ROWING STYLES. 175 



Oxford average lead at the finish has been close on eight 

 lengths. 



The difference cannot reasonably be assigned to any 

 cause which was in operation when Cambridge had the larger 

 share of victories. Nearly every cause which has been 

 commonly assigned, including the unquestionably inferior 

 arrangements for college racing at Cambridge, falls into this 

 category. There can be very little doubt that the true ex- 

 planation, as well of Cambridge success before 1850 as of 

 Oxford success since then, resides in the circumstance that 

 the two Universities have in the main adopted throughout 

 the whole series of contests two different styles each style 

 excellent in itself, but the Cambridge as unquestionably 

 superior to the Oxford for the heavier kinds of river boats as 

 the Oxford style is superior to the Cambridge for the boats 

 now actually used in river races. What the difference in the 

 two styles is I shall now briefly indicate. 



I am satisfied that the essential excellence of the old 

 fashioned racing style as used in the old fashioned boats 

 becomes an inherent defect in the same style as used in 

 modern racing boats. I refer to the principle involved 

 in the words italicised (by myself) in the following quota- 

 tion from ' Principles of Rowing ' : ' The instant the oar 

 touches the water the arms and body begin to fall backwards, 

 the former continuing at their full stretch till the back is per- 

 pendicular. They are then bent, the elbows being brought 

 close past the sides, till the hands, which are now brought 

 home sharply, strike the body above the lowest ribs.' Such 

 was the stroke that brave old Coombes used to teach, and 

 such was the stroke by which, time and again, races were won 

 before 1850. But in proportion as the racing boat has been 

 improved, both by diminution of weight and resistance and 

 by change of leverage, the necessity has increased for a 

 more energetic application of the oarsman's power. A stroke 

 which resulted in mere jerking, injurious to the rower and 

 not adding to speed, in the old racing boats, is absolutely 

 essential to the effective propulsion of the modern racing 



