*54 ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH. 



There was in my time a vague tradition that the University 

 Eight had once or twice been steered through the widest 

 of these passages without stopping; but I doubt much 

 whether there could have been any truth in the story. 

 Certainly no coxswain in my time at Cambridge ever 

 achieved the feat, nor could it be safely attempted even by 

 the most skilful steersman. The consequence was that 

 there was a break in the long course which took away all its 

 value as a preparation for the actual race. It may seem to 

 the uninitiated a trifling matter that a crew should get a few 

 seconds of rest in so long a 'pull. But thoe who know 

 what racing is, are aware that the slightest break one 

 stroke even, shirked is an immense relief to the tugging 

 oarsman. 



Beyond Bait's Bite Locks there is a three-and-a-half- 

 miles course, liable to be broken by the manoeuvres of a 

 floating bridge or ferry boat opposite Clayhithe. Next 

 comes another short course extending to Upware. And 

 lastly from Upware to Ely there is a fine five-and-a-half-miles 

 course, considerably wider than the Cam, and presenting 

 several splendid reaches. To this course the Cambridge 

 men used to betake themselves four or five times in the 

 course of their preparation for the great race. But a course 

 so far removed from the university itself was clearly far less 

 advantageous than the convenient Oxford long course, ex- 

 tending from the ferry at Christ Church meadows to Newn- 

 ham. Still, annoying as the want of a convenient long- 

 course must be considered, I cannot attribute the long 

 succession of Cambridge defeats in 1861-69 to such a cause 

 as this. It is true that before the railway-bridge was built, 

 the Cambridge crew used generally to win, and that since 

 it has been so far modified as not to interfere with the 

 passage of a racing eight, they have again been successful, 

 whereas, while the supports of the bridge checked them 

 midway on their course, they were less fortunate. But to 

 connect these circumstances as cause and effect, would be 

 as unsafe as the theory of the Margate fishermen who 



