Well, I have either already totally nailed this or I'm still confused and doing it totally wrong. I'm pretty sure it's the former.

Whichever side I was skating on is the side that I stroked and kicked on to drive my hip down and propel my arm into the water to make the weight shift to skate on the other side. That's got to be it, right?

Assuming that I'm doing things right, I think it's a result of all the time I spent thinking about how to do it, looking at videos and practicing my funny walk and swimming on the floor. There was no confusion or struggle during the practice today. All I needed was for my brain to get a clear picture of what the sequence was and why things are done that way. Having thought about it, the whole movement made complete sense. I don't even understand how I was able to do it backwards.

I did start out the practice by swimming four lengths using just my arms and letting my legs draft behind me. I focused on feeling what happened naturally to my legs as my body rotated. Then, I think I did a few superman glides into pulling both arms back to my sides while rotating slightly to one side. From there I did the superman glide into a skate, focusing on getting to the skate by "stroking" with one arm and doing a small kick with that same leg. Next, I went back to more swimming with my legs drafting behind me. I did practice a few times doing little twitches of my leg that was on the stroking arm side. Finally, I did a bit of practice doing three slow strokes. By the time I was doing that I realized that I wasn't struggling and having to think about what I was supposed to do with my arms and legs. So, I decided to see if I could swim a length. Things went well enough that I just kept swimming lengths while focusing on a wide, relaxed recovery, keeping my head in alignment and using just a small flick with my kicking leg.

After I swam a few lengths successfully, I decided to start counting my strokes. From that point I maintained just under nine strokes per length! I did not have to take any breaths.

I left a message on Danny's voicemail this morning to confirm that I'm doing things the right way. Once he confirms that I am, I will schedule my next lesson. I will also plan to practice in the 25 yard lanes.

Boy, that was quick!

Now I think I need to focus on a bit better timing and a more fluid movement. I think that I'm still thrusting my arm a bit and using a bit too much effort instead of letting gravity do most of the work. I'd like to have more of a sensation of my body surging forward as I make the switch.

Edit: Danny has returned my call and confirmed that I'm doing it right :-)