IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // 4^ ^ Kii |2.2 I.I £ lU 1.25 I 1 KlUu 1.4 % ^;. 7 ><^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4503 m. '^ •s^ V ;\ \ V o^ ^ <" ^ cignifia "A SUIVRE". la symboia ▼ signifia "FIN". Mapa. plataa. charts, ate., may ba flimad at diffarant raduction ratioa. Thoaa too larga to ba antiraly includad in ona axpoaura ara flimad baginning in tha uppar left hand comar, laft to right and top to bottom, aa many framaa aa raquirad. Tha following diagrama illuatrata tha mathod: Laa cartaa. planchaa. tablaaux. etc.. pauvant itra flimda i daa taux da rMuction diff Arahts. Lorsqua la documant aat trap grand pour Atra raproduit an un saul cilch4, ii aat flim* A partir da I'angia supMaur gaucha. da gaucha i droita. at do haut an baa. i* pranant la nombra dimagaa n^caaaaira. Laa diagrammas suivants illuatrant la m^thoda. 1 1 t i 9 1 2 3 |: 4 5 6 s KOBEI?.TSON'S CHEAP SER1E» POPULAR HEADING AT POPULAR PR1CB8. THE MODERN OARSMAN ; A COMPENDIUM OF INFORMATION On Rowing, Soalling, Steering, Feathering, Ooaohins, Sliding-seats, Trimming, and Sitting a Buat, Dimensions of Work, Etc. '. t»^ ■ ■f COMPLMTE. TORONTO J. ROSS ROBERTSON, 55 KING-STREET WFS T. 80UTH-WKSI CORNER OV BAT-BTRIST. 1879 ..« »• m -I ■,' i ■ f A'V r1 > THE MODERN OARSMAN. J INTRODUCTION. \ W« believe boat-rowing extended back and was identical with the time of the first Hailing oraft ; no matter of what deaoription. Fishermen have always existed, and it is pretty certain they did not depend on the sails alone in following their calling. The African Indians, and other antutored sav- ages have always been skillful boating men iu their way, that is, propelling their canoes by means of one oar, and paddling or seal- ling from the stern of the boat, and as in modem sculling by means of a pair of ■oulls. The ancients conducted the maritime wars principally by means of gigantic row- boats, mauneil by brawny athletes. Later on, when civilization introduced ' men-of- war ' ships, the boarding and capturing of an enemy's vessel was done by their crews rowing in open boats, exposed to the can- nou'a tire, and going into the very jaws of death. From these facts, nothing was more natural than that, in times of peace, the mariuea and sailors should practise rowing very extensively, both for recreation and usefulness. Ill Cleopatra's time (6. C. 50), while men were not as proticieub in rowing as our oars- meu are at the present time, there has certainly uover ocourreil such a magnificent turu uut as the one of that oulebrated Women. Tne deok of Cleopatar's barge was adorned with gold, and its aails were purple. Ttte oars, of wliich there weie about twenty, were set with silver, and the rowers kept time to the sound of flutes and lyres. The hgure-head of the barge represented a dragon's head and was moat elaborately carved. The masts, of which there were two, were surmounted by gold crowns, and the eutire craft was cousti ucted and adorned in a style surpassing description. It was a move in the right direction when the two great £ugliah Universities, Oxford and Cambridge, in June, 1829, introduced their annual boating contests, which waa followed twenty-three years later by Harvard and Yale ; for at the present time nearly every University in the world, acces- sible to riven and lakes, has its boats and boat- crew , thus giving to rowing a prestige on other athletic sport ever enjoyed. In our effort to make rowing (which ao* oomplishment both sexes can acquire) more popular, and still better anderatood in all its details, we should state that, without practice on the water, no one can ever ez* pect to become an oarsman by simply read< ing one or all the text *books — therefore, let each avail himself of putting into practice the principles laid down in theory, and sqo> cess will surely follow. FIRST PRINCIPLES OF ROWING. A gig, slightly outrigged (says W. B. Woodgate, author of ' Oars and Sculls'), is the best in which to teach an utter tyro, unless one be found with considerably more beam than ordinary lengv.h of an oar in- board. Ordinary in-rigged gigs have but little to spare between the thowl and the handle of an oar when laid in the rowlock, and a beginner, who is at all awkward with his elbows, or draws his button away from the rowlock in recovering (a most probable fault), stands in jeopardy of a knock on the funny-bone or knuckles against the opposite thowl-pin, which fidgets him nearly as much as a touch of the splinter- bar upon the hocks would a colt in harness. The«ar should be carefully examined. It cannot be too good or too 'true,' i.e., lying square in the row lock. A good oarsman will adapt a bad oar to circumstances, and still makes it go true. A tyro adapts circumstances t > his oar, and moulds his earliest style thereby. The oar should never be weak, or it will go deep, nor hog-backed (as builders ofter turn them out for sake of stiffness), else it will fly out of water till the strain has straight- ened it ; and, lastly, the loom should be true and square, which is often not the case, and oarsmen are puzzled to know why they they row deep with such an oar. The rowlock also should be examined. In most hack gigs the width between thowl and stopper is not sufficient, and the oar ' locks ' to a full reach forward. Also, if the row- lock has been used much, the upper part of THE MODERN OARSMAN. the thowrl, instead of being (lash and 'proud (t. e., rakiug slightly forward), will ottea have a groove in it, transverse to the per- Eendicular of the thowl, especially where it as been used by one who feathers at all under water. Into this groove the upper angle of the loom of the oar lapses, and the blade slopes in the water and sinka deep. Any such groove should be tiled away at the outset. Again, a weak iron often gets pull- ed out of stiape, the sill of the rowlock sinks At the thowl und, ihe loom of the oar tlius rows uphill, and the blade sinks too deep ; or the button guts worn, so that the outer flan({e of it no longer presses against the thowl after the first grip, but leaves it when the oar approaches its right angle to the rowlock during the stroke. Stretchers are, as a rule, made too perpen- dicular ; this alone, apart from the early difficulty of cleafing the knees, teaches be- ginners, if left to judge for themselves, to set their stretchers too long, so that the heel may reach the board without cramping the flexor tendon of the feet-that runs down the shin-bone. The addition of a piece of wood under the heels will remedy the fault of the builder. A bekfinner should learn with a rowlock one iuch, or more so, higher, compared with level oi seat and water, than would be his work iu a racing boat. When he has once learnt to clear bis knees, and avoid crabs, it will be time to lower his work. At the same time the rowlock should uever be so high as to throw the strain almost entirely upon the arms, and to obviate use of the loins, as in a sea-boat. The stretcher strap should hold both feet, and it is best if each foot is iu a separate loop. A man who has rowed much should have developed suf- ficient strength of abdominal muscle to en- able hiui to do ordinary gig rowing without a strap, and yet not to double over his oar or to hang in recovery. But till that muscle develops it is best to supply the strap at all times, lest the beginner should learn to meet his oar, or be unable to row the stroke out for want of power of recovery from beyond the perpendicular. If, however, it is seen that he tries to recover solely with the in- step from the strap, and not also with the muscles of abdomen, loins, and thighs, his strap may in such a case be taken away for • short time to compel him to use all mus- cles requisite for a good recovery. The strap should be tight enouf;h to grasp the foot, instead of pincbing it. The seat in the boat, i.e„ the way in which to sit in a boat, requires careful in- spection, and yet is one for which a definite I rule cannot well be laid down. Some of the ' best oars sit almost on tiptail ; some per contra, sit at least three, if not four inches on the s< at. Much depends upon the depth at which the hip is set up the body, alons the Hank, and consequently upon the play o7 the joint on the seat. A man must regulate his seat to some extent according to his make and shape ; but, if a nominal depth of seat is to be laid down foi- a tyro, it may be three inches for a heavy weight or two and a half for a light weight. But iu any case the oarsman should sit square, as if he were uuconscious which side he was going to row. His oar-handle should overlap the outside of his chest about one inch (on a fixed seat). If he sits square, plants hia feet square, and sets his hands square, he will have no excuse for not rowing square. The heels should be together ; the straps should allow of this, but the toes should slope outwards. More depends upon the grip of the oar than most are aware of. Half the faults in a crew may often be traced to a faulty grasp. Now, as the stroke is rowed through the angle of inflection of the wrist gradually alters. At first the whole arm and wrist are extended in a straight line. When the arms be«rin to bend at shoulder and elbow, towards the latter part of the stroke, the wrist has to accomodate itself to the flexion of the other joints, so that the knuckle, and palm may constantly remain in the same plane, and with them the blade of the oar at the same constant angle to the surface of the water. To eff'ect this, the wrist has to bend not only perpendicularly, but also laterally ; for the elbow, as they pass the ribs, are wid- er apart than when extended at the com- , mencement of the stroke ; and as the hands (as will be seen presently) do not grasp the oar at a width apart equivalent to the width of the ribs, and have, moreover, to keep al- ways flat to the handle of the oar, the augle of which to the body is constantly changing, the angle of the wrist must vary also laterally as well as perpendicularly ; that is, the palm of the hand must remain in a constant position, though the position of the arms is inconstant, and the wrist is respon- sible for the arrangement. If a man