SWIMMING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23082, 7 January 1937, Page 5

SWIMMING

By Neptune

FIXTURE January 24.—Batt Cup Harbour Race. Club Hours (at Municipal Baths!.— St. Clair and St. Kilda Life Saving Clubs: Mondays., 8.45-9.45 p.m. Kiwi Amateur Swimming Club; Tuesdays. 6-7 p.m.; Thursdays, 8.45-9.45 p.m.; and Saturdays, 6-7 p.m. Dunedin Amateur Swimming Club Wednesdays and Fridays 8.45-9.45 p.m Kaikorai Amateur Swimming Club: Saturdays. 8.45-9.45 p.m. and at Kaikorai Baths during season. Training College Amateur Swimming Club, Saturdays. 8-9 a.m. Zenith Amateur Swimming Club, at Y.M.C.A Baths nightly except Fridays. LIFE-SAVING GEAR The new standard gear, as approved by the New Zealand Surf Life-saving-Association, has been the subject of a complaint from the Waihi Surf and Life-saving Clubs, which considers that the standard belt is not comfortable. “ The trouble seems to be that the cut of the front is wrong,” wrote the secretary of the club (Mr W. C. Collier). “If the neck strap is shortened it will not go over the head, and at the necessary length to do this the belt rides down to the short ribs and almost suffocates the beltman. He is constantly halting the line to make adjustments. We have tried it on all sizes of men, and the result is the same.

“It seems that the front wants cutting much lower, so that the neck strap can be shortened to make the belt ride up naturally on the chest when being towed in. I should be glad to have your comments on the matter, because the belt as it is is useless to us, and we have resorted to our old belt, which is much more comfortable, although it came out of the Ark.” The following reply was sent to the club by Mr Alexander Ross, the convener of the Gear Committee of the association:—

“Your remarks have been carefully noted, but to date we have had no similar complaints from other districts or clubs. When the standard belt was adopted it was not without considerable trial before the final design was approved. “You will find on examination that the New Zealand belt is practically identical with the Australian belt. The total length and width are the same; the front corks are 2J inches long by 6 inches in place of 2iin by 6in in the Australian: the back or end corks are identical in both belts, but in the New Zealand belt these corks are not located at the extreme of the belt, but placed an inch from the end. Regarding the neck strap of which you complain, the New Zealand belt has the same length and width of strap as the Australian, but the method of adjusting is different in our case. “The Australian straps has slip buckles for adjusting length. It was found that these slip buckles became extremely difficult to move after exposure ■ in use, therefore, the * slip through loop and tie’ principle was adopted. New Zealand standard belts have now been in use for over two seasons. At the New Zealand championships at Dunedin and Taranaki the conditions were about the worst possible, but no complaint was received by the council relative to defective fittings of standard belts.” AUSTRALIAN VISITORS Among the Australian surf life saving team chosen for the demonstration tour of New Zealand in February are three Sydney swimmers, A. Hart, B. Hodgson, and J. King. On various occasions they have been competitors in club and State championships, but have never met with any noteworthy degree of success. Hart finished’ third in the 880 Yards championship of New South Wales last January. Provided the consent of the Amateur Swimming Union of Australia is obtained, the organisations controlling surf life saving in New Zealand propose to make arrangements for these and other competitive swimmers in the team to appear at swimming carnivals, in addition to taking part in surf displays. The welfare of the surf life saving movement will, of course, be the primary object, and there is no gainsaying that, if efficiency is judged by ability at surf drill and swimming, the team is an exceedingly well-balanced combination. FRANCE’S LEADING SWIMMER Jean Taris, France’s leading swimmer, for whom a national subscription was recently organised when he gave up competitions, has turned professional. He had an attractive offer to go to French Indo-China as a teacher, but declined this as he wished to stay in Paris. He has now become a teacher there, and will travel about France giving lessons. The decision of Taris to turn professional has caused some surprise in France, where it is thought he will have some difficulty in making any money out of the venture. He intends to give exhibitions with Poussard. the well-known diver, with whom he performed when they travelled as amateurs in Australia and New Zealand. Taris will concentrate on teaching the crawl stroke, at which he is an expert.