e

ls Juan de Fuca Strait
too tough to be beaten?

husky
Waters

‘ndurance to combat?

Ohaanr world-famous Florence
7 ~ Victor over the English

Dodies of and other “challenging

did to + water, failed in her 1954

Pilot; me. the Strait, veteran

and navigators expressed

& Onin:
aceg: tion that no one would ever

manish the feat,
Thorn. Yat burly logger Bert
re of Tacoma has made four
an “jc attempts; Bob Muir,
Only a Rote from Saanich lasted
lon og mY Hours; Rev, John Done-
Prieg, Tonto, a Roman Catholic
Miles 's Was pulled out only two
of et Victoria; Janice White
Sir], °nto, an 18-year-old school-
fore aaa roughly nine miles be-
Vaneo, ving up; and Pat Russell of
hoy; Uver lasted more than seven
COnsoj efore she was hauled semi-

Th he from the water.
On ©, Back,” said Thomas, the
Who ered 29-year-old frogman
Strait alms that conquering the
Of y. “Ul cleanse his conscience
ope sted years,

1 be back,” says Pat Russell.

“7 .
Whar to succeed no matter

Other de

“XDreggeq Boated swimmers have

& he. same view, and new
Where. *ts are popping up every-

Tf Va:
atten tilyn Bell succeeds in her
Ne), i, ..° Swim the English Chan-
Wil g IS quite possible that she
Juan ride to take a crack at

Day. Fuca, too.
Stray 8 20 doubt about it, the
Challeng “sents a much greater
Nel, me than the English Chan-
Berouyn € Water is colder, the un-
JUst a8 tring, toners the tides

Sin icky.
day (perhaps this
Qerey 2) the Strait will be con-

like Th either by a husky splasher |}

0 $ ‘
Mas, or some magnificent

&maiq
me AS")

tain ees 80 year ago that Cap-

a dita...” Webb, greatest Brit-

meevtea ce Swimmer of ‘his time,

lish Cha the dare: “Swim the Eng-

Messin “Mel to prove your great

Capt .
Ust a he succeeded on Aug-
mer, Rey oo Swimming from
stance Bogland, to Cape Gris Nez,
Mins, Ut 19 miles, in 21 hour
Nutes, ,

. th
OE acc VTY moment he was be-
wet, ayined for his remarkable
t fellow. Merican proclaimed that
an Pay) uatryman named Cap-
vim on Avoynton had made the
age Sir Pril 10, 1875, which was
TeVemen mts before Webb’s
that Boyeition proved, however,
“on had been aided by a

A logger, a priest, one of the world’s greatest women marathon swimmers and two
Sitls aspiring to win fame and fortune have all failed to conquer the icy, treacherous
of Juan de Fuca Strait between Victoria and Port Angeles, Washington. Will
“hyone ever succeed, or is the 20-mile course just too tough for human skill, courage and

Cees

BERT THOMAS

life-saving suit, and thus buoyed
up, had merely paddled his way
ross.
eings Webb’s day the English
Channel has ‘been conquered by
75 or 80 swimmers. Another Eng-
lishman, Ed Temme, was the first
to make two crossings. In 1927 he
went from France to England in

14 hours 29 minutes and in 1934
made the return trip in ToMOUrE

54 minutes.
Since then several men and one;

2 {
woman, Florence Chadwick, have

The frigid Strait defeated world-famous Flo Chadwick in 1954,

made the crossing both ways. Miss
Chadwick, who holds many swim-
ming honors, also swam the: 21-
mile Catalina Channel in 1952 in
13 hours 47 minutes 32 seconds,
breaking the previous record of
15 hours 48 minutes set by Toron-
to’s George Young in 1927.

Swimming the English Channel
is no longer a novelty, though it
fis still quite a feat. The Strait
of Juan de Fuca is a different cup
of tea. Flo Chadwick was sure
she could ‘succeed, but cold water
and a rip tide defeated her, and
she was pulled into her boat just
five hours and 15 minutes after she
set out from Victoria.

Miss Chadwick went to Toronto
to swim across unconquered Lake
Ontario for $10,000 offered by the
Canadian National Exhibition. CNE
officials refused to let Canadian
swimmers compete with her. But
a” 16-year-old youngster named
Marilyn Bell, who thought it was
“time somebody did something for
Canada,” jumped in the water
withoute CNE approval—and made
history. Her epic crossing of the
choppy waters stirred the national
pride of all Canadians, and arous-
ed a tremendous interest in mara-
thon swimming in this country. ' +
~ Perhaps it will be our own Mari-
lyn Bell who will be the first to
conquer Juan de Fuca Strait?

but she plans fo try again, perhaps sometime this year.