clenches his fist tight, and then tries to shake his hand from the wrist he will find the latter joint cramp- ed instead of limp, as required for the ope ration. . Again, if a man wishes to hang by his hands from a bar, he will do so from the two upper joints of his fingers, hardly bend- ing the lower knuckle joints at all. If he essay to clench the bar he will only cramp his grasp and weaken his powers of suspen- sion. These two points will show the folly of graspins the oar with the whole hand, and THE MODERN OARSMAN. the impolicy of UBin({, to a tvro, the too common expression ' Qraap your oara tirmly,' as liable to misinterpretation. The hands should be placed upon the oar rather less than a hadd's breaath apart — about three inches. Thus the two upper joints of the fingers should perform the (j|ra8p, the lower joints being left nearly straight. The hand should not hold the oar as if squeezing a sponge. Then the thumb should close and grip, but only so far as it can without com- pelling the lower joints of the other fingers to join in the grasp. The latter joints should bend only so far as to accommodate them- selves to the roundness of the oar ; hardly at all, in fact. The grasp thus attained is quite strong enough for all rowing purposes. The lower part of the palm of the hand and the ball of the thumb should not touch the oar at all. The hands will thus be in that position which gives freest play to the wrist of any grasp, and also in that in which a man, if intending to hang his whole weight upon a bar, such as the handle of his oar, would instinstively adopt. The absence of cramp in the grasp and the free play to the wrist thus attained will fa- cilitate the action of the feather, and will, by enabling the oarsman to accommodate his wrist without cramp or hindrance to the variations of angle of the other joints of the arm, and of the oar handle, keep him clear of much of that want of command of oar and of rowing deep which is the bugbear of be- ginners, and which is to a great extent to be traced to the erroneous manner in which they are taught to 'grasp' their oars. It is true that some men prefer to hold the thumb of the outside hand over the oar, in- stead of underneath it, but there ought to be no choice in the matter ; both thumbs should be underneath (in rowing). Both hands, both arms, both shoulders, each loin, both legs and feet should bear an equal strain throughout the stroke. The physical exertion of each side of the body, and of the members belonging to it, should be equal while rowing the stroke through. But though the physical strain is equal to both hands, it is true that the mechanical power of that hand which is farthest from the ful- crum is the greater of the two. In that sense the outside hand does most work, in that its work, though equal to that of the others, is expended to greater advantage. The oarsman should sit square. His shoul- ders should be set well back and stiffened. Any attempt to stretch them as he reaches out, and so to add to his reach, loses more than it gaias. vv hen an oarsman is told to reach out ' square,' it after all comes to reaching as square as he can, and that is all. The best form that ever rowed always ' gave' a little, however little, to the side on which he rowed. From a front view his shoulders would look square enough, but from behind it would be seen that the two shoulders were not quite in the same position, tor the arm of the one is stretched away from, and the other across, the body, to follow the a|ro of the oar-handle at the commencement of the reach. But this concession, that absolute sculptural squareness is not to be looked for in the reach forward, must not be taken as any excuse for bending one shoulder or row- ing across the boat — too common a fault with many good oars. Cushions are now almost obsolete, and even those who once swore by a new wash- leather cushion to row upon, do not now lament the abolition. True, the seat is harder, but though, till the bones get accustomed to it, that is rather uncomfortable, the ' raws' that used to be the bugbear of so many prac- tical oars when rowing in a rolling boat are now seldom complained of. Moreover, by sitting lower without (fushions the tyro is enabled to row with a lower rowlock, and to lower also his centre of gravity, and there- with to reduce the propensity to roll. A wet cushion would draw and rub raw even a man who, on a dry one, never encountered a ' raw.' THERE^CH. The usual manner in which a beginner is taught to row is by setting an experienced oarsman in front of him, and telling him to copy his action, admonishing at the same time each error as vjxhibited by the beginner in his attempts to copy his model. A ma? who has never rowed has been accustome ' to use his arms, and arms only, for all purposes of moving or controlling heavy weights, and accordingly the first instinct of the beginner in rowing is to attempt to move the oar with his arms. The use of his back, loins and legs with him is only secondary. The use of the arms in rowing is too natural not to come sooner or later, when once called into play, and a tyro learns quickest how to make most use of those parts of his frame in which his greatest strength lies, if taught at first to move his oar without any action of the arms, simply from his back and loins. The man who finishes his stroke by the aid of his biceps, infallibly dog-ears his elbows, and sticks them out at right angles to his ribs, giving a weak 0.3 well as a ciramped and ugly finjsh. The stroke should be finished with the shoulders and the muscles that work them, and the biceps should be passive throughout the stroke. The best way to make a man THE MODERN OARSMAN. UM hit ihoulden iniitead of hin bioepa ia to Mouatotn him to feel a ntrain upon the former. Therefore, having got a beginning on hia aeat, and having taught him how tu hold hia oar, let him be ma'le to reaoh well forward, with the boat at a dead pull no ' way ' upon it — and then to row a atroke solely with body awingiug aud lega driving Againat the atretoher. The arma need not at firat be bent at all, but kept out rigid, like taut riipea ooupliug the body to the oar The heavier the boat is at cliia puri&d tiio more will the begiuuer appreciate the ur)vel nae of hi» lega aud loins, from the reaistauoe to them. An extra sitter in the boat ia a gain in this reapeot. If the boat runa too fight, and the oar oomea too easily through the water, the pupil tinds no resistance that hia arma cannot eaaily «>veroom", and at once inatiuctively triea to do hia work with them. Beaidea, by thus keeping the arms rigid, the oar is sure, if truly held at tirat, to remain ■quare in the rowlock, so that there ia no rowing deep, a fault that is sure to reault if the arms at once called into play before the wrist has learnt to accommodate itself to the variation of angle referred to elsewhere. After a few minutes' body work of this sort the finish of the stroke with the shoulders may be explained, aud copied by the pupil from the model in front of him. But from day to day, aa the lesson commences, a few body strokes, with rigid arms, should be rowed to start with, to recall the use of the loins, till the pupil has learned thoroughly to depend upon that part for the strain of the stroke. THE FINISH. The finish should alvaya be taught separately. Let the pupil be shown th<> p''o- per action, and made to copy it without an oar in his handa ; by setting his arma out straight in front of him, knuckles uppermost, then swinging them into hia cheat by uae of the shoulder muscles, bending the elbow- jointa as the arms cornea in, so as to keep the hands in the same plane, till the root of the thumb strikes the chest. Having copied the action properly for a few times, let him sit upright on his seat, repeat the same with the oar in his hand, and not passing through the water at first. Subsequently let him row the finish only of a atroke in the water with- out feathering, but dropping hia hands after the,cheat ia touched. When he has done this cleanly, let the two parte of the troke be put together. FEATHERING. The feather, like the finiah, ia quickest and beat taught by commencing ^vitneut an oar in the hand, atudying the action only at Hrat ; that ia, it ia by thia nieana moat apeed* ily acquired in a clean and perfect ahape. If taught all at once faults may creep in from misappreoiation of the manipulation, which may take days and even mouths to eradicate. The thumb at ita base ahould be the part of the hand which atrikea the chest at the con- clusion of the stroke, knuckles being upper* most ; the stroke thus is rowed in the water to the last. Then the hands should drop sharply about two inohoH and a half, the base of the thumb atill touching the cheat, and then, when by thia means the oar haa been raised edgeways like a knife out of the water, the turn of the wrist should take place. A few minutes' practice of the action, slowly with a stick held in the hand inHtead of an oar, at first, will explain and define the action. Then the three motions — the touch on the chest, the drop, aud the turn — can be accelerated in their sequence till they approach the atyle of an ordinary f« ither. Then the aame ahould be repeated with the oar in the hands, only just rowing the last foot of the stroke, till the motion be- comes handy. Too much attention cannot be paid to a neat and clean feather, the oar coming out of the water edgeways, and handa dropped before they are turned. If the handa are turned before dropped, the oar ia turned in the water, and when the handa drop it ia pushed up flatways through the water. The resist- ance of the element causes a strain upon the sill of the rowlock, and tends to drag the boat down on that aide. .Half the fanfts in rowing may be traced to a feather under water ; the boat, if a light one, ia made to roll thereby, and the form in turn ia cramped by unsteadiness. Again, the oar does not come off the cheat so freely when encountering resistance in the water by being brought out flatways, so that recovery is hampered instead of being elastic. Then, if a man thus hangs at the cheat, he wastes time, and haa to