surfresearch.com.au  duke kahanamoku : january 1915

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VIEW OF THE HUGE CROWD THAT WITNESSED THE SWIMMING  CHAMPIONSHIP AT THE DOMAIN BATHS YESTERDAY.

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THE COMPETITORS IN THE 100 YARDS SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIP AT THE DOMAIN BATHS YESTERDAY. Reading from the left: W. Longworth, Duke Kahanamoku,  I. Steedman, B. G. Page, A. W. Barry, G. Cuhna.

Invariably the person addressed has paused momentarialy before replying, in order to search his mind for some superlative calulated to do justice to his feelings of wonder and admiration aroused by the performance of the Hawaiian.

"But it is beyond comprehension!"
Well might such an ejaculation be excused, nay, even expected, of those who were not actual eyewitnesses of the feat.
However, when one comes to think of it, followers of natation should be getting use to having their established theories as to the limitations of human cabalities in the element, exploded in startling fashion.
A little more than a decade ago the topical conjecture was as to whether the distance would ever be negotiated in a minute.
When Fred Lane, as it were, answered that surmise in the affirmative, he was popularly supposed to have set a standard for all time.
Then Dick Cavill, employing the "crawl" stroke for the first time in competition, advanced the indicator on the speedometer by jumps and starts. The movements successfully shocked the natatorial world.
It was just recovering its equilibrium when the American C. M. Daniels emerged from obscurity.
He thereupon commenced what culminated in a long series of disturbances amongst records it was hitherto believed were destined to be mumified.
In the process the swimming community was once more subject to agitation. On his becoming a benedict and his virtual retirement foreshadowed, it was considered that that eventuality would signalise a many years' cessation of hostilities as far as the world's best sprint swim figures were concerned.

The Duke is Discovered
Perhaps it would have been so, had not Mr R. T. Rawlins migrated from the United States to Honolulu, and had he not been cutely observent, after the manner of his countrymen.
Many people had watched and applauded the exceptional skill displayed by the Duke when indulging in the old Hawaiian pastime of surf board riding.
No doubt thousands had seen him "crawl" after his board as he played about with it, kitten like, in the transparent waters that wash the tropical isle.
They probably remarked that he was very much at home in the element, but beyond that did not detect anything unusual about him.
It did not occur to them that there was anything extrodinary in the way he glided backwards and forwards.
That discovery was reserved for Mr. Rawlins.
His divination was more than confirmed by results of tests he submitted the Duke to over properly measured courses.
These trials were then forwarded on to the late Mr. Sullivan for recognition, but that great official was just as incredulous about their authenticity as the world at large, his scepticism drawing forth the now famous comment that "world's records are broken by fractions, not seconds."

As the Duke's romantic story has never ben related in this column, I might go on to mention that subsequently arrangements were made for him to be tried out in the United States.
He made his debut in a race held in a freshwater tank.
Naturally, everyone connected with the sport was tremendously curious to see if he could make good the amazing rumours that had preceded him.
The Duke had no previous experience in the lighter water.
This resulted in his swallowing a mouthful soon after the contest started.
It nearly chocked him, and the Duke had no alternative but to quit.
This happening caused convulsive laughter in swimming circles.
The American sportsmen fondly imagined a joke had been put up on them, but the mirth was none the less hearty on that account.
Their awakening, however, was as sudden as it was effective.
The Duke had another oppurtunity of showing prowess very soon after, when he promptly, in Yankee parlance, cleaned all the local champions up.

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FINISH TO THE WORLD'S RECORD BREAKING HUNDRED YARDS AMATEUR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIP OF NEW SOUTH WALES AT THE DOMAIN BATHS.
Kahanamoku leads from G. Cuhna (2), A. Barry (3), W. Longworth (4),
B. G. Page (5), and K. Steedman (6).

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Surf shooting is indeed new in Australia.
We do not need to go to the oldest inhabitant for information regarding how or when it began.
Men who could supply all the particlars are yet young.
Somewhere about twenty-two years since (9.), as the result of a long and vigorous fight for the privilege by several residents of Manly, peole who desired to do so were allowed to bathe in the surf at any time and all times throughout the day, and their number multiplied remarkably from year to year. (10.)

