OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE ROWING. 163 



now they do their work. In some cases, I found first-rate 

 oarsmen had given very little thought to the matter ; but on 

 the question being put to them, they quickly recognised the 

 essential principles on which the most effective and the 

 least tiring style for the modern racing-boat depends. One 

 such oarsman said to me, after giving a few days' trial as 

 well as thought to the matter ' You are quite right ; arms, 

 legs, and body must work together from the very beginning ; 

 the work is done when the body comes upright ; and not 

 only must this be so for the work to be done in the most 

 effective way, but it is essential also if the hands are to be 

 quickly disengaged, the recovery quick, and a good reach 

 forward obtained.' 



I found, however, that the essential distinction between 

 a good style in the modern racing eight, and a good style in 

 the old-fashioned boats, had been recognised (at least, so 

 far as the modern boats are concerned) a year before my 

 article in the ' Daily News ' appeared. In an article on 

 * Water Derbies,' * Wat Brad wood,' describing the University 

 race of 1868, draws the following distinctions between the 

 two crews, which precisely accord with my own observations 

 on that occasion ; only it is to be noticed that, whereas he 

 is describing the beginning of the race, the whole of which 

 he witnessed from the Umpire's boat, my observations were 

 made from the shore not far from the finish, when Oxford 

 was so far ahead that there was ample time to note sepa- 

 rately and closely the style of each boat : ' The styles of 

 progress of the two boats themselves are palpably distinct,' 

 he says ; ' Cambridge take a shorter time to come through 

 the air than to row through the water ; they go much 

 farther backward than Oxford, and are very slow in getting 

 the hands off the chest ; their boat is drawn through the 

 water at each stroke, but has hardly any perceptible " lift." 

 Oxford, on the other hand, swing just the reverse of Cam- 

 bridge, a long time in getting forward ' (he means of course, 

 a relatively longer time, for no good oarsman would ever 

 take a long time in getting forward), ' and very fast through 



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