HATS OFF TO THE SEA-LION!

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 334, 20 April 1928, Page 10

HATS OFF TO THE SEA-LION!

SOME people have queer ideas of spending a holiday. Quite the most entertaining episode of the Easter holidays was the feat of a German swimmer, assisted by a young sea-lion, who remained afloat in a tank of water for 46 hours. The swimmer—not the sea-lion. The latter, on the contrary, seems to have shown a great deal more sense than its master. After patiently wallowing round in the tank hour after hour with its human companion, the luckless amphibian seems to have got rather bored with the proceedings. According to the cabled report, he climbed up on to the rim of the tank, and watched the “endurance test” from there, turning a deaf ear to his master’s entreaties to come back and assist in the record-breaking performance. It is difficult to see what point there is in floating about in a tank for a couple of days, especially at holiday time. This extraordinary feat has been termed an “endurance swim.” But one does not need to be a very expert swimmer to float on the water and waggle hands and feet in turn to maintain some semblance of progression. This tank endurance test is certainly a new one. Previously, it used to be club swinging and other fantastic stunts. Possibly, they bring their demonstrators a certain amount of short-lived notoriety. But they contribute not one iota of value to sport, although they are proudly claimed as “world’s records,” and masquerade in athletic record books as such. In the present instance, only one comment is needed. Hats off to the sea-lion!