SURF SHOOTING'S BEGINNINGS
We had surf shooting four or five years before surf bathing became general. (11.)
Mr Fred C. Williams, that inimitable handler of the megaphone at all Sydney's important swiming carnivals, was the pioneer.
He picked up the art from a South Sea Islander, and spread knowldge of it amoung the surfers on the favored beaches of the time - Freshwater, Curl Curl and Maroubra. (12.)
Mr. Williams was then the best exponent of cavorting the breakers, and he still stands out in that respect  beyond all others.

This enthusiast will tell you of surf shooters of the early days of the game who suprised their fellows  by the clever manner in which they used the force of the breaker.
I have heard of him mention Monty Fuller, Douglas Walker, Frank Bell, Harald Baker (the Stadium referee), Jack Thompson, Morman Martin (Maroubra), Arthur Rosenthal, Clive Smith, and Co., as wonderfully adept at taking the wave and never leaving it till it exhausted itself.

Proceeding, Kahanamoku said : "You have hundreds more surf shooters at work in one day around Sydney than we see in a week, or perhaps a much longer stretch of time, at Honolulu, but I think the old island has the pastime at greater perfection, which is only to be expected considering its antiquity with us. (13.)
We race each other in on a breaker, and the desire to excel sets us all thinking hard and practising constantly.

THE DIFFERENCE.
"You catch the wave as it curls. We take it earlier, perhaps half a dozen yards away from the point of turning, and accumulate speed by scooping the water with the right hand and using the left in the ordinary way, putting in the while at least the speed you saw me finish my world record in last saturday afternoon.
Then the velocity of the shoot is materially increased and its duration rendered greater.
We begin on our sides and find we get more control over the effort, then we turn on our backs or breasts as fancy suggests.
You are apparently content with one position.
Two or more of your beaches I have seen where dozens of bathers were shooting or trying to shoot are not suitable.
The best performers amoung the people patronising those places would do a great deal better if assisted by more favorable conditions. (14.)
Holes and channels created by the water's action are against the best results in surf shooting.
We believe there is not another place in the world equal of Waikiki  - that little cove  lying in the shelter of Diamond Head - for surf shooting purposes, and thousands of travellers who call at picturesque island every year endorse that opinion.
It has  a big curve protected by a large coral reef about half a mile from the shore.
There is absolutely no undertow. (15.)

SURF BOARD AND CANOE.
"There the facscinating sports of surf-canoeing and surf-board riding are indulged in by man, woman, and child, who insist that they have the most exhiarating and fascinating pastime known.
The canoe is cunningly turned  before a breaker near the edge of the reef till it is picked up like a feather on the inclined plane of the front of the  wave, and borne with remarkable  speed - frequently  right to shore.
The  board is worked on the same principle, but its control  calls for  much greater skill.

"There are numbers of high class surf-shooters in Honolulu, and some white people amoung them, but, as with every other game, a few can do better than the great majority.
It was with the few I delighted to be. (16.)
You ask me if I held the championship as a surf shooter!
I did not, because we had no competitions, but I do not mind telling you that there were none around Honolulu whom I knew anything about able to shape better than me (17.), and the full-blooded Hawaiian population is something between 25,000 and 30,000.

"You must get suitable  days here to achieve the best results, and we, at Honolulu, also need suitable days, but more of them occur at Waikiki Beach than on this country's ocean front. (18.)

FAVORABLE CONDITIONS REQUIRED. (19.)
"Take Freshwater, for instance.
I was promised a long roll there the day I gave that exhibition on the board, and perhaps such a state of affairs may be more often experienced at Freshwater than at Manly, Coogee or Bondi, but I found a short roll and a sea otherwise which needed some managing. (20.)
With everything favorable one can show one's best , and the more frequently condiions are right  the more practice the shooter gets.

"Your  surfers do wonderfully well, all things considered.
But  not  every man  can become an expert.
All people are not built the right way.
The greater the bouyancy the easier the task.
There are men who can never float properly.
Their legs will insist on dropping down."

THE EAR TROUBLE. (21.)
Questioned regarding his ear trouble, and asked if it was prevalent amoung Honolulu's surf shooters, Kahanamoku said he never heard of many people suffering.
Occassionally there were cases more serious than others, but considering the number of people who entered the surf, the percentage was very small.
Three or four toimes he had to seek medical attention to relieve him of pain, and found filling his ears with rubber plugs, which are procurable in Sydney, or using wadding saturated with oil, every time he swam till a cure was effected, helped him a great deal.
Before starting for the 100 yards championship of New South Wales last Sunday afternoon     Kahanamoku  could only plug one ear.
It would not have paid to be deaf  to the starter's signals.