rush forward in his swing to make up hia loat ground. This spoils his swing, and taxes his endurance by the extra exertion of the ' bucket ' forward, and probably throws him out of time into tue bargain. Last of all, the resistance of the oar against the water, when forced out flat instead of edgeways, more or less backs water, and stops the way of the boat. Tn the same way that a few distinct ' body ' strokes ahould during early lesaona com- mence the day's prartice, so also should a th dr Ei re it in, it THE MODERN OARSMAN. minnte or two of praotioe of the action of the feather without rowing, to recall the knack before settling down to work. If the knuckles touch ,^e chest before the drop, one of two faulty niust have happened. Either the oar at the moment the knuckles reach the ohest is in the water, or is out of it ; if in the water, then the action of touch- in|[ the chest with the knuckles has turned it in the water, it is feathered under water ; or if the oar is not in the water, the hands have been lowered from their original plan before the oar reached the chest, so as to elevate the oar from the water ; in that case the last part of the stroke, more or less, has been rowed in the air, not in the water, and thus every inch of water is not made use of ; and if the oar is thus out of the water already, a further drop is superfluous. The test of a clean feather is the' touch of the root of the thumb against the chest ; this insures that at least the oar has remained square to the end of the stroke ; and if the hands preserve the same plane till aftor the chest has been thus touched, the oar will remain not only square, but in the water to the last, and therefoie doing work. The drop instantaneously elevates it from the water, and the turn which follows completes the feather. When the hau'is work the motion quickly the eye will not detect, b^ merely watching the hands, any transposi- tion or amidgamatibn of the motion, but a glance at the oar will answer the (question. 1. If the oar is feathered perfectly it comes out like a knife, leaving a small swirl where it has made its exit. 2. If a sort of feathery sheet of water runs off the blade as it leaves thei water, it is feathered under water, the hands have turned while the oar is still in the water, and the oar, coming up spoon- ways, empties its contents as it reaches the surface 3. If the oar throws a slop of water aft as it leaves the water, the stroke is finished in the air, and a gradual drop of the hands has taken place before 'the hands reach the chest. That drop has come too soon, the hands have not preserved their plane. USE OP THE LEGS. Nothing is more invidious than to tell a beginner, before he learns anything about a stroke, to ' kick against his stretcner.' If he does so, he is sure to kick too soon, and simply to push himself back on his seat before he has got his oar in the water. The legs instinctively stiffen themselves against the stretcher the instant J^hat the ' body (eels the strain of the oar. They should be kept in this rigid posture, supporting the body throughout the stroke. This rigidity should commence at the instant the oar touches the water, and the strain begins to fall upon the shoulders ; not sooner, or th* seat is shifted ; not later, or the tension of the body slackens for want of support ; • passive resistance, co-extensive with the strain upon the body, and depending upon it, commencing and ending simultaneoutly with it ; not a gratuitously aggresairf movement, independent of the bodv. THe old and time-honored formula of lifting one^ self off the seat with simultaneous use of oar and stretcher, is the best and simplest explanation to a beginner. The lift of tiie body can only be obtained by simultaneous use of the handle of the oar and of the stretcher ; neither strain can in such a oaae be put on one instant before the other, or there would be no lift. At the same time it must be explained that the legs, while thus supporting the body, do so passively — rigidly— not with anv extension of the legf (on a tixed seat). The more simultaneous the rigidity of the legs to the strain on the body, the greater the power of the stroke. A faulty use of \*^n consist of— (1) Not sufficient pressure of the feet, or (2) if pressure, not contempor- aneous with swing ; (3) if pressure aod oon« temporaneous, still not with rigid jointe. But though the legs are thus rigid,in their ao« tion,i.e., do their best to keep rigid the knee ' play' up and down a little, and their in* crease or diminution of flexion to a small ex* tent, and in a certain manner, is no sign of an improper or unrigid use of the legs. It ia simply dne to the reason that every man* even on a fixed seat in the boat, rows more or less on a (internal) sliding seat ; that the bones of the thigh move fore and aft slightly^' with each swing of the body, throngh their covering of flesh, and the motion of the kneej is only the result of the instinctive accommo- dation of the muscles to this slight movemen| of the basis of operations, while they main- tain meantime the rigid pressure or prop b{ the feet against the stretcher to support the action of the body. While thus acquiring the proper action of the legs — at the right instantof time — the pupils stretcher shoulj^bf set about an inch longer than would be used by a more experinced oarsman of the same size, on the same principle that that his row* lock, as explained previously, should be a trifle higher,8o as to avoid all fouling at t|^^ knees, till he has acquired some commanct n recovery and watermanship. When he Hm attained that, his work and stretcher wilt ne reduced to the ordinary lengths at which a practical oar can make most mechanical nse of his physicid strength. THE MODERN OARSMAN. RECOVERY. When one atroke h»)) been properly rowed oat, tho next step li to get forward into the position in whioh to row another. Muoh of the value of ■abeequent atrokei depends ■jpun the man er in whioh the recovery, after the etroke ia effected. It muat be borne in mind that the set of masolea weak eat in pro- portion to the taak required of them in row- lag are thoae of the abdomen. In rowing a noe they are the tirat to fail. It ia harder to carry the body forward with them, with tho oar feathered, againat air, than to drive the body back with the mnaclea of loina, etc. , when the oar ia aquare againat the water. The result of auob exhauation ia 'rowing short,' whioh ia owing, not to such weakness of the loiuB, etc. , that the oarsmen, if once forward, could not row the stroke through ■till to che failing powers of his abdominal maacles, whioh bdcome unequal to the task of carry him forward to repeat the stroke. Bearing this in mind, it will be seen that be- fore a man can be of use in a race he must not only develop by exercise those muscles of the abdomen which hitherto have never been thos called into play, but must also lea^-n to economize them, and to use such strength as they possess to the very best advantage. The first thing, therefore, that has to be learnt ia to get the handa off the ohest, and the arma extended in front of the body aa ra- pidly aa possible. Not only doea the action give an impetus to the awing of the body, facilitate its motion forward, and open the •heat for respiration, but alao the position with arms thus extended is that in which a man with auoh ease pushes away any resist- bg object in front of him. Let this be shown practically to the pupil. If he want to push Away a man from m front of him with the weight of his body, but his arms intervening •nd being the means of contact with himself And the other man, he will find that he uses Ihe weight of his body forward to better ad- TantaAe if he pushes with straight than if with bent arms. This will teach him the importance of doinp as much as he can of the work of carrying his oar back for the next itroke with straight arms. The action of shooting out the hands from the cheat and of extending the arms should bo rapid for the reasons above shown, bat itli rapidity should consist of elas- tioity, and abHonce of loss of time at Iho ohest, rather than in any hurried msh. The process of reversing the ma- •hinery instantaneously, of quickly bring- ing into play muscles converse to those who have just rowed the oar home to the cheat, doea not come naturally to anyone, and with some beffinnen it ia a matter of extreme difll* call^. Yet it ahonld be overcome, elae when th^oaraman progrea^|'to a crew he will find himaelf out of awingwith the reat, compelled to ruah at the laatw inake up for time loct in the early part of the recovery, throwing himaelf out of time and awing, and waating hif own atrength by " bucketing." For thia reaaon, aa in other instances, recovery of tho hands is first made a separate piece of prac- tice. When the manipulation of the feather is mastered, let the practice of it be ex- tended no as to include the shoot out of the hands from the ohest after the handa have dropped and twrned the oar. Thia will in time engender elasticity of reooverv of the hands, whioh should come off the cheat like a billiard-ball from a cushion, not necessarily with a rush, yet without a hang. However slow the stroke may be the handa should no sooner have completed their feather than they should have bounded away. The body as well as the hands should bo kept in perpetual motion, like a pendnlnm alwaya awinging. Thin ahould be carefully inculcated. The muscles of the legs, thighs, and loins should all join with thoae of the abdomen in the recovery, though neoe^'.sarily the greater strain tails upon the latter. The feet also should draw the body from the strap by whioh they are held } but if the pupil tries to do the entire work of recovery from the feet, without using the loins and let's to ai tained, evrn where the pace does not exoead twenty-six strokes per minute. The slower the swing forward the less exertion itcausei, and that exertion saved on the weakest set of muscles can be expended on the strongest in driving the oar through the water ; and though such a ' drive ' is individually more exhausting than a 'draw,' it will command so much more pace out of the boat that the same speed can be obtained by a fewer num> ber of ' drives ' per minute than of ' drawa,' so that the diminution in number of applica- tions of power per minute atones for th« extra exertion required to make them — qual* ity more than makes up for quantity. 