CROSSING THE CHANNEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21223, 1 July 1932, Page 8

CROSSING THE CHANNEL.

SEVERAL NOVEL METHODS.

SUCCESS OF. 17 SWIMMERS,

DOMINION WOMAN'S AMBITION,

"Poiised on an aquaplane behind a fast motor-boat, the New Zealand swiniEi er Miss Lily Copplestone crossed the Eng. li»h Channel from Dover to Calais in 63 minutes." That brief news item appear, ing in cablegrams, showsthat although Channel swimming is said to be on the wane, the search for novel means of conquering this notorious stretch of water goes on.

Although the Channel was crossed on a surfboard by a young Frenchman, Roger Tronquet, last October, Miss Coppl e . stone is probabjy the first woman to accomplish the feat. Her time shows a considerable improvement on the sis and a-half hours occupied by Tronquet to cross from Boulogne to Folkestone, towed by a fishing-boat in exceptionally" rongh weather.

The cavalier manner in which the Channel has been treated by aspirants to novel record honours has for long surprised those who regard an ordinary steamur crossing as something of an adventuifo. In a period of 57 years there have been about 150 attempts or more to swim the Channel, but only 17 have been (successful. No other strip of water in tho world has exercised such a lure as the "Straits." Ifc has brought swimmers from all parts of the world to attempt ■jits conquest, Lsust Swum in 1930.

I ««_ I Th<> most recent successful Channel rpvim was by a 19-year-old South African girl, Miss Peggy Duncan, who occupied 16 hcnrs, in September, 1930. The Auckland swimmer, as reported in yesterday's cible grains, will make another attempt, ia August, having been forced to abandon the project last year owing to unfavourable conditions. Miss Copplestone was the 'last of 15 aspirants forced to give up the attempt last year. Burgess, her trainer, is confident she will achieve success, as she has several notable swims already to her credit,. fearly last year Miss Copplestone was pltcisd third iri an endurance contest in tMnnly baths, Sydney, her time being a little over 40 hours. The event was won toy Miss Mercedes Gleitze, a successful] Channel swimme:, in 48£ homrs. A feWj months later Miss Copplestone completed a six-mile swim down Sydnsy Harbour in slightly more than three hours.

Although Captain W. Webb first swam the iChannel in 1875, he remained the sole claimant to the distinction for 36 years before T. W. Burgess accomplished the feat'in 1911. Then in 1923 three crossings were made and in 1926 the first Channel swim by a woman was achieved by Miss G. Ederle. In that year there were four other successful attempts, and in each of the two succeeding yeare there weru three. The only crossing since 1928 was Miss Duncan's in 1930. Of the 17 people who have so far swum the Channel, seven were women.

Ii a Channel crossing by swimming has so often been attended by failure, there ara other means of accomplishing it. Last year a young Austrian, Karl Naiimestnik, "walked" across the water, but the "skiis" he used are no new device. The feat was accomplished in 1871) by a Mr. Fowler, an Amei'ican, wfio talked the Channel on what he called a, ri podoscaph!"

Man in a Rubber Suit

Paul Boynton's india-rubber suit floated bint successfully from Dover to Calais in 1875, after an attempt with bis "Merrir man" life-saving suit had failed in a previous effort. The first to arouse public interest in quite another forin of Channel sport was Lord Desborough, who stroked an Oxford eight from England to France in 4 hours 22 minutes. Theie was a lull in the excitement of these cross-Chancel expeditions until the Rev. S. Swan, an old Cambridge blofe, established a record by rowing: from Dover to Calais in a 20ft. skiff in 3 hours 50 minutes in 1911. There followed a variety of this class of adventure. Then cams the Frenchman, Bleriot, wbci on July 5, 1905), flexr the Channel iu an aeroplane from France to Dover. Miss Trslliawke Davies was the first woman to -cross the Channel :in an aeroplane. A new era had opened. Novel methods which have been used since an) a submarine, glider, motor-boat, water pedal-cycle, water motor-cycle and canoe.