Fun and Laughter in the Surf

NZ Truth, Issue 1199, 22 November 1928, Page 16

Fun and Laughter m the Surf

If If you want to grow biceps that will keep your wife m her proper place, swim to it, say the surfing folk. As' an • exercise, swimming offers physical development, fresh air and fun. To those cooped ■up m. offices, the seaside weekend is just the thing which makes the world go round. ' iiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

A SWIMMING TOURIST ♦ The Dominion Will Shortly Be Host To Olympic Champion Johnnie Weismuller \ AQUATICS IN THE BOOM \ '. So Johnnie Weismuller is coming 1 to New Zealand. This is the best swimming news ; "Truth" has heard for years and it is sure to put the game on a higher plane. Johnnie is the best m the world up to the quarter mile and he simply ploughed his way through the water over the hundred. On the time basis Weismuller is five or six seconds better than anyt one else m the Dominion, but the water has to be considered.

M NEW ZEALAND is not renowned for the speed of its water. Those overseas swimmers *who have toured New Zealand have always been pulled ; up three or four seconds m the hundred, more especially m fresh water. Actually, when Weismuller does face our cracks it will take him all his time to beat them by over a length m the century, but he may do anything m ■ the furlong.- .-'■'. ' Baxter O'Neill, the genial secretary of the' N.Z. Swimming Council, has been buzzing the wires during the last few days completing arrange- ; ments because Johnnie will be with us m less than a fortnight, according to all accounts. . ' Then he goes to Australia to meet , the continent's Olympic and other cracks. In the meantime the New Zealand wagtails are very busy preparing for the national championships which are to be held m Wellington early next year. i Between the Canterbury crack, Dave . Lindsay, and the

' Wanganui champion, Norman Dpw- ■ sett, '-' Wellington fans will see something of speed at the , preliminary carnivals. ' Both Lindsay and Dowsett will swim. : for their respective i provinces when the i fun starts. At. the last cham-, ' pionship meeting, ! held m fresh water at Dunediri, Dave . Lindsay swam m sensational fashion. JHe smashed record nfter record, after ; taking a big chunk out of the mile time. Lindsay simply glided over the 1 water to touch down 47 sees, faster iiiiiiimiiiiiiminiiiiiiiimiuniiiiiiiuiiiiiiii

than any other swimmer has clone m the Dominion. He was going all right and his opponents knew it. A.. T. F. Stokes, Canterbury's second string over a distance of water, is also reported to be m great form this year and he expects to finish a good deal closer to the Olympic representative than was the case last season. Fairgrave and Moorehouse will fight out their backstroke contests again, the former for Auckland and. the Matter for Canterbury. , Moorehouse is reported to have improved out of sight since his. trip- to the games, so he should hold a mortgage over ail senior backstroke events. So far as the ladies arc concerned, not much is known m the .meantime. It is more than likely that both Ena Stockley and Kathleen Miller will step out to defend their titles, but there do not appear to be many girls about

capable of giving them any real trouble. All the surf clubs have opened their seasons and m Wellington, Lyall Bay is leaving no stone unturned m an effort to retain the Nelson Shield, won m the treacherous St. Clair surf at Dunedin at the beginning of the year. Sumner, New Brighton, North Beach and Taylor's Mistake have got their teams out and with experience of real surf — conditions which do not always prevail m Wellington — they will show Lyall Bay, or any other ■ bay for that matter, that surf life-saving is a branch of swimming m which Christchurches specializes. But that is not the end to the sport. Looking for new fields to conqueror, Mercedes Gleitze, the Channel swimmer, who also crossed the straits of Gibralter, has expressed her intention of swimming Cook Strait. "N.Z. Truth" says "good luck, Mercedes," but she will have the roughest swim she has

mi ever had m her life. Cook Strait is no sheltered spot like the English Channel, and the famous Terawhiti rip will probably ruin the chances of any swimmer crossing the Strait. Miss Copplestone, an ex'-Christchurch champion, and holder of. the Annette Keller man Cup for distance swimming, ■ also intends giving: the Strait a pop. Well, we can't leave everything to out- • siders, but it looks a safe bet that no one will ever swim the Strait, either now or at any future date. 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 k 1 1 1 1 [ 1 1 1 1 1

I It's a great life, the % surfing life — if you don't *? week-end. Or so say all f the blithe and breezy I young folk ,who roam I about our beaches, seekI ing how many ice-creams 1 they niay devour. The ;i; : landlubber can have his | full share of the sailors' I joys, m other ways for- | getting that business | life so much as- exists. J iiiiiiiniimiiiiiiiimiiiimiimiiiiHiiiimiimiimiiiiiiii