Evening star., 1926-06-17
HELMY TO MAKE:
CHANNEL EFFORT
EGYPTIAN Swimmer, Friend OF
Gertrude EderIe. Joins
| Her Today.
By Cable 10 The Star.

BY Cable TO Ihe STAR
PARIS, June IA large party VIII
advance on Gris-Nez today. he ls
Tssk Helmv. 6 feet inches tall and
and weighing o4O pounds. The Great
Ecyptian swimmer. too. hopes to SWIM
the English Channel. That hope seems
10 he a general one among most OF
those who have traversed the eXpanse
of a hathtuh. Judging from the great
number of "ilengerS expected TO ne
at Cape Girls u.
Helmy is a friend OF Geftfuue
Ederle. and it was he who pulled her
from the water last year when JaheZ
Wolfe gave her orders TO stop IN her
effort to navigate the channel. HelmH
has a roll of fat around his tummN
which he hopes to keep until after the
channel attempt Fat keeps the m
active parts of the hody warm, ne
saws. and agrees with Trainer Burgess.
who saws that Gertrude. now weighing
154 pounds, should gain 10 pounds pc
fore trying to swim the channeL
Flashing his white teeth, Helmy
said he would like to be professional
boxer, hut doesn't want to lose his
beautiful teeth He thinks that Miss
Tderle. with her huge shoulders and
slim hands, is the rest equipped wom-
an 10 try TO swim the channel, but ne
believed luck to be the biggest factor
Other Contcnders.
Resides Helmy and the American
girl. channel contenders this Summer
include Nine. Jane Sion. over 40 years
of age. wife of bank clerk of moder-
ate means who has tried to swim the
channel MANY times. She hasn't funds
this wear with which to hire tug 70
accompany her. so the town OF Dun
kirk is supplying the tug. She is train
ing at Dunkirk.
Miss Lillian Cannon. the slim hionde
from Baltimore. is also training at
C1ris-Nez It is said that Miss carl
belle Bennett of Pelham w ood, y. Y.
will attempt to paddle her 200 POUNDS
from shore to shore of the channei
from Calais Channel authorities think
Calais is bad bet as a starting point:
With Miss Ederle. Miss Cannon and
Helmy all at the same hotel al Cape
Girls Nez, waiting to take on When
good weather comes in July. there Is a
daily scramble for tugs for the swim
mers and for motor boats in which
witnesses can accompany the swim
mers on their short training plunges
of from two to five hours. The Girls
Nez natives are much interested.
All of Cape Girls Nez lies in the hills
at the foot of a giant lighthouse
which has one of the most powerful
lights in the world. The lighthouse
offers the only means of communlcat-
ing with the outside world. There is
a light station there. controlled by the
government and three telegraph OPP
orators. none of whom speak or un.
derstand a word of English. They
send out the stories of newspaper cor
respondents letter by letter. without
knowing their meaning.
There are two telephones in Cape
Girls Nez, both of which are shut down
at Z pm. The lighthouse is on a sandy
cliff at the edge of the water and at
its foot is a garden of vegetables.
wherein tame geese. ducks, chickens
and hares run at random. GrisNez
has no electricity. no trolley cars. no
modern conveniences. 1t has beauti-
full surrounding country. Its food Is
divine. its coffee is terrible. its cham
paGne is so cents quart. Nobody
drinks water
The sand dunes a Girls Nez are in
hsbited by thousands of wild ra bbits.
which chase away madly at human
approach. There are star fish on the
beach at low tide The hotel at which
Miss Ederle is staying is less COM
Portable than the other hotel on the
beach, but Gertrude likes the pro
prietor. whose wife is i'll. She pre-
fers to stay there. refusing to rent
the house which was offered by
financially embarrassed baron, thus
making her hotel the center of all
Cape Gris-Nez activities.
Enter NJ. Joe Costa.
Stirring amidst this sudden i'm
portance which has come to Gris-Nez
is Joe Costa. owner of the Boulogne
shoe, store. Joe was born in France,
the son Of English parents, and went
to school IN England. Hence he
speaks with an English accent. He
has a beautiful wife. NJ. Costa disre-
CARDS his private business while the
swimmers are present. He has ac-
Companied many who have tried to
swim the channel, and he hopes to
continue accompanying them as long
as he lives. He keeps a big book of
newspaper clippings pertaining to the
attempts. He is the general ''fixer'
at Boulogne and is of valuable as
sistance to the swimmers. as he has
control of all tugs in the Boulogne