'FORM,' AND SWING. Square shonlders, straight rwing, elastie recovery, absence of doubling up at the fin- ish, and of hang, and of bucket — all resnlt as a matter of course if the directions laid down previously are carefully carried out. And, last of all, if the feet are placed against the stretcher, with toes pointed apart, so ai to open the knees, and the strain of the stroke is done from the loins and less, the back is sure to do its work with as straight an action as is natural to it. We do not aay absolutely atraignt in all instances, but rather the reverse, it anything. That man does his work (qua swing) to best advantage whose body, when straight at the end of the stroke, makes an angle of twenty-two and a half degrees (one-fourth of a right angle), or even a trifle more, with the perpendicular, the reach forward having been full length. At the same time two things have to be considered : — 1. Whether the man ia physically capable of maintaining this length of swing back without sacrificing some of his reach forward. 1. Whether hia powers of recovery are adequate to the dis- tance through which his body has to be re- covered for the next stroke. If both ques- tiona can be answered in the affirmative (not only for a short row, but for permanent work and racing) he is a good man. But because he is thus capable, it does not follow that every man has similar powers. An honest oar, doing all the work he can, will soon swing back all he can to get the most 10 THE MODERN OARSMAN. in his power out of the stroke set to him. The greatest mech mioal power is whea the oar IS at right angleu to the rowlock. ' Work ' is not placed »t the same distance in all boats, but more or less in all the arms have begun to bend to row the stroke into the chest almost as soon as the oar has pass- ed the right anele to the rowlock. Though the body should contiuue to swing back till the arms overtakM it and the oar reaches the chest, yet from the instant that the elbow- joint begins to bend the stroke greatly de- creases in physical power. Yet the diminu- tion of physical power takes place at a time when the mechanical power of the oar is ((reater than it was at the commencement of the stroke. The further the body swings back, the later is it necessary for the arms t.> commence their bend, and consequently a greater amount of that work at which the mechanical power uf the oar is greater, and is done with still rigid arms, and with use of the body and loins. In teaching a man to swine; back he should be told to hold his head well up. The weight, if thrown back, assists hia swing, while if hanging torward it acts iu the con- trary direction. A very common faulc of t)egiuner8 is to be con- stantly looking tit their chests, as if to see that they are well opened at the finish. It is like a man looking round in a glass to see if his coat tits hiiii behind. Even if it did tit him before, the shape is disordered the mo- ment he turub iiis head and neck to ;ecou- uoitre himself . H.e does best toallo w son.<^ other person to iutorm him of the tit while he holds himself straight ; and so with an oarsman — if he wants to make sure that hit* chest is open, let him hold up his head and trust to being told, at least, if it is not then open. FAULTY FINISH. .4s a sample of how one fault breeds others dependent upon it, let us take that ot finish- ing the stroke with the biceps instead of the muscles behiuJ the shoulders. Who ever saw a man wiio so Hnisheil, who did not also hollow his chest more or less, fail to sit thoroughly well up at the tiiiish, and, finally, be irregular in his swing, to slow at first off the chest, with a~ i >ucket at tlie last to make up for lost ground (unless he saved the ne- cessity for bucketing by only reaching out so far as he could without an extra rush ao the end of the recovery.in whichcase rowing short is substituted for bucket) ? The connection of all these faults can be traced. By tiidsh- ing with the biceps the arm is bent more acutely at the elbow than in the orthodox finish. Then, if the elbows are kept close to the sides, the bend of the arm brings the hands too high at the finish, thus the of-t goes too deep — another fault in this varia- tion. If the hands are maintained at the right level, the oar is saved from going deep. This can only be secured by dog's-earing the elbows, for they must go somewhere (the finish with the biceps bends tue arm too acutely to admit of both hands and elbows being iu correct position — one or other must five place, i. e , take up a wrong position), n either case, whether the hands are too high or the elbows too square at the finish, » bad recovery of the hands from the chest results ; in the former version from the labour of bringing out a deeply buried oar, in the latter version froin the position of the arms at ^he commencement of the recovery, for a man with his elbows at right angles to his ribs has not half so much power to push his oar away from him as one whose elbows are alongside of his body. The next stage is that the body, instead of being briskly led in its swing forward by the shoot of the hands, has to lead them, and the result of a lurch of the body against the oar, before the hands are well out, is a slouch and hol- lowing of the chest. All this wastes time in the recovery, and the lost time has to be made up by a bucket at the end of the swing, or a compromise in the way of a short reach, or getting late into the water. WRONG GRASP. A faulty hold of the oar is generally at the root of scores of faults — a too full grasp with the whole fist will be deadening the play of the wrist, causing the oar to sink deep, cramping the finish, and so hampering recovery, swing, time, etc. Thus of two pupils both may be rowing deep, both hang- ing at the chest, both late in awing forwara, and bucketing, yet each from a different primary cause. A loosening of the outside hand of the oar may be sometimes cause, soiiietinies effect. It may come from dog's-earing elbows, for an arm in this position is very prone to shirk its work at the finish from the incon- venience of its posture ; ot ' vice versa' the dog's-earing of the outside elbow only, the inside one l)eing ^finished properly, will be the result of a loosened hand in most cases. The hand being loose, the work of the hand instinctively slackens with absence of work, the impulse to go on with the motion of the shoulder muscles at on^e vanishes, the hand has to get out of the way and to follow the oar home, and this it does with the more THE MODERN OARSMAN. U natural motioa of a bend at the elbow joint — the joint in such a case must stick out— if the oar is rowed home at the proper depth by the remaining inside hand* or else one hand would be at a much higher level than the other, and both could not be touching the oar. But whichever fault ^rst causes the other, the result is again a sluggish re- covery and the usual inference, for one hand cannot do the work of two. A man who does tL . is best cured by a change of sides and coaching separately in a pair-oared gig on the changed aide. This compels him to use his idle hand when it tinds itself on the inside. If the man rowed on both sides with the same fault, he can be made to use his outside hand by telling him to take the inside baud clear off the oar as he rows into his chest. The idle hand is thus compelled to work. A fault of this sort often becomes so mechanical that a man can hardly break himself of it at first without some such means as this, however burlesque they may seera. ' Capping' the oar with outside hand is a variation, or rather exaggeration, of the same fault, aad should be similarly treated. OV ERREA CH. :^, Overreaching with the shonldere most i vays comes from na anxiety to row long, to appear to row long ; but it causes ute of power, for the shoulders, ifg not ■ajed back by the muscles behind tlie loulder blade, give still more under the /rain of the stroke, so that the body is not taut,' and thus is pulling upon a spring, farther back the shoulders are held, the more is the collar-bone arched forward, and thus it adds to the support of the shoulders, forming an arch against which the sockets press. If the shoulders are slackened forward, the arch of the collar-bone flat- tens and becomes almost' a straight line; and the more it does so, the less support does it give to- the shoulders. Thus the more they stretch in the reach, the more they give when the strain falls upon them. The fsequence of overreliohing is a slack finish and feeble recovery, for the shoulders (if the stroke is to be eventually finished orthodoxly) have all the farther to work back into their proper position before the oar can be rowed home. If they are not eventually braced up by the finish, the biceps must do the work to the dnish. Overreaching is best cured by practical illustrations of the required attitude out of the boat, and then a gentle paddle, the better will this required action be obtained. MEETING OAR AND ROWING DEEP. Woodgate in his treatise says : Meeting the oar and rowing deep at the' finish (with- out necessarily a slant of the oar caused by a faulty hold, but a slower dive of thn oar, at its proper angle) usually rise from the same fault. Often they co-exist — both engendered simultaneously — the one still further increasing the other. The cause ia each case is rowing the finish of the stroke with the arms only, the body havinsr ceased, or nearly ceased, to work. The legs work instinctively on behalf of the body, and the body depends on the legs. If the legs leave off pressing the stretcher before the hands Set home, the bodjr stops work, and is ragged forward again by the finish. Or, again, if the body ceases to swing back, and leaves the arms to finish alone, the legs generally slacken their pressure simm* taneously by instinct, and the result is that the body is pulling forward by the work of the arms. Another