SOME SWIM!

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 June 1927, Page 7

SOME SWIM!

CHANNEL RECORD CLAIMED A REMARKABLE STORY ’.Australian & N.Z. Cable Assn.) (By Cable—Press Assn—Copyright.) LONDON, June 11. A young Czecho-Slovakian is supposed to have swum the English Channel, and to have done so, moreover, in record time, without anybody knowing of the fact until he himself, revealed the secret. He is Vencelas Spacek. Interviewed by the British United Press at Paris, he said: — “I wanted to be the first this year but I wish I had waited till the water was warmer. I left Prague on Saturday and arrived at Calais on Tuesday. I went to bed at seven o’clock on Wednesday evening, awakened at midnight, and started to swim at three o’clock on. Thursday morning. The waves were soon whipped up by a breeze, and I at once struck a log, hurting my stomach. I was most distressed when my companion, Dvorack, had to give up after six hours. However, I was getting stronger, and the waves seemed to be getting smaller.” His food consisted of powdered chocolate and three banans. He landed at Dover at 1.45 o’clock on Thursday afternoon, his time for crossing being 10 3-4 hours, which beat Michel’s record of eleven hours five minutes, in September last year. The Czecho-Slovakian Legation at Paris confirms the feat, but there is no confirmation yet from Dover, Spacek may and may not have thought to emulate Lindbergh’s lone, unexpected dash. Certainly his methods were unconventional. He did not use glasses, and the result was temporary blindness. He was only rubbed with two pounds of grease. He says: ‘‘l consider it useless. 1 keep warm by fast swimming.” CLAIM DISPUTED. PARIS, June 12. “L’Echo de Paris” correspondent at Calais declares that Spacek’s claim that he swam the Channel is a mere hoax. He arrived at Calais on Tuesday, and left on Thursday, when he motored to Wissant, accompanied by a photographer. There Spacek hired a room, 'changed into swimming costume, bathed five minutes, and then rushed out because the water was too cold. He returned to Calais, and went thence to Paris. No boat owner in Calais lent a boat for the Channel swim. Experts declare that neither the wind nor the condition of the water made an attempt possible last week.