Harpoonists Spear Flying Fish by Searchlight off Catalina
OFF Catalina Island, “where the flying fishes play,” outdoor men and women have invented a new and fascinating sport.

Powerful searchlights are mounted in the bows of sea-going speedboats. As the sturdy craft cleave the waves, huge swarms of flying fish rise like enormous sea moths into the rays of the brilliant lights which cut through the darkness.

Armed with short harpoons, to which a retrieving cord is attached, men and women crowd the rails of the speedboat. A quick thrust of the harpoon, and the flying quarry is bagged in mid air by the skill of the fisherman-hunter.

The fish are good eating and their filmy wings are used for a variety of decorative purposes.

“Splashketball”
Among the latest sports in swimming pools is “splashketball,” a rough-and-tumble game that combines water polo with basketball. Teams of four men each attempt by swimming, jumping and splashing to put the ball through a movable basket. The basket is attached to the goalie by a life preserver, and goalies are allowed to move anywhere in the pool. Excitement comes when a player attempts to make a basket while the goalie tries to avoid him. The players wear caps to identify their teammates.

NEW ZEALAND BOYS COAST ON MUD
American boys wait for a good snowfall to get out their sleds, but any day is a good day for coasting, in New Zealand. Snow is a rarity in the even, bracing climate of the islands, so the youngsters do the next best thing and coast on mud! Wooden sleds are used, and a bare slope is flooded with water for the sport. Frequent wettings keep the sun from drying up the course.

JOUSTING: NEWEST WATER SPORT

OOPS! Total victory is rare in this sport for flipping an opponent usually means loss of your own balance. Jousters use 10-ft., rubber-tipped aluminum poles and the tippy floats are truck inner tubes topped with 3/4-in. plywood. The Johnson Outboard Motors crew staged this upset in motel pool at Cypress Gardens, Fla.

FLOATS are spaced 10 ft. apart on centers and moored out in the middle of the pool where skulls stay intact

ROPE lacings secure disks to tubes. A rubber ball fits snugly into toilet plunger on each pole, is held by tape.

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Return of the Giant Killer

When David bagged Goliath, the slingshot was a murderous device—now it’s coming back as a weapon for sportsmen.

By Robert Hertzberg

THE man in the bright red shirt strode past the big “No Hunting” sign and knocked on the door of the farmhouse. As the farmer stepped into view, the man said, “May I hunt on your property. . .”

“No!” interrupted the farmer. “Can’t you read signs?”

The would-be hunter reached into his pocket and held up a shiny, fork-shaped object.

“… with this weapon?”

The farmer stared and then burst into laughter. “Sure, you can hunt all you want on my land with that thing. If you bag an elephant, just leave me half.”

“That thing” was one of John Milligan’s Specials, a seven-ounce aluminum alloy slingshot powered by a pair of gum-rubber bands 11 inches long. Milligan didn’t get an elephant because elephants don’t run wild in Detroit, but that day he settled for two pheasants and a rabbit. Believe it or not, his total bag for the season was six pheasants, 14 squirrels, 18 rabbits and 4 coons. Could you have done as well with shotgun or rifle?
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Mechanical Hobbyhorses Race on Boardwalk

Racing hobbyhorses have made their appearance in competitions upon the boardwalk at the seashore resort of Atlantic City, N. J. Propelled by foot pedals, the three-wheeled mechanical mounts not only attain a lively pace but also imitate the motion of a galloping horse.

Human-Fly WHIRLIGIG

LITERALLY stuck to the wall are patrons of a new amusement-park ride in Frankfurt, Germany. Fun-seekers climb into a giant drum, about 15 feet in diameter, which is open at the top. The drum begins to revolve, building up speed. When whirling at top speed the floor drops away, leaving the patrons stuck against the wall with a centrifugal force double their own weight. Tables, chairs, clothing or anything else can be suspended against the wall. Above the drum the amusement park has constructed several tiers of balconies from which the spectators can watch the fun. The antics of the riders are plainly visible because at top speed the drum rotates only 15 miles an hour. About 30 persons can climb into the drum and be “glued” to the wall at the same time, frozen into any position they may choose.

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Air-Rifle Shooting Gallery

Do you have a budding marksman in your home? You’ll rate high with him if you help him build this Lilliput shooting gallery.

By Kenneth Murray

IF YOUR invitation to the next A-bomb test hasn’t arrived yet, you can still get your bangs at the nearest shooting gallery. Or, if you feel like tinkering, you can have a shooting gallery (junior grade) for your very own. It’s fun to construct and exciting to use, so it makes a perfect dad-and-lad undertaking. It works just like the big ones at summer carnivals, but an air rifle or air pistol with BB ammunition is used. That puts the shooting expense way down. Also, there’s no danger—you can set the target up either inside the house or, when the weather permits, outdoors on the lawn. It fits comfortably on an ordinary card table. The project is simply made. It has a wooden base and a front row of moving characters, such as Bugs Rabbit, who run on an endless belt. They can be knocked over, but come to life again the next trip around the circuit. At the rear are some more targets. One revolves slowly and, theoretically, you get a prize if you put a BB slug through the right hole at the right time and ring the bell. Then there are some “clay” pipes that look like the real thing. Instead of breaking, however, they merely spin merrily each time they are hit. Lastly, for timid shooters, there’s a round target that doesn’t go anywhere but has a large hole through which it’s easy to ring the gong.
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Pro Football From Abacus To Computer

By Gene Ward

When it came schedule-making time in the National Football League, Commissioner Bert Bell used to lock himself in a suite of rooms at the Racquet Club in Philadelphia, sharpen a gross of pencils and stop all incoming calls.

He was a gregarious soul, this man who guided the pro game through its growing-pains era and he dreaded the self-imposed seclusion as a skipper of an ocean liner dreads being beached.

“But there is just no other way to do it,” he once told me. “Every owner has his pet ideas as to the schedule he wants his team to play, so the only solution is to do it myself and present it as fait accompli.”
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Bowling with Electricity

The electric-powered Whittle Rotobowler, below, flings an 18-lb. aluminum ball down a 94-foot carpeted court at speeds up to 100 m.p.h, in the latest variation of an old sport. The court (inset), with lighted hazard pins, resembles a giant pinball game.

Try as I might, I just can’t think of any possible way that a kid could hurt himself with one of these…

ARRO-PING

Guided-flight accuracy—bullet-like power for target and small game! Quiet—fun in rumpus room or patio, on picnics, in areas closed to firearms! Safe to carry in car. Economical—use arrows over and over!

Improved model $1.25 postpaid with 5 arrows.
Extra arrows.
10 for 75c
20 for $1.25 ppd.
ARRO-PING CO.
P.O. Box 779-H,Colorado Springs 12, Colo.

Aquaplane Towed by Auto Outrigger in New Water Sport

WATER enthusiasts are now able to skip along Pacific waves without actually going to sea. A 20-foot pole attached by a swivel to the rear end of an automoible does the trick. The aquaplane rider skims over water two feet deep as the car speeds 20 miles along the beach. The pole is fastened by a bolt attached to a rear bumper and can be swung over when the car is turned around.

One brace rope swung from the top of the spare tire or the handle of the door fitting over the rumble seat holds the pole horizontal while a forward brace rope, swinging back from the radiator cap, holds the pole against the backward pull. The weight of the entire additional equipment, including pole and rope, is only 34 pounds.