298 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



back lias readied an upright position, the arms have 

 already reached the chest, and the stroke is finished. 

 Thus the Oxford stroke takes a perceptibly shorter 

 time than the Cambridge stroke ; it is also, necessarily, 

 somewhat shorter in the water. One would, therefore, 

 say it must be less effective. Especially would an 

 unpractised observer form this opinion, because the 

 Oxford stroke seems to be much shorter in. range than 

 it is in reality. There we have the secret of its 

 efficiency. It is actually nearly as long as ;the Cam- 

 bridge stroke, but is taken in a perceptibly shorter 

 time. What does this mean but that the oar is taken 

 much more sharply, and, therefore, much more effec- 

 tively, through the water ? 



Much more effectively so far as the actual condi- 

 tions of the contest are concerned. The modern 

 racing outrigger requires a sharp impulse, because it 

 will take almost any speed we can apply to it. It 

 will also retain that speed between the strokes, a con- 

 sideration of great importance. The old-fashioned 

 racing-eights required to be continually under propul- 

 sion. The lightning-feather was a necessity in their 

 case, for between every stroke the boat would lag ter- 

 ribly with a slow-feathering crew. "We do not say, of 

 course, that the speed of a light outrigged craft does 

 not diminish between the strokes. Any one who has 

 watched a closely-contested bumping-race, and noticed 

 the way in which the sharply-cut bow of the pursuing 