Pat Russell is shown ‘at the start of her swim (left) and as she was pulled aboard her escort’s boat after the treacherous Straif proved too much for her.

Gert Whyte's

SPORTLIGHT

Y the time you read this, Pll be

on holidays up in the Cariboo
country, with not a care in the
world except little things like
sunburn, heat prostration, sun-
stroke, hay fever, poison ivy and
athlete’s foot.

This year I intend to catch a
fish—I’ve never caught one yet
in the six years since I emigrat-

ed from Toronto—and naturally
I’ve been reading up on the sub-
ject.

One way to catch a fish—the
pook says—is to tickle it. Tickle
it? That’s what the man writes:

“Tickling involves leaning over
a pool in a stream, where fish
swim lazily. The fisherman slips
his hand under the belly of the
fish and proceeds to tickle it.
While the fish is enjoying such
attention, the sty human care-
fully opens his fingers, spreads
them around the fish, makes a
sudden grab and the fish and the
water part company.”

Somehow, I have an idea this
method isn’t going to work in my
case. Probably I’M get a fish
that isn’t ticklish, or one that
will resent being tickled.

* * *

Then there’s spear fishing. The
book says it requires great skill,
so why pursue the subject fur-
ther?

All right, how about fly-casting,
al ancient and honorable sport?
Martial, way back between 10
B.C. and 20 A.D. wrote:

~ “Namque quis nescif avidum
vrata decipiscarum musca.”

Clear enough, one would think.

But in case I have a couple of
live readers who aren’t familiar
with a dead language, the trans-
lation runs:

“Who has not seen the scarus rise,
Decoyed and killed by fraudful

flies?”
The “scarus” (as any Roman

knows) was a species of fish. °

Seems that Martial and the boys
knew all about fooling. fish by
dropping an artificial fly onto the
surface of lakes and streams.

I’m afraid fly-fishing is out for
me, though. The last time I
tried a cast the hook caught in
the seat of my pants and I land-
ed in the middle of the lake.

* * *

Devotees of rod and reel may

find this. pretty silly stuff, but

they should remember that the
writer knows less about fishing
than anyone in B.C.

The story of Jonah in the belly
of the whale used to scare me
when I was a little toddler, and
it wasn’t until I grew up that I
learned a whale wasn’t a fish,
but a mammal.

Then there’s a verse about fish-
ing that I once had to memorize:
“Of all the fish that swim or swish

In ocean’s deep autocracy,
There’s none possess such

haughtiness ©

As the codfish aristocracy.”

None of this knowledge, as far
as I can see, if of any value in
helping me catch a fish.

* * *

Although I have yet to catch
a fish in this maritime province,
I did do a bit of fishing while on
holidays a couple of years ago.

My system is this:

First, get hold of a cheap rod,
a reel so simple to operate that
even a baby couldn’t get it snarl-
ed up, several hooks and such
junk.

Next, buy a few bottles of pain-
killer to ward off colds.

Row to the middle of a nice
lake, throw a line in the water,
pour a generous drink, and settle
down for the afternoon.

At 6 p.m., row in for dinner.

As I say, this system doesn’t
produce fish, but it sure is a nice
way to pass an afternoon.

* * 4

Just for fishermen, here are
some fresh-water records (none
of which I expect to beat):

Carp — 83 pounds 8 ounces,
caught at Pretoria, South Africa.

Muskellunge — 102- pounds,
Minocqua Lake, Wisconsin.

Salmon, Atlantic—103 pounds,
2 ounces, River Devon, Scotland.

Salmon, Chinook—126 pounds
8 ounces, Petersburg, Alaska.

Salmon, Landlocked—35 pounds,
Crooked River, Maine.

Trout, Brown. — 40 pounds,
Great Lake, Tasmania.

Trout, Lake—80 pounds, Mac-
kinaw, Michigan. ;

Trout, Rainbow or Steelhead—
42 pounds, Corbett, Oregon.

* * *

It would be unethical to write
a column on fishing without men-
tioning Izaak Walton, patron
Saint of anglers. He was a guy
who was happiest when. organis-
ing parties of friends and herding
them to the best fishing spots—
a real angling missionary always
after converts.

Im sure I'd have hated him.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 8, 1955 — PAGE 11

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