2. The reporter, W. F. Corbett joined The Referee, (a Sydney sporting paper) in 1888, where he reported boxing, swimming, lawn bowls and both codes of rugby.
He moved to the Sydney Sun in 1913. (Source -Rabbitoh Warren)
After a journalistic career of 37 years, he died in 1923, aged 67.
(Source -the Bulletin, Sydney, 1 November, 1923)

3. Sydney's surfing enthusiasts were as interested in Duke Kahanamoku's body surfing skills, as well as his ability on a suirfboard..

4. The ancient origins of surf riding are noted.

5. I suggest this contention is open to further discussion.

6. The boards reported as held by the Bishop Museum probably refers to those ridden at Wakiki in the 1830's by high chief Abner Paki and eventually restored by Tom Blake in the late 1920's.
See #502

7. Duke Kahanamoku was aware of his own press coverage.

8.  That surfboard design has a history (experience) and is also in continuous development (study of cause and effect).

9. circa 1893

10. Legalised daylight bathing is credited to Manly residents and there is no mention of the often credited William Goucher.

11. Hard core suring enthusiasts preceeded the growth of popular surf bathing.

12. Circa 1895, South Sea Islander, Tommy Tana, a youth employed as a houseboy in the Manly district, introduced body surfing to Australia.
From the Pacific island of Tana, (New Hebrides, now Vanuatu) he amazed onlookers at Manly Beach with his skill at using the power of a wave to ride back to the beach.
His style was studied and copied by Manly swimmers, notably Eric Moore, Arthur Lowe and Freddie Williams, considered the first local to master the sport.
Enthusiasm for surf riding expanded such that Manly surfers were invited to demonstrate the technique at other metropolitan beaches, ultimately including Newcastle and Wollongong.

13. Notes the immense popularity of surf riding in Australia at this time.

14. The importance of suitable surf conditons, futher expanded upon later in the interview.

15. The suitability of Wakikiki for surf riding - given the frequency, number of breaks, favorable wind direction and tropical air and water temperatures - is unique.

16. While aware of his own abilities, Duke Kahanamoku indicates that his skills are not unique, and are attainable by others.

17. Can only refer to surfboard shaping?
If so, it would firmly cement Duke Kahanamoku's postion as the founder of modern surfboard design.
It would also account for the importance and revence accorded to Duke's designs and construction technics by Australian surfers.

18. Given the restricted geographic mobility of the period.

19. Further comments on the importance of suitable surf conditons,  expanded intial observations, see 14.

20. Probably refers to a uneven swell or even choppy surface conditions, as indicated by photograph by the Daily Telegraph, 25th December, 1914.
Image below.

21. Ear problems are a common complaint for surfers, exotosis is commonly called "Surfer's Ear".
The use of ear plugs is the most practical preventative.
.
20. There is no discussion of wave height.or mention of tandem riding.

KAHANAMOKU GONE NORTH.
A change was made in the Australian itinerary arranged for Kahanamoku who is now well on his way to delight Queen8land folk.
He left by the Brisbane express yes-terday afternoon to fufill eight engagements, which include shows at Allora and Rockhampton.

OTHER ENGAGEMENTS.
Due to reach Sydney again on the 4th proximo, Kahanamoku will appear at the Dee Why Surt Club's carnival on the 6th prox., the Cronulla carnival on the 7th, Drummoyne Baths on the 8th, and Newcastle on the 10th.
The 11th will see him hurried off to Melbourne for exhibitions on the 15th and 18th of February, and coming back to Sydney he will step off the train at Goulburn, where preparations are being made for a good time.
Just exactly when we may see the last ot the "Duke" is not, at the moment, certain.
If the original plan were adhered to he would leave for New Zealand about the middle ot February, but the swimming authorities of that part ot the continent are apparently not ready to receive him.
They have cabled the local governing body to delay his visit a few days it possible.

THE PATRIOTIC CARNIVAL.
The N.S.W.A.S.A. is now hopetul that their guest's services may be available tor a big patriotic carnival to be held in the Municipal Baths, Domain, on the 20th proximo, when the great attraction will probably be a meeting between Kahanamoku and Billy Longworth, who was prevented, through illness, from competing at the recent State championshlp meeting after the first day.