result is that the arms, heavily tasked to row the oar home by them* selves, find the oar go easier edgeways than square in the water. They either bring it out too soon,finishing in the air, or they first rise above the proper level and sink the oar, and then lower again, and bring it back to its level and out of the water. This up- and-down journey keeps time while the other men are rowing the stroke home in the ordinary way, and is less exertion to the arms than rowing the oar out square fly their own unaideo such a roiie that i-existent tie haods per level en it is mghfc, is vu sharp, it up by ready to ainst it a of the iess ac. that is s water ccuracy with a ITS. lution- scoyni. ohave J such them, les of -were •se of »wing vork, leats. light ilea ; ider- •n to that bad edi- old ,de. ing hat so lies to have in addition the extra action and power whioh is essentially characteristic of the 'slide.' Even bad crews adopting sliding ■eats at short notice, and with bat an embryo knowledfice of how to ase them, gained at once such a palpable accession of speed that it was plain that if sliding with bad rowing could do thus much, slidiag combined with good rowing could effect still more. Sliding on the seat had bcietn practised for some years before the sliding came in. The strain of drawing the body up and down with the 1ms was not too great at the slower stroke which scullers use ; ]But at the quicker stroke which is applied in rowing, quicker on the average by six to even ten. strokes per minute, the strain upon the legs was too great to allow of its beins used for any'length of time. Renforth's Champioa Four used to slide on fixed seats for a spurt, but not for any prolonged distance. Somehow it never seemed to strike English oarsmen that, though the bugbear of sliding was confess- edly friotion upon the seat, the whole machine might be simplified by making the seat slide with the body, instead of the body slide upon the seat. To the late Walter Brown this adaptation is theoretically due. He had wits to see that if the body was to slide upon the seat, it was simpler that it should do so upon a false seat, itself sliding upon the real seat below. An En jlish crew on their return from America speedily put into execration a sliding seat, and its value was practically proved in the great four- oared race that took place ou the Tyue in November, 1871. James Taylor, who had meantime perfected the »vrinkle whii;h he had picked up in the New World, in the crew composed of James Taylor, Thomas Winship, Joseph Sadler and Robert Bagnall, persuaded his crew to adopt his plan. This use of the novelty was kept carefully dark to the last moment from their opponents, and tae race, when it came ofiF, was most hollow, owing chiefly to the use of the sliding seat. Chambers' crew was nowhere. A couple of sculling races on the Thames in the follow, ing Spring more fully proved the utility of the sliding seat. It added power and ^peed without in any way detracting from powers of endurance, as had been formerly the case where wli'Ung was practised on tixed seats. Not that those who slid (sculling) on fixed seats had been the worse or slower in the long run for so doing. Those who attempted it in rowing, to a greater extent than for mere spurts, had been the losers in the long run by it, for the reasons above explained. But the removal of the bugbear of friction at once established conolnsively the value of the novelty, and from that hour it gained rapid recognition among rowing men. Before the season of 1872 came to an end hardly a race was rowed by oarsmen of any pretensions ex- cept on the new principle. The sin^ple^t method of appreciating what is the action on a sliding seat is to recall for an instant the action of body and legs upon a fixed seat. On the latter the body does the main work of the stroke, but is supported and kept in the position necessary for this work by a rigid resistance of the legs against the stretcher. The length of that stretcher on a fixed seat is, or should be, the shortest at which the pupil can clear his knees with his hands in the recovery. Upon a fixed seat mechanical and physical power are to some extent in antagonism. The body would have more physical power the shorter the stretcher was placed, but if shortened Vieyond a certain point it causes the knees to be so bent that the hands can only clear them by raising the rowlock to a higher level, and so forfeiting a certain amount of mechan. ical power. Hence a compromise between mechanics and physique is effected, and the stretcher is placed only so short, and the knees are only so bent, as not to sacrifice mechanical power by placing the rowlock too high. On a fixed seat the body swings upon a fixed pivot. On A' sliding seat the pivot itself moves fore and aft, while the body swings upon it, and the arc described by the body is correspondingly enlarged. The arc described on a fixed seat is circular, similar to that which a spoke of a wheel revolving, but not progressing, would describe. The legs on sliding seats may be said to exercise the same average support to the body as they do on a fixed seat, and the body, mean- time describing a larger arc, does a corres- ponding extra amount of work. Although the reach of stroke that a slide on the seat alone — devoid of motion of body — w.uld attain, would be, from its very sli rtness, less effective in propelling n boat than a less powerful but longer stroke roweii 'ly the body without a slide, vet when this .slide comes to be coupled with a very small amount of swing, such an amount as would not be dignified with the name ot rowing,' on a fixed seat, the tw * combined produce more propelling power than can be obt lined from the mere body stroke on the fixed seat. The theory of sliding should be simply this : 1, That the body does its own work, as heretofore on a fixed seat. '2. That the legs back up the body as be- fore, but, instead of a mere rigid resistance as formerly, simply propping the pivot of action in its place while the body hingeer, and a wider rowlock is needed for sculling than for rowing, from the sharper an(;le which the scull, compared to the oar, makes with the rowlock (when the body is forward), from the fact of its being shorter inboard. If he confines his reach in his first essay to that suffered by narrow rowlocks, he will, when he comes to reach out more fully in the wider row- locks of a scuUing-boat, find his hands not ' together' in the mcreased reach, but one fetting into the water before the other, he best way to hold his sculls, so as to avoid cramp of wrists, and to prevent his hand shiftmg away from the end ot the scull when greasy from perspiration (thus losing leverage), is to let the upper joint of the thumb * cap' the end of the handles. Let him put his stretcher as short as he can possibly bear it, and of course commence with a fixed seat, even if he has been ever so Si-ohoient in rowing upon a slide. He will ave enough to do in thinking how to get hid hatids in and out of water together, when commencing sculling, to have any spare attention to bestow upon sliding, and it he practises the latter without thought he may breed faults for which he will be sorry nereaftt r. Let him choose a pair of sculls that lie true in the rowlocKS, and, if possible, lut hiua. get a proficient to test the true bearing of the sculls for him before he uses them, that he may know whether tmerenness in their action be the result of misfortune or of fault. The amount that they should overlap at the hands is to some extent entirely a matter for his own taste, but if he has no taste in the matter he will find five inches a safe medium. Let him spend his first two or three days, if not more, in long, steady practice in his gig. The same principles that he learnt in rowing — of straight arms when the water is first caught, use of back, loins and legs— he must still put in force. But he should keep his arms straight for a longer distance of swing, and may go muoh farther back before he begins to liend his arms and to bring them into his body than when rowing. As his arms begin to near the body he may bring himself up by them, pull himself ud to his sculls at the finish, a thing which with his oar he should not do. A sculler should endeavour to do as much work hecaniwith stiff arms, his body and loins doing the main duty ; he may go back almost to his full available distance bofore he bends arms at all ; if he were then to continue to go back still farther all the time that his arms were coming in to the body, he would fo back too far for his power of recovery, f he were to stop his body for his arms to overtake it, he would be during that time making no use of his body, and wasting time with it ; but by com- mencing recovery with the body before the arms have come home he economizes his body, wastes no time, eases his recovery, and prevents his boat's head from burying. So much for the action of body and arms ; his hands must acquire special attention. He must try to time them to the tenth of a second, that the sculls shall fall into the water simultaneously, and shall leave the water with wrists simultaneously turned, at the same instant. It' he does not acquire this knack in the gig to some extent he wUi find himself all abroad in a wager-boat. S soon as he has some confidence in the eve° 18 THE MODERN OABSMAN. action of his hands (which long and pains- taking rows will beat attain) he can go into a wager- boat. When tirst he so promotes hinaself he must, call all his oarinanship into play. He must 'ait' the boat for himself ; no one else will do it for him. He must not trust to his sculls to steady the boat on the recovery, nut let them alobber along the surface of the water to preserve balance. He must drop his hands and lift thn sculls boldly out wnen the stroke is finiste;'^ Roll at first he will, but for this he must make up hia miud, ami must try to counteract it by balance ui his body, and by sitting tight, not by sliding his sculls along the surface of the water to steady himself. If he does this last he may counteract unsteadiness, but will never acquire the art of balance, nor cure the faults