ROW I M . 



hold being retained by the np|ier joints of the 

 fingers and by the thumb. Thu mode of holding 

 the oar give* freer play to the wrist-joint* for the 

 feather, of which more anon. The Uxly being 

 thus extended, and the legs O|H*II| at the knees to 

 allow the Ixxly free s wing forward, and the hands 

 than Km*! 1 '"- tin- oar handle, then the -Iroke U 

 begun by raising the hands enough to allow the 

 blade of the oar to sink into the water tquare. (It 

 LH most ini|Nirtant that the blade should ! square 

 to the plane of the surface of the watci : otherwise, 

 M soon an the stroke commence*, the blade fails to 

 preserve it* own plane, and sinks too deep, r 

 springs out of water, according an the face of it is 

 inclined at an obtuse or acute angle to the water. ) 

 When the oar has lieen thus lowered into the 

 water, by raising the hands over the stretcher, tho 

 stroke should commence sharply, by bracing the 

 muscles of back, loins, shoulders, and legs, and 

 throwing the body backwards, swinging from the 

 hips, the feet firmly pressing against the stretcher, 

 the arms rigid ; so that the weight of the body is 

 eased as much as posHiMe off the seat, and U trans- 

 ferred to the oar-handle and the stretcher. When 

 the body has reached the |x>r|>endicular, in the 

 swing, bark the arms should begin to come in. The 

 action of bringing them in should be from the 

 shoulders, the elbow-joints gradually bending, but 

 the forearm remaining as near as possible parallel 

 to the water. The ' biceps ' should not be exerted, 

 else the forearms bend upwards, the hands rise, 

 and the blade buries. The body should not ' wait ' 

 for the arms and hands to overtake it : it should 

 lie still swinging back till the hands overtake it. 



When the hands reach the breast-tame they 

 should be sharply dropped about two inches : 

 this raises the oar out of the water. After this 

 drop of hands they should be turned sharply 

 from the wrists till the knuckles touch the Imdy. 

 This turn produces the 'feather.' If the turn is 

 made too soon, before the hands have reached the 

 chest, the action is faulty, and produces what is 

 called 'feather under water,' by turning the oar 

 edgewise in the water instead of after the oar has 

 left the water. So soon as the drop and turn of 

 wrist* has ended and ' feather' has been performed, 

 the ' recovery ' should commence. The body should 

 instantly, and without ' hang ' or delay, commence 

 to swing forward again like a pendulum. The 

 hands should at the same instant lie shot out and 

 the arms extended, reaching their extension l>v the 

 time that the hotly has once more attained* the 

 perpendicular in it* forward swing. The swing 

 should continue forward till full reach has been 

 attained for a new stroke ; then once more the 

 hands should lie raised, the oar lowered into the 

 water, and a new stroke rowed. In rowing liehind 

 another oarsman the eyes should catch the back in 

 front of the oarsman, who should take time and 

 swing from it keeping 'eyes in the boat.' The 

 oarsman at first find* it difficult to 'govern' his 

 blade i.e. to keep it in the right plane and at 

 the correct elevation or depression, according to 

 whether he i* rowing the stroke or is 'recovering.' 

 In time his wrist* Income more apt, and time their 

 action to the ever varying |xmilions of the body. 

 The more he attends to a correct grasp of his oar- 

 handle the easier will lie the play of his wrists, 

 and the greater facility will he find in regulating 

 the plane of his blade. It has been said before 

 that the blade should lie 'square' to the water 

 throughout the stroke. So it appears to the oars- 

 man ; but in well constructed lioaU the Mhowl'is 

 slightly im-lined in the direction in which the oars- 

 man is looking: this inrliiiation gives the oar- 

 blade a correspondingly slight inclination forward, 

 making it dracrilf a trifle less than a rectangle 

 with the water, and so obviates any tendency to 



row 'deep.' It will suffice if the beginner thinks 

 of keeping his blade 'square;' and the Kinall devia- 

 tion from the square, reducing the angle th.v 

 effected bv the slope of the thowl for his lienrlit, 

 will then oe produced naturally by the mechanism 

 ol his work. If this inclination of the thowl is 

 made t<n> great the oar ha a tendency to fly out of 

 the water. 



To stop the way of a lioat she should be ' held. ' 

 This is uone by laying the blade flat, and thus 

 slightly sinking the edge which lies towards the 

 diiection in which the boat U travelling. This 

 causes the blade to bury at an acute angle to the 

 plane of the water. This checks the way until it is 

 reduced enough to allow the oarsman to turn the 

 Made square, reverse wny, and to ' back ' water. If 

 he tries to back water with any pace on, before he 

 has first ' held ' the boat, the resistance to his blade 

 not only risks fracture, but is likely to lie beyond 

 his strength, to lav him flat on his back, and to make 

 him catch a crab.' In backing wuter the process 

 of the stroke, descrilied aliove, should be reversed, 

 so far as circumstances will allow i.e. the oarsman 

 has no stretcher to press against, and is ' pushing ' 

 with his weight instead of ' pulling.' In most 'tub* 

 IH iats, and in all racing boats, straps are laid across 

 the stretcher, to hold the feet at t he instep, and so 

 to facilitate recovery. The strap should only be 

 used as an adjunct to recovery, not as the sole 

 means : the loins should plav their part in swing- 

 ing the body forwards ; and" the arms, by being 

 rapidly shot out, should aid the action of the loins. 

 If a tyro is found to rely too much on his strap, a 

 mentor may with advantage remove the strap until 

 proper use of the loins has been effected. 



Sculling. In sculling each hand holds one scull, 

 instead of there being two hands on one oar as in 

 'rowing.' The principles of action of body, Tegs, 

 and arms are the same as in rowing, except that the 

 body, when sculling, may with advantage lie swung 

 farther back at each stroke than in rowing. The 

 grip of a -cull should lie on the same principle, as 

 regards holding in fingers and not in fist. The 

 thumb should not clasp under the handle, but 

 cap the butt of the scull with the top joint In 

 rowing this would be wrong ; but in sculling it is 

 found to secure the better hold, and to give frei i 

 play to the wrists for feathering. It is import a m 

 that both hands should work together, both blades 

 entering and quitting the water together, and both 

 wii-is feathering simultaneously. If one hand is 

 later than the other the course of the boat is 

 distorted at each stroke. 



BOAT-RACING. Virgil, in jEneid, v., deserilies a 

 boat-race between four Trojan galleys; ami the 

 woiil 'regatta' is of Italian origin. But boat- 

 racing may lie said to be almost exclusively an 

 Anglo-Saxon sport. Germans of late have slightly 

 taken it up, but 05 per cent, of the sport is found 

 in Britain and her colonies and the United States. 



Eton and Westminster schools practised boat- 

 racing in the early part of the century ; thence the 

 pastime seems to have spread to the universities. 

 One of the earliest races of the century was between 

 Westminster boys and the 'Temple' crew, in six 

 oars, the lioys winning. As early as 1815 college 

 bumping" races in eight oars bad "begun at Oxford. 

 In those days only three or four colleges manned 

 eight. Cambridge adopted a similar sport at 

 much the same date, or a year or so later. In 

 1H29 the first Oxford and Cambridge match was 

 rowed Hamhledon lock to Henley Bridge. The 

 next was in 1836, Westminster to Putney ; after 

 that at intervals till ls.">ti. since which date these 

 matches have been annual. Up to 1808 Oxford 

 had won 32 and Cambridge 2-2 of them. There 

 was one ' dead heat ' ( 1877 ). Also, five times have 

 the U.B.C.'s been drawn together in the same 



