“Swimming was always the main outdoor sport. Beginners advanced to red caps and once they could swim fifty yards, jump into the water over their heads, float on their backs and fronts and complete a dive kneeling from the raft, they earned a green cap. A blue cap was earned when the girls could swim every stroke, surface dive and swim 125 yards,” stated a news article in 1937 about the swim program at camp.
“Red caps at 9:30. Green caps at 10:30. Boating and canoeing at 3:00 and general swim at 4:00. This is how we run our waterfront,” said Nan Lipsett, the 1949 waterfront director in an article in the “Loon” Julie Ford, Helen Hasty, Jerre Johnson, Bertie Van Welt and Dee Weinberg all assisted on the waterfront that summer.
“As always, swimming is the bright spot in everyone’s day at Camp Maqua,” the article continued. “Many beginners passed into the ranks of green cap this period and more passed from green to blue.”
On her first day at the waterfront, Debbie Pennington (1961-62) was forced into the boathouse by the weather as she waited her turn for her swim test. “It was freezing and raining and we had our towels wrapped around us, shivering. I know it had to be nerves and I could feel it coming. I threw up all over the girl in front of me. I know she had to be floored and I was so embarrassed.”
“I went as high as I could in swimming. There were rafts and you could swim farther as you progressed, “ one camper said, recalling the color coded caps. “I was the blue cap and in order to pass blue, I had to go to the middle of the lake, get out of the canoe, turn it over and then flip it back and get in. Others were so much stronger and I don’t know how I did it, but I was wiry.”
The 1969 waterfront director, Nancy Sautter, outlined her testing. She designated only the director was to administer the testing in the shallow area of area two and a ten minute test in area three.Her theory was this practice eliminated two swimmers of equal abilities being placed in different areas tested by two different people of differing strictness or leniency. She utilized a point scale.
Area four swimmers had mastered their strokes and could choose between junior lifesaving, synchronized swimming, endurance swimming, advanced survival swimming or advanced swimming.
“I took swim lessons after my Dad remarried. I was not a confident swimmer and was self-conscious about my body and anxious about learning. When I arrived at camp everyone was tested and they could tell I couldn’t swim, “ said seventies camper Mary Beth Morton. “I ended up the only one being taught and had private lessons and totally learned how to swim and have been a confident swimmer my whole life.”
“I wanted to get to that third raft so badly and if you did not make it the one year, you tried to get it the second year, “ said Karen Short (1945-48), who loved the competitive edge of swimming. “The added incentive to be proficient in swimming was the fact that you earned your way onto the canoe.”
Pat Rehmus and Gail Schultheiss were both sixties campers and had taken swim lessons before camp. Pat’s family belonged to the Bay City Country Club and Gail also learned at a swim club. Gail ended up in the protected area for beginners for testing. Pat and her friend Ann understood they had to pass to get into the canoes, but that first summer were just not good enough.
“I was not much of a swimmer,” said Jan Bateson (1951-52),” but on the first day I remember we were tested to see which group we would be in by ability. We all wore the same color cap to be tracked in the water. They put me in a lower group and I had visions of a higher group. I think it was because I never mastered the breastroke. I wanted to get to that raft, so I sneaked out to the raft, but they could see my cap because of my color.”
Some were overwhelmed, like Cara Prieskorn (1966-71) in her first year. “I was in that cabin that had to swim the first thing in the morning. I hated being that cold. I thought I was a good swimmer, but only made it to the first level. I remember Kathy Krohn had to be the only one that made it to four. I was so jealous.”
“I remember you received a band after your swim test, “ said Marcia Michelson (1963-71). “The water never seemed too cold to me when I was younger, but when we were old enough to canoe the Au Sable River—that was one cold river!’
In the seventies when Jennifer Fenton attended, ratings for the test were given as three plus, two plus and four plus according to depths. Two was inside the dock, three was on the other side and four was the jumping spot. She had almost drowned at the age of seven, so the accomplishment of swimming to the other side was a huge achievement.
Minette Imerman (1938-41) does not recall why she stopped attending camp at the age of twelve, but she admitted the regret of not staying so she could have been a lifesaver.
Do you remember your swim test and the results?