps and sat near the fire circle. (Area two was green, area three was blue and area four was yellow.) They were instructed to line up according to cap colors to be counted in their double buddy lines. There was a buddy check every six to eight minutes. A whistle system was in place with two whistles for buddy check, one to continue their swimming and three meant out of the water immediately!

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Bloodsuckers, Mud Puppies and Swimmer’s Itch

Published on by Kathy Baker

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“I grew up one block from the Saginaw Bay, so I learned to swim at the “Y”. I remember seeing my first leech at Maqua and I was mystified. The girls would swim under one dock to another and I can still hear the girls screaming don’t swim under there—there are leeches! I never got any on me,” said Ann Meisel, whose only lake critter spotted in the sixties was a crayfish.

For Doris Engibous, the summers flew by and would be over before she knew it. Camping in the sixties and seventies, she turned down her parent’s membership perks at the Midland Country Club. “I didn’t want to go. I liked Maqua, even with the mucky lake bottom, the leeches and worrying about whether the canoe paddles would get stuck in the water lilies and that we wouldn’t make it back in time.”

A camper who did take advantage of a neighborhood pool, Jenifer Penzien (1969-71), knew how to swim when she attended camp. “I remember I was in the third swimming area, which was the level you could sail, but I also remember those leeches that I was so afraid of, and of course, I got one. I thought it was so gross, but no one seemed very excited about it, they just ran and got the salt.”

Kathleen Clement’s Dad threw her off a dock and told her to “sink or swim” when she was two, so she swam. She also had her Red Cross swimming certification by the time she was at camp in the early sixties. “I can remember the leeches in the reeds by the dock when we first got in the water. These things would be attached to my leg and the counselors would use hot match sticks (blown out) or salt shakers to get them off.”

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Leeches and What Lurked Under Water

Published on by Kathy Baker

fullsizerender-7Those dreaded “blood suckers”. Out of all the scary experiences relayed to me by the campers, it was the number one fear. It is as if the little girl nightmare of the monster in the deep could still reach up and grab a leg and attach themselves to poor innocent camping swimmers in Loon Lake. Grab the salt or scream or do both! (By the way they are still there, and the salt is still in the boathouse.)

When asked what she remembered most vividly about camp, Barb Krohn (1970-72) yelled, “Those damn leeches!” Although she was a good swimmer, she was like all the other little campers—not very tall.

“I would try to tread water in one foot of water, “ she laughed as she remembered not wanting to touch the bottom of the lake. “People would carry me out, so I wouldn’t have to put my feet down. I was a strong swimmer, but I hated the leeches. I never got one on me.”

Her sister Kathy Krohn (1965-68) was also the youngest in her third grade and the shortest, but was a great little swimmer. She also hated to put her feet down in the mucky lake, and worried about the leeches, so the older girls would carry her and she would swim back in. To avoid the leeches, she would dive off the raft or dock.

“I learned to swim at camp, but the seaweed freaked me out,” said Cindy Morrison (1960). “I wouldn’t do the lifesaving because you had to dive down and pull up seaweed as part of the test and there was no way! The leeches. I didn’t like them either.”

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Taking The Plunge in Cold Water!

Published on by Kathy Baker

fullsizerender-13“I learned to swim at camp,” said Carol Requadt (1945), “and although I would hover in the background at the lake, there was a day I will never forget. I wasn’t getting what I needed as far as swimming instruction because I was shy. It was a cold day and the waterfront instructor was in the cold lake shivering, but she taught me everything. I earned my blue cap and could swim to the blue raft. I think I was the smallest one out there and I had a fear of the “blood suckers”, so that was my incentive to swim and not put my feet on the bottom of the lake. Swimming was everthing to me and that was the most wonderful day to me—the day I learned to swim in that cold water. I will never forget it. In fact, I swim to this day and it has been a life long passion.”

The leeches were a fear for a huge majority of the campers, but we will get to that at a later time. Swimming was traumatic for many of the girls for other reasons. Anne Duffield had a much gentler swimming experience in 1947 at camp, after a woman had tied a rope around her waist at the age of six and threw her into deep water.

Layla Rose Hennes was always an apprehensive swimmer. As a camper in 1939, she finally learned at camp, but never learned to love the water. Marge Niedzelski (1946-47) felt as though, (compared to her sister), she was not a good swimmer, but advanced far enough to use the canoes. Audrey Graff (1948) was excited at how long she could tread water and progressed to lifesaving.

Girls who hated to put their faces in the water or get their hair wet, like Kerry Weber, finally learned to swim in 1952 at camp. Janice Moore (1953) was just thrilled to place third in a sidestroke race.

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Janet Dixon’s Personal Camp Swimming Story

Published on by Kathy Baker

janet-dixon-summer-1951“I learned to swim at Camp Maqua, and for me it was a life altering event. Truly! When I went to camp, I was very frustrated that I could not swim. I couldn’t figure out why, since I was good at everything else I tried. I couldn’t do this. But, swimming, like most abilities at that time, was viewed mostly as some sort of innate ability. You either had it or you didn’t. All of the children I knew who could swim were never taught, and all of my family and friends seemed to feel I was just one of those people who would never learn to swim. It left me feeling powerless.

As a non-swimmer, I had to stay next to the dock in the shallow water. Now, my swimming instructor, who was probably a bit bored being stuck with the non-swimmers, seemed to share the “swimming is innate” attitude. She would have us hang on to the dock and practice our kick and our “rhythmic breathing” while she rubbed sun tan oil on and lay on the dock.

One day the swimming instructor was sick, or something, and we had a substitute. The sub told me to float, and of course I told her I couldn’t. What was she? Nuts or something? Didn’t she know it was innate? But, she just said,”Oh, of course you can!” and then she did the first thing that made all the difference. She got in the water with me!

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Taking The Plunge–Lake or Pool

Published on by Kathy Baker

img_6912Swimming for some came naturally  because they grew up with a pool at their house or belonged to private swim clubs. It did not ease the shock of the cold lake water, and for some a pool felt more secure with walls and known depths in clean, clear water. . Phoebe Atha (1947-48) was never much of a swimmer and admitted she was deathly afraid of the water and was the type to hang on to the side, even in the pool.

Coleen Gasta, sixties camper, said, “I was a chicken shit. I was not shy or out going. I just didn’t like to swim, especially if I couldn’t find the bottom. When I went to camp, I couldn’t swim. I thought I could fake them out by pushing off the bottom, but I couldn’t. I never did learn to swim.”

“I loved bobbing on those canoes, but I hated swimming. I used to make excuses not to swim. I hated putting my head under water. Well, one of the waterfront girls told me, you know if you get your advanced swimming certification, you can actually go canoeing instead of bobbing up and down! I remember gritting my teeth and asking her why didn’t she tell me that three years ago,” laughed Diane Dudley (1957-63) affectionately nicknamed “Dodo”, who did get her certification!

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