that caused him to roll — will rather add to them by feathering under wat- er, and will lose inches and inches of shoot each stroke by thus fouling the water. HaJf the crab-like contorticms that junior, and even senior, scullers display (one arm bent over the other, one shoulder shrugged, one arm longer in the reach than the other, or one rowed home, and the other finishing nohes away from his chest) may be traced to uneven sculls or work whieh prevent the body from throwing equal weight upon each arm. It is true that Uiauy scullers spring at once to a wager-boat without au apprentice- ship in a steady gig, but they do not become proficient any sooner for so doing, and many a sculler in a wager-boat who cannot get his hands in time, and spoils his style and stead- iness in consequunce, would obviate half his difficulties if he would condescend to do two or three long rows in a well laid-out gig, Eaying specif attention to the uniformity of is handB. Steering is an all-important accomplish- ment for a sculler, not only to save diatiance, but also to avoid riak of fouling when he comes to racing. If the courae is pretty clear the sculler will soon learn not to trust to looking round more than to get his boat's head straight for the reach of water in ^hich he is, and then he will keep his eyes on the stern of hia boat, and regulate that by some distant object ashore, as an artilleryman lays a gun, so as to keep the straight line in which he has laid his boat. It stands to reason that he shortens the reach of the arm on which side he turns his head to look be- hind him, and loses his Duwer. As he gets to know a particular course well, he will fall back each time upon the same steerage points for guidance, and those who hkve sculled to utter distress 'can appreciate the gain of being able to take up, almost by force of habit, and without any exertion of calculation in the mind, each necessary steerage point in turn over a well-known course. As he watches hia boat's stern the sculler will be able to judge of the evenness of the fiction of his hands. He jan see whether they work evenly throi'.ghout the stroke, or whether one rows the other round in the tirst part, and has to slacken to allow the other to bring the boat straight in the finish of the stroke. If this is done, he will see that not only does he loose ground by the boat's wake being thus an elongated Z at each stroke, but also he loses power by one hand work- ing weaker than the other at one time, and the other at another. If he can bring the the hand that is weakest in the first part of the stroke up to the level of the other, he will gain not only in this, but will also no longer have to waste strength with the other hand at the finish. In his steering he must be on the watch to correct the first begin- ning of deviation from his course, and to ad- just the work of each hand accordingly. In time he will learn te keep his stem- post true to his steerage object, without havins con- stantly to awake to the consciousness uiat he is many degrees out of his due line, and so having not only to waste strength in rectify- ing it, but also to lose ground in returning to his lost track. Steerage apparatus now takes muchjof the labour on the arms of right- ing the boat in its course ; but a beginner wul learn best to work evenly with both hands if at first he dispenses with such ap> paratus. The power of rectifying uneven- ness by a touch of the foot upon the steerage lever tempts many a man to be careless of studying even work of both hands, which would obviate constant appliance of the rud- der. Beisdes, the best fitted rudder must more or less 'draw' the water, and so check ' way;' and so on smooth water a sculler who can use his hands evenly, and can steer a ' good course without it, nor has many tortuous corners , to navigate, will go faster without a rudder than with one. Length of stroke tells in any craft, but more in a sculling than a rowing boat The longer the stroke the less frequent repetition it requires, and, cht refore, the slower can be the swing fr^-wa'd. This latter not only tells upon thf ;^-hy8ique of the sculler, by sparing the strain of recovery, but it also tells upon the travel of the boat, for a quick rush forward ducks the stern under water, and causes the boat to lose way, not only from being out of the plane of the water, but also from the weight of water lying for the instant upon her canvas, which increases the ' surface resistance ' (or the extent of superficies of the hull, which is brought into contact with the water, and so into friction with wate It than the each his than end of in THE MODERN OARSMAN. 19 at io turn le wfttohei be able to bioa of hia hey work r whether tirat part, ) other to Liah of the ee that not KMt's wake :h atroke, aid work- time, and bring the rat part of I other, he ill alao no 1 the other ig he muat Irat be^iin- and to ad- ingly. In i-^oat tme ivina oon- easuiat he ae, and ao in reotify- returning ratua now oa of right* i beginner with both auoh ap* uneven- le ateerage iareleaa of ida, whioh >f the rud- ider muat ao check luller who can ateer nor haa will go one. iraft, but oat The repetition ower can r not only luller, by it it alao )r a quick er water, not only lie water, lying for increases extent of )Ught into 9 friction with and attraction to the partiolea of water). It ia potaible to aouU a much longer atroke than can be rowed. The reach forward of the body haa the aame approximate limita in each oaae. If anything, a aouller can reach hia hauda an inch or two farther forward than the oaraman, for the 'atter just at the end of hia reach haa hia handle a little inside of him, hia anna sloping across him, and not square to his body. The aouller is not thua cramped ; hia arma ahoot out stjuare to hia body on each aide. But it ii in the awing back that the aouller gaina moatly in reach. If the orraman goea too far back before bending hia arma, the end of hia nar-handle liea inside his body, and his power of finish, especially with the inside arm, is hampered, for the forearm can then no longer be paral- lel to the body. If bis oar were made long enough inboard to enable him to go as far back aa a aouller, it would cauae hia arma to be lying outside hia body when the oar was at right anglea to the gunwale, the period of the stroke when the mechanical power is greateat. A aculler, on the other nand, ia alwaya able to throw hia weight in a direct line ; hia hands, though nearer or farther from each other at various periods of the stroke, always bear a strain correaponding in direction in the oaae of each, i. e., the i'oint direction of the two powers, right and eft according to a ' parallelogram of forces,' would be in a line with the keel of the boat. Thus, however far the sculler goes back, his hands jointly never pull out of the line of keel. So that it comea to this : the atroke of the oaraman ia limited in length, becauae, beyond a certain angle of the oar with the gunwale, the body and arms cannot do their work in the plane of the keel nor in the same plane with each other. The stroke of the sculler is unfettered in this respect, and is limited eventually only by mechanifal requirements (the limit of the angle which the scull can make with the thowl, without looking) and by the demands of recovery. This latter, even on a fixed seat, is easier work than in rowing, for the body when far back can pull up to the sculls. In rowing, as said above, this pulling up is not practis- ed, because (1) with a medium swing back it is not wanted, and the body should con- tinue to go back until the hands overtake it; (2) with a swing back as far as sculling ad- mits of, an oarsman would be unable to re- cover himself squarely by his oar-handle, for it would be outside his body, and out of the true plane. If, therefore, recovery is a mat- ter of greater ease in sculling than in row- ing (compared to the length of reach), even on a fixed seat, it is^obvious that on a sliding seat there should be leas difficulty in the re- turn swing. The fact that the arma of the aculler are always jointly working in a line with the keel, and thus he ia enabled to take a longer awing than in rowing, explains why, aa a matter of practice, double- aouUing is faater than pair-oar rowing. Since, therefore, the body ahould awing farther back in aouUing than in rnwing, and slide should always be extensive with swing, it is obvious that the legs must extend themselves more slowly in sculling than in rowinff, else the body will have no leg- work left to drive it back the latter portion of the swing. As in rowing, the slide should never be ao long (or the stretcher too far from the seat) aa to allow the lega to be straight at the end of the slide. If they are allowed to straighten, not only is the latter portion of the swing weakened, but the powers of recovery are also hampered, for the muscles of the legs, when straight, being ' at a dead point,' atart at a diaadvan- tage. The aouller ahould be careful not to let the finiah of atroke with the arma be anything like a jerk. Aa aaid above, the bodjr ahould be just commencing to recover daring the last part of the beud of the arms. If the body waits for the arms, and the latter come into the chest with a ' swish,' the only re* suit is that the boat's head is buried, and ' way ' lost. On a sliding seat the sculls, like oars, should be a trifle longer inboard, and, of course, in proportion outboard. This ia to prevent the handa being too|far apart at the extreme reach forwarda and backwarda. SouUa for a alidin^ aeat may be aa much aa aix or aix-and- a-half inchea overhand, if the sculler make sure of going back till his hands clear the ribs at the finish on each side of his body. If he does not go so far back ss^his, then he will do better with less overhand soulls, but with the first-named work snd action of body he will command most pace. A scull- er may take this as a rule, that his arms should remain straight and his body be ^oing back till after his sculls have ' opened ' in the swing back, i.e., till they aie no longer overhand. This he can only secure by keep- ing a judicious reserve of slide and leg- work