Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-04-05
'HAWANSSPEED
SWIMMERS HOME
FROM AUSTRALIA
Kahanamoku and Cunha Praise
SportsmanShip and Methods
of Southern Clubs

| ha, HaWaiis speediest sprint SWIM
mers. and Francis Evans, were re-
| turning passengers from Australia in
the steamer Niagara yesterday Ka-
| hanam0ku and >Cunha went against
the best men in the Southland with
| uniform success. while Evans acted
as manager Of the trip, and looked
after the business end. The trio left
here November 80, being absent from
Hawaii a few days over four months,
during which time they visited all the
| large cities of australia and New
Zealand, and had an exceptional OPP
portunity to get in close touch with
Antipodean sport.
Champion Duke has nothing but
praise for the treatment received in
Australia, though on number Of oc-
casions he was handicapped so heavi-
| ly that he had no chance to win his
events. However, the big Hawaiian
says that was due to the belief .on
| the part of the handicappers that he
was consistently many seconds better
than most of their own men.
Their handicapping system is a
fine thing for the younger swimmers
and ought to be worked up in Ha-
waii," said Duke today. at gives the
new fellows a, chance and makes the
old fellows swim their best to win
Campaign a Hard One.
Duke found the campaign a hard
one physically and comes back five
pounds under his usual swimming
weight. Travelling a good deal, kept
up night after night by the evening
swimming tournaments which are the
usual thing in Australia, and with con-
slant changes of food and water, he
felt the strain of competition to an
unusual extent
Great" said George Cunha this
morning, when asked about the trip.
1--WE had such good time that don't
know where to begin to talk about it.
We did lot of swimming, and as for
seeing the country and meeting the
people, why we had SO many invita-
tons that we had to refuse lot OF
them 1t has been a trip that we'll
never forget and never regret"
Kahanamoku established new
worlds record for the 100-yard swim.
of SO AS seconds; Cunha made an
Australasian record Of sc 3-5 secs. for
the 100 meters Duke is credited by !
the newspapers also with new
worlds record for so yards, of % 3-5
seconds, made at Auckland, n. H., IN
handicap race March 10, but wheth- |
er this will stand is doubtful. There
seems to have been mix-up in the
timing, and whether the announced
time will be declared official or not
is a matter of conjecture. The race
was won by Cunha in Is seconds fiat,
he. having a handicap Of 8 seconds
over Duke, who was scratch. Most
of the watches caught Duke at "a nat.
Difference in Stroke.
According to the returned swim
mers, great interest was shown in the |
events in which the Hawaiian speed |
merchants took part. The first night |
at the Domain baths, in Sydney, the |
paid admissions were about $3.50, |
which was high mark for the trip.
There is a decided difference be-
tween the stroke We use here and the |
Australian crawl" said Cunha, in re-
ply to a query as to relative, swimming |
styles. Down there they time their |
kick with their arm movement, in
stead of making the two independent.
They claim that our stroke, is the |
harder, and we. found it the other way
around. L guess it's just a matter Of |
what you're used to. Some of the kids |
down there have already picked. up |
the Hawaiian stroke, and seem to be |
doing well at it,
at would be impossible to give Wis |
itors better treatment than we re-
ceived," said Evans. They are the |
squarest sportsmen in the world, Aus. |
tralians and New Zealanders, and we
haven't single unpleasant criticism
to make. It's too bad that Duke and |
Longworth couldn't hook up for the |
220 and 440, but Longworth was sick
when they were supposed to have
come together, and we travelled !
around so much that we couldn't make |
connections afterwards. In the first |
meeting Duke won the hundred |
easily, Longworth being fourth. Long
worth then went into the half mile. |
and after that he was taken sick, and |
couldn't get into the 220. He was as |
dhAIOuS OuC W uOCI DuhSy Dut
the doctors wouldn't hear of his com.
peting
Talk about hospitality" continued |
Evans. I'VE must have travelled |
10000 miles, and the only distance
we did under our own motive power
was in the water 1t was automobiles,
trains, steamers and launches all the
time. No chance to walk at ALL"
Surfboarding was a big hit in all
parts Of the southern. continent. At
first Australians inclined to the belief
that pictures of Hawaiians standing
up on a board we're "doctored" and
It took a few demonstrations by the
local bows to convince them. Then
they went wild over the sport.
According to the local men. Austria
liam swimming authorities are most
anxious to have a Hawaiian team of
five or six men go down for a series
Of meetings next year. Team matches
and relay races are favorite events i'll