156 ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH. 



had an opportunity of rowing a level race. They had 

 ' bumpirg races ' for the college eights as the Oxonians 

 had and time-races to decide between the merits of two or 

 three boats, whereas at Oxford two boats could contend 

 side by side. Thus it was to many Cambridge men a 

 novel and somewhat disturbing experience to find them- 

 selves rowing close alongside of their opponents. It may 

 seem fanciful to notice any disadvantage in such a matter 

 as this ; yet I believe that the matter was not a trifle. The 

 excitement which men feel just before a race begins, and 

 during the first half-mile or so of its progress, is so intense 

 that a small difference of this sort is apt to produce much 

 more effect than might be expected. I think the somewhat 

 flurried style in which the Cantabs were often observed to 

 row the first half-mile of the great race might be partly 

 ascribed to this cause. Of course, I am far from saying 

 that if a Cambridge crew had been decidedly better than 

 their opponents, the race could have been lost or even en- 

 dangered from such a cause as this. 



And now it remains that I should point out that 

 peculiarity in what may be called the Cambridge style of 

 rowing though it is not now systematically adopted by 

 Cambridge crews to which the defeats of the light- blue 

 flag in the years 1861-69 were I believe to be chiefly 

 attributed. 



It should be remembered that before we can recognise 

 a peculiarity of style as the cause of a long series of defeats, 

 it must be shown that the peculiarity is neither trifling nor 

 accidental. There are peculiarities in rowing which have a 

 very slight effect upon the speed with which the boat is 

 propelled by the crew. Amongst these may be fairly in- 

 cluded such points as the following : the habit of throwing 

 out the elbows just before feathering, feathering high or 

 low, rowing short or long (a technical expression now 

 commonly, though incorrectly, applied to the length of the 

 stroke, but properly relating to the distance at which the 

 stretcher or foot-board is placed from the seat), sitting high 



