BARREL STAVE SKIS

IF ONE of your bunch can scare up a barrel, that barrel will furnish staves for a dozen skis. You will see by the diagram that a piece of board is fastened several inches forward of the center of the stave, and that a house slipper is nailed to this board. If you lack a slipper, cut down an old shoe or overshoe. For a more efficient ski, smooth the sole with sandpaper, then rub in linseed oil and polish with floor wax.

If the skis do not rack straight, cut a groove in the bottom of the skis with a routing chisel. Do not rout out too much. A groove about 1/4-inch wide and 1/4-inch deep will do nicely to pack the snow under the ski and hold the user on his course.

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Build This Monorail Bathing Chute for Thrills

As a thrill producer, it will be hard to beat this monorail bathing chute. Erected on a hill sloping down to a beach, it will send you flying out into the water at a breathtaking speed. Construction is very simple.

BATHING weather prompts many novel means of sport in the water such as diving slides, swings, etc., but here is a regular “shoot the chute” in simplified form with which loads of sport can be obtained and all at a minimum cost.
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Putting Greens Protected From Milady’s High Heels

A GOLF course, unadorned by a sprinkling of the fair sex, would be a dreary place indeed; the ladies to whom appearance means everything, would not be quite so chic without those dainty shoes equipped with dagger-like high heels; but a putting green free from those cute little heel prints just the right size to hold a golf ball snugly would be a golfer’s paradise.
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That’s a remarkably progressive group of kids for 1931.

Air-Inflated Gloves Make Boxing a “Gentleman’s Game”
AIR-inflated boxing gloves having many distinct advantages over the old style padded mitt have recently been introduced into the field of amateur pugilism. With the customary padding eliminated, they are much lighter in weight, and thus help to prevent the fighter from tiring easily. As these new gloves are not easily broken, the knuckles cannot be pushed through the leather for practicing any “dirty work.” A blow is distributed over greater area, and hence less shiners and busted noses.

Wrestler Spars With Dummy
A WRESTLER in Detroit, Mich., prepares for bouts by practicing his holds on a wooden sparring partner. “Sandowstein,” as the wooden dummy is called, is equipped with springs and braces that furnish resistant tension for the strong arms and legs of the wrestler, Everett Marshall.

SKI on STRAW in First INDOOR Meet

STRAW replaced snow in the first indoor ski jump ever attempted in this country. The ski meet was held during the Northwest Sportsmen’s Show in the Auditorium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Novel methods were used to protect the ski jumpers from injuries. The ski slide was built over the balcony in the large exposition building. Read the rest of this entry »

Golf Widows will be able to check up on their husbands now with this new application of the portable radio receiving set. The one being used here is a forerunner of the set to be manufactured.

Lamp Shade in Football Motif
SOMETHING distinctly unique in the way of desk lamps was introduced at a University of Southern California sorority house. The shade was cut from parchment and made to resemble a football helmet, while the upright, cast in metal, forms a football. The lamp attracted wide attention and gave a sportive air to the room which it decorated.

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Here’s How to Ski

Skiing is a healthy, outdoor sport which can add to your life’s pleasures—-and it’s easy.

BY BILL FALVEY

SO YOU want to ski? Well, go to it. It’s a lusty, fine exercise and just what the doctor ordered but it, too, has its pitfalls. Better take a few words of advice from one who knows.

Don’t go in for skiing foolhardily. Don’t swell your chest and tell yourself that, because you are pretty fair at tennis or golf, you’ll find skiing a cinch right off. In other words, don’t rush in. If you do, you’ll find yourself piled up with doctor bills, perhaps, or laid up with sore spots for days. Read the rest of this entry »

Skiing Like Flying With Bat-Like Cape
LOOKING more like a bat than a man, this skier is demonstrating the sail-cape. It serves alternately as a sail and as a brake, and in the former capacity is said to give the user the same sensation as a flight through space. To protect the skier from windburn, a hood envelops his entire head, leaving free only the mouth and nose.

No Arms yet he enjoys the sport of bowling and even hung up a score of 96 at duckpins on his very first try in a Washington, D. C, bowling alley. The ingenious device is the invention of Harold A. Carlson, 45, who lost both arms as a youth in a railroad accident. He is shown above all set to swing a duck ball down the lane for a strike. A rubber suction cup, attached to his arm prothesis, holds the ball. At the proper part of the swing, a trip device lets the ball go. Carlson says that all parts for the invention were bought at variety and bicycle stores.

Swimming Strokes Taught From Outboard Powered Raft

AN OUTBOARD powered swimming raft was the unique means employed by Johnny Weismuller at Miami Beach, Florida, during the past season to teach beginners the theory and practice of the new swimming strokes. The pupil is swung between the U-shaped opening of the raft in a canvas belt, and as the craft moves about under power of the motor the novice goes through the proper strokes as demonstrated to him by Weismuller.

Two outstanding advantages of the scheme are that the swimmer is always held at the right level in the water and that he easily learns the forward motion—the hardest of all to learn in swimming. The raft is also used as a marker or turning buoy in swimming races.