up to the last. Since the shorter the stretcher is, the more power will be attained, it is necessary that the hands should clear the knees on the re- covery as soon as possible, else even in smooth water they will not get by afterwards. When once the hands have got in front of the knees the slide forward should, as in the recovery of rowing, be completed rapidly, in advance of the body, thus giving an impetus THE MODERN OARSMAH. to the body forward, and Miins the itrain of the ftbdomiDal muioles in Rwiugiu^ the body forward the last part of t]^e reach. The arma ihould shoot to full stretch as qaiokly as they can after the hands have cleared the knees. This throws the shoulders back, aids respiration, and is also the most advantageous position for the arms to carry the weight of the soulls ferward. No pair of souUs if ever the worse for an ounce or two of lead let into the butts of the handles. Any sculler who tries this will be nurpriseii to find how it eases the weight of the sculls outboard, with- out adding any perceptible burden to the cargo of the boat. When forward the hands will be muoh lower than the knees. In the swing back, the hands shduld, with work and stretcher properly laid out, pass over the knees just at th« instant when the knees have lowered themselves sufficiently to admit of the passage. It stands to reason that they cannot pass sooner, and if they pass later, it shows that the slide has been too rapid in proportion to the swing. No sculler is a proKoient till he is at home in rough water and work. To manoeuvre the former he must he able to drop his hands well when required, and to drop them evenly and simultaneously, else his trim is spoilt. A good sculler can go through rougher water than oars can, for thedroppf thehaudselevates the blade of a scull more than that of an oar. If water is very rough, a sculler must judge for himself whether he muse not drop his hands and get them in advance of his knees before he commences to bend the latter at all. His recuvery is slower for so doing, but it is surer and freer from concus- sion with waves. In starting on a strong tide, with the boat's stern held, the »culls must be flat to the water till the word is given, else the rush of water asiaiiiat the blades will strain the boat, and perhaps pull the sculler off his seat. Even with sculls thus fiat to the last, it is difficult to turn each so simultaneously that each should catch an equal amount of water the Hrst stroke. If they do not, not only is the boat's couiao marred at the out- set, but the form of the sculler is hampered for the next few strokes, and there is an off chance for an upset even for a good sculler. It is safer, and does not loose many feet of start on the first stroke, not to pull for- ward at first, to go forward a few inches more after the word tu start is given, and then to commence, with ovmnniiss of sculls insured. In comparatively still water this caution is unnecessary. A sculler should get away briskly, but it sbad policy to push ror a lead at the price of forcing the pace beyond the sculler '9 best average speed. To a good aoaller (of sood pluck) who can sit his Doat, the wash of an opponent does but little comparative harm, far less than would a burst .at starting at a pace which he could not maintain. A sculler will always improve himself by practising sculling in the wash of another. Since a sculler should endeavour iu a race to select his beat pace for the whole course, and not to be troubled at » lead, it is necess- ary for him to know instiootivelv what his best pace is. This he will learn if he tries himself day after day at various points over his course, aud notes whether, as he increas- es his stroke, his times from point to point bear the same relative proportions to the time of the entire course. He can thus judge whether extra speed at the outset sacrifioes staying power farther on. He must only judge proportionately of his distances and times, tor wind and stream may make the time of the whole coarse vary from day to day. In sculling on a tide against a head wind, and rough water it should be borne in mind that a ecnlling-boat, being by its light weight easily influenoed by wind, and holding less way and momentum than a larger boat, suffers more by opposition of wind and waves in mid- tide, than it loses by loss of stream at the more sheltered sides of the river, where stream is weaker. '< 3 • <> .i* 7 ■ FOURS WITHOUT COXSWAINS. - Fours without coxswains is, when proper- ly manned and found, more conducive to good rowing than any other class of light boat. So long as coxswains were carried, a four-oar was the hardest craft to ' sit' well of any. Though some inaccuracy in the rowing will be (supposing the coxswain sits still) the first cause of a roh in a boat, yet, once set ingnotion, that rolling is enhanced to a great extent by the helplessness of the coxswain. The oarsman can right himself and regain his balance from his oar, which serves him much as a balancing -pole does a rope-dancer. But the coxswain has no such support ; he falls helplessly from side to side with each lurch, and without being to blame for the originid mischief, makes bad to worse by his helpless- ness. But wit ti the absence of a coxswain this feature disappears. Unevenness may still exist in the rowing, but the roll thus commenced has no longer the same cause to exaggerate it, and to continue it after the primary mischief has come to an end. The four that carries no coxswain rights itself in- stantaneously after a lurch, and in less than half the time that a man takes to recover from the stroke, or to row one throuji^h, sqcb THE MODERN OARSMiN. n where a boat may roll and right itMlf agoin. The oarsmen who oan ' uv the boat against a roll have also au easier task, for they have only themselves aad the boat to balaooe, and have not an extra loose ond helpless body that re<}ttires balancing of itself. Under these oiroumstanoes the form of the men rowing should be saperior, especially in a raw crew, than when hampered with a cox* swain. Besides this ^n in steadiness, there should also be a gain in length of reach ; or at least that tendenoy to get short, which is often painfully evident in a second-class tired four, carrying a heavy coxswain of 112 lbs. and upwards, should be obviated with the removal of the coxswain. Thus all- round rowing should improve in a coxswain* less four. If he is a go(Kl steerman he needs but seldom to look round, so far as the course itself is concerned apart from obstructions. 1m^ STEERING APPARATUS. In steering a ooxswainless four, the main difficulty consists not so much in the know< ing how to steer, but in the choice of asuita* ble apparatus. Considering that scullers and pairs of the old fashion, with no steering ap* pendage, used often to steer a course as good as that of eights or fours who had the advan* tage of coxswain via-a-vi» to his destination, there should be no reason why a four should not, with the aid of rudder, be steered as truly aa pairs or sculliug-boats. That such has not been the case as a rale must be as* oribed to the apparatus used. Two apparatuses have been tried. One con- sisted of bars projecting from the stretcher, at right angles to it, on either side of one of the steerer's feet. By pressing laterally against either of these he worked his rudder. Another, brought out hy J. H. Claaper, con- sisted of the same principle, but, instead of the foot lying loosely between the two bars, it was fitted into a shoe, which was attached to the stretcher, and which, when moving laterally either way, worked the rudder. Anyboay may steer in a four except stroke. The best waterman, if not short-sighted, ought to have the task ; but it is almost as easy from three or two as from bow seat, it is not worth wYiilfi shifting a man forward in the beat out of his best place simply be- cause he has to steer. In oommeaoiag pair- oar practice the great thing is not to row ' jealous' of each other. The lighter the pad- dling the better — no attempt of the one to row the other round. The study should be to get the action homogeneous — the return of the arms and drop of wrists simultaneous— ear guiding as mnoh aa eye. The apparatus above recomenrled for four-oar steering will in a pair still more surpass the other appara* tttsea alluded to, for the strength and even- ness of action economised thereby must tell its tale still more when numbers are reduced. A well-fltted, thin metal rudder would not cause so much proportionate drag to a pair as to a sculler, and so would be almost al- ways a gain. Only with a most even pair, on a dead, straight course, and with not a breath of wind, would the absence of rudder be a gain, and then but a amall one. At the same time it cannot be denied that the appli- cation of rudders to pairs and soullers,though, like Columbus's egg, simple enough, once mooted, will go far to destroy that perfection of watermanship which formerly was found in flrst-olass pair-oar rowing. If a man can steer with a rudder one partner well, he needs no practice, in steering at least, for a new partner. The stronger man of two equally good watermen should steer. It matters not whether he rows stroke or bow. The old idea that bow 'ex-offioio' should steer is a farce. If anything, stroke has more advantage for accuracy, for he oan see the whole line of tiie canvas, so as to lay it on the steerage point. The weaker man being then the bow, the steerer has simply to row his hardest, and the stronger in the straight reaches adjusts the line of the boat from stroke to stroke, or even half-stroke tr. half-stroke, with his eyes on the stern-post. When there comes a corner too heavy for the stronger to row round without a slacken from his fellow, he must give his orders, and the one under order should remember that a single stroke rowed with strength contrary to that desired by the steering man may lose lengths by throwing him out of all calcula- tion, especially in rounding a curve. There is nothing like partners who thoroughly un- derstand each other, never row excitedly, but always are on the alert each to perform his own share and to trust his partner to do his. W. B. Woodgate's ideas of the proper dimensions so as to produce the best work are as follows : DuiENsioNs OF Work. . V'. . ScHEDULB A. — Fixed Seats for Eight or Four Oars : — . , . , ■ _ -' ■ '- 'ft' ■" iit' -; Length inboard .3 6 ' Length outboard . 