FINANCING THE HAWAIIAN'S VISIT.
A correspondent -Bona-fide Amateur- writes asking information regardlng the conditions under which Kahanamoku is here, and expressed the opinlon that "The border- line of amateurism must be dangerously threatened by the liberty of the expenses allowed him."
Bona-fide Amateur did not believe a man like Kahanamoku wouJd come so far a way from his home unless he was liberally remunerated.
I made Inquiries of Mr. Scott, hon. secretary. and others connnected with the management of the Swimming Assoclation and learned that neither Kahanamoku nor anyone of the two visitors accompanying him received a penny.
They were guaranteed first-class travelling to and hotel expenses from Honolulu to Honolulu, and promised a tour through Australia in so far as it could be arranged.
The A.A.U. of the United States vouched for Kahanamoku's status, and cabled the Sydney controllers of his trip for an undertaking that he would not be allowed to compete with professionals. That was given.
During the Queensland, Melbourne and New Zealand visits the New South Wales Association is to receive £25 for each show taklng place.
It is expected that the venture will result in a substantlal addition to this States  swimming exchequer, but it may not prove the very profttable thing some people appear to imagine.
Over and above the expenses of the visitors there is the cost of advertising, the renting of the Municipal Baths, &c.
It 1s much the greatest risk the association has ever shouldered.

AMATEURS AND EXPENSES.
Probably Kahamoku's trip to Australia is a matter such as the English Amateur Swimming Asociation would have refused to countenance had that body been in a position of power regarding it.
It will be remembered by the older swimming officials of to-day that whenever the motherland was approached with the idea of securing a visit by an English champion to Australia we would be told, a.ter a lot of formality had been gone through, and the Invitation passed from the Southern Counties' Association to the Association proper, or from the latter to the former and back again, that the
suggestion, because of the expense necessitated, savored too much. of professionalism.
And all the tIme we were sending our top-notches to the old country and they were drawing blg gates to swell the coffers of England's clubs and her governing body.
I remember one London writer working hlmself up to an hystertcal condltion almost when he heard that Son (we used to call him then) Baker had gone all the way to New Zealand, and no sooner returned to Sydney than he wheeled round and hurried oft to Rockhampton.
"Sureley", said the English scribe, "there Is somethlng here that should receive attention.
Baker may have pald his own expenses and he may have only received within a penny of the amount needed to land him at his destination, but what was the object of It all?
Nothing more or less than to provide a big line for the invitlng club's bill."
That writer did not know, or could not see, that Baker's tour was in furtherance of a scheme which all Australian swimming associations had at heart for the purpose of popularising the game and spreading it.

THE BEAM IN THE MOTHERLAND'S EYE
The motherland should have seen to the beam in her own, than troubling about the mote in Australia's eye.
Nuttall, in his amateur days, also Tyers and Jarvis, were up to their eyes In engagements of the nature indicated, but never a hand did the ruling bodt lift to stop it, desplte the fact of most people being aware that at least two of the trio had no money for such trips, and valiable trophies, in the form of high priced pianos and the like were proudly pointed to as evidences of their owner's superiority.

KAHANAMOKU'S SWIMMING
As evidence of how poor a swimmwer, comparatively, Kahanamoku is beyond 110 yards, at which he holds the world record, the following reference may be interesting.
One of the official time-keepers, Mr. T. C. Roberts, specially clocked the Hawiian's first half of the 220 yards swim last Saturday afternoon as 1 min. 8 2-5 sec, which is not at all fast.
The second lap occupied the difference betwen that and 2 min. 32 2-5 sec.
It seems hardly possible for a first clas swimmer's power to peter out to such an extent, but it did.

Mrs. Green, who lives in Burren-street, Eskinville, was enjoying a dip close in shore, about half-past 8, when a shooter, some distance out with a board, caught a forceful breaker.
In the dark Mrs. Green could not see him coming in, and the man crashed into her leg, board first.
She was knocked over and endevored to struggle to her feet, but finding the task beyond her, cried for help.
Two men carried her to shore, and the Civil Ambukance rendered first aid.
She was then taken to hospital. 

The executive had practically arranged another of raising a sum for patriotic purposes for Friday 19th, at which the Hawaiian party were to be made the means of adding to the price of admission by auctioning several surf boards made by themselves; but the departure of the Wellington boat on Friday, 19th February, instead of Saturday the 20th, has also made this impossible.
However the executive still has the matter of a patriotic function in hand, and will make a definitive answer later.
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Autographed Postcard, Feb 11, 1915.  E. S. Marks was  prominant in Sydney sports. Sydney's premier athletic track is named  The E.S. Marks Field. Postcard reproduced from private collection.

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