9 Total ... 12 6 I Width of blade at top, 5^ inches. j BowIjOCX. — Height above seat, 3 inches- 22 THE MODERN OARSMAN. Diitanoe of thowl from front edge of teAt, 13 inohet. N. B.— The dtitMoe is not meMured u direct liae«r ineaeurei — aUuting from one to the other — bat from the perpeiidionlar plane of the thowl to the perpendiouUr plane of the edge of the eeat. Stkktchkr. — licngth from top of itretoher to front edge of seat, 2ft. 4in. for a lix-foot man of ordinary make and sHapu. For eaoh inch less or more itature add or subtract aeven-eiiihteentha of an inch from the Htretoher (rather more than one-thini). Aa an average measurement, it may be taken that the length of a man's Htretoher. from top of Htretoher to seat, on a fixed seat, should be about seven-eighteenths of his entire height. 81.0PR OF Stkbtohkr should be about 5^ inches i. e., the heels should be 5^ iuobes nearer to the perpendicular plane of the front of the seat than the top of the stretcher is to the same. ,' ) [ .'. Hill " !''■ *' Schedule B. — For Sliding Seats. Oar. — Length inboard, 8 ft. 7^ in. to 8 ft. 8 in., according to length of slide. - '■ • LatiifCh oucb >ard, 9 ft. 1^ in. Width of blade at top, 6 in. Rowlock. — Height above plane of seat, 7i to 71 in. Distance from slide when full forward, 9 to 9^ in. Stretcher. — Length from front of slide full forward, to top of stretcher, 24 in. for a six-foot man. Slope of Stretcher. — 6 in. The length of a sliding seat stretnher should be one-third of the entire height of the man. For a Pair-oar, the hei^^ht of rowlock and length of stretcher should be the same. The length of oar should be less. (Assuming that the beam of the boat, and length of iron of outriggers, are proportion- ately less than in an eight) the length of oar should be : inboard, 3 ft. 5^ in, ; outboard, 8 ft. 10 in. ; width of blade, 5^ in. The oar must, however, be to a great ex- tent accommodated to the build of the pair. For a Sculling- boat. — Width between outriggers, 5 ft. Length of scull inboard, 2 ft. 9 in. ; out- board, 7 ft. 5 in. Widtii uf blade, 5 in. for a 154 lbs. sculler. The other dimensions for sliding-seats, and height of rowlock, length of stretcher, and distance from work, should be the same as for a sculling-boat. A sculler of long reach may, however, with advantage place himself half an inoh to an inch farther from his work than he oouUl sit for rowing. BOATING RULES. Oovkrninu OxKoRn AND Oamhriikje Uni^ VKMMITtlW ANI»TltK I'KINCirAL BoAT Cluiw in London. 1. All boAt raoes shall he started in the follitwiiig manner :— The starter, on being HutisHed that the cnmDetitnra are ready, shall give the signal to start. 2. If the starter considers the start false htt shall at once recall the boats to their stations, and any boat refusing to start again shall be disqualified. ' 2. Any boat not at its post at the time speoified shall be liable to be disqnalititx^ by the umpire. 4. The umpiie may act as starter as he thinks Ht. When he does not act the starter shall be subject to his control. 5. Each l>oat shall keep its own water throughout the race, and any boat depart- ing from its own water will do so at its peril. 6. A boat's own water is its straight course, parellel with those of the other com- peting boats, from the station assigned to it at tke starting to the finish. 7. The umpire shall be sole judge of a boat's own water and proper course during the race. 8. No fouling whatever shall be allowed ; . the boat committing a foul shall be dia* qualified. 9. It shall be considered a foul when, after the race has commenced, any compet- itor by his oar, boat or person, comes into contact with the oar, boat or person of another competitor, unless in the opinion of the umpire such a contact is so slight as not I to influence the race. I 10. The umpire may, during a race oau- i tion any competitor when in danger of com- i mitting a foul. 11. The umpire, when appealed to, shall ' decide all questions as to a foul. I 12 A claim of foul must be made to the judge or the umpire by the competitor him- self before getting out of his boat. 13. In case of a foul the umpire shall have the power ; first, to place the boats, except . the boat committing the foul, which is dis- i qualified, in the order in which they come in ; second, to order the boats engaged in the race, other than the boat committing the foul, to row over again on the same or another day ; third, to restart the qualified boats from the place where the foul was committed. .. r c THE MODERN OARSMANj! I 28 14. Every boat ■h»ll abide by it« aooi- denta. Ifi. No boats ahall be allowed to aooom- pany a oompetitor for the purpose uf direct- in({ hia oourae or affoniing him other aMsiat »Doe. The boat receiviD||{ auoh direotiona or aatiatanoe ahall be diaquAlitied at the diH- oretion of the umpire. 16. The juriadiotion of the umpire ex* tends over the^ race, and all mattera oon^ nected with it from the time the race is apeoihed to start until its final termination, and his decision in all oasea ahall be final •nd without appeal. 17. Any oompetitor refusins to abide by the deoision or to follow the dfreotion of the umpire shall be disqualified. 18. The umpire, if he thinks proper, may reserve his decision, provided that in every case such decision b« given on the day of the race. N. B. The above rulea also governed the aingle souUing championship professional matches of England with occasional sli(|(ht alterations, and were adopted at a meeting of representatives of twenty-three leading Amateur Boat (/lubs, from various sections of this country, held in New York City, Aug. 29th, 1872, with the exception of ad- ding thereto the subjoined rules : 19. Boats shall be started by their sterns, and shall have completed their course when the bows reach the finish. 20. In turning races each oompetitor ahall have a separate turing atake and shall turn from port to starboard. Any com- petitor may turn anjr stake other than his own, but does so at his peril. Dbfikition 07 AN Amatuer Soulleb or Oarsman. The following was settled and adopted by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the principal Boat Clubs in London, on the 10th April, 1878 : ' An amatuer oarsman or sculler must be au officer of Her Majesty's Army or Xavy, or Civil Service, a member of the liberal pro- fessions, or of the University or public schools, or of any established boat or rowing club not containing mechanics or profession- als ; and must not have competed in any competition for either a stake, or money, or entrance-fee, or with or against a profes- sional for any prize ; nor have ever taught, pursued, or assisted in the pursuit of athle- tic exercises of any kind as a means of liveli- hood ; nor have ever been employed in or about boats or in a manual labour ; nor be a mechanic, artisan, or labourer. " RULL ' OP THE ROWING A8800IA. T10N01< A MERICAN COLLEGES. 1. Anv boat not .1: itn post at the time specitied xhati 'm liablt) i / )>e disqualified by tilt impire. 2. / )l raoei shall iii^ started in the follow* ing man., The starter shflH ask the ques- tion, ' Arc- y I ready T" and receiving no re- ply, after waiting at least three seoumU, shall give the signal to start. 3. It the umpire considers the start false, he shall at once recall the crews to their stations ; and any boat refusing to start again shall be disqualified. 4. A start shall be considered falae if, during the first ten strokes, any of the com- peting boata ahall be disabled by the break- ing of an oar or any other accident. o. Each boat shall keep its own water throughout the race, and any boat departing from its own water shall be disqualified. 6. A boat's own water is its buoyed oonrse from the station assigned to it at starting to the finish, and the umpire shall he sole judge of a boat's deviation from its own water during the race. 7. No fouling whatever shall be allowed ; the boat committing the foul shall be disquali- fied. It shall be considered a foul when, after the race nas commenced, any oompetitor, by his own oar, boat or person, comes into con- tact with the oar, boat or person of another competitor, unless, in the opinion of the um- pire, such contact is so slight as nou to influ- ence the race. 9. A claim of foul must be made to the umpire by the oompetitor himself previous to his setting out of the boat. 10. The umpire, when appealed to, but not before, shall decide all questions as to a foul. 11. In the event of a foul, the umpire shall have the power : (A) To place the boats, except the boat committing the foul, which is disqualified in the order in which they come in, provided that the fouled boat comes iu first, or that the first boat had a sufficient lead at the time of the foul to war- rant the race beinc; assigned to it. (6) If the fouled boat does not come in first, or if unable to decide which boat is iu error, to order such of the leading boats to row over again as in his opinion are entitled to anoth- er competition. 12. Every boat shall abide by its acci* dents. 13. In the event of a dead heat taking place, the same orews to contend again, or the crew or crews refusing shall be adjudged to have lost the race. 24 THE MODGRK OARSMAN. 14. No boftt shall be allowed to aeoom- pany a competitor for the purpose of direct- ing hia oourae or affording him other assist- ance. Any boat receiring saoh direction or assistance shall be disqualified at the discre- tion of the umpire. 15. The jurisdiction of the umpire ex- tends over the race, and all matters connect- ed with it, from the time the race is specifi- ed to start until iti final termination, and his decision in all oases shall be final and without appeal. 16. Any competitor refusing to abide by the decision, or to follow the directions of the umpire, shall be disqualified. 17. Boats shall be started by their sterns, and shall have completed their course when the bowB reach the finish. THE END. .»A-*'