1 76 ROUGH WAYS MADE SMOOTH. 



boat, when once at least full speed has been attained, for 

 before this the old fashioned long drag with lightning feather 

 is as useful now as ever. Now, no one who has watched a 

 really good Oxford crew at full speed can fail to observe 

 the way in which the oars literally smite the water at the 

 beginning of each stroke. No one who considers the 

 velocity with which they must move to give this sledge- 

 hammer stroke at the beginning can fail to perceive that the 

 body alone cannot give this velocity of impulse in the first 

 part of the stroke. There is only one way in which it can be 

 attained, and that is by making the arms work from the 

 beginning, not merely in the sense in which they may be 

 said to work when continuing at their full stretch, but by 

 actual and energetic contraction. In the Cambridge style 

 arms and body only work together after the back is perpen- 

 dicular ; in the Oxford style they work together from the 

 beginning. The result is that by the time the Oxford oars 

 man has brought his back perpendicular his stroke is 

 finished ; whereas the Cambridge oarsman has still to give 

 that drag at the end which used to be so much esteemed, 

 and still is justly esteemed, by sailors for sea-racing. The 

 oar of the Oxford rower is a much shorter time in the water, 

 simply because it is propelled through the water with far 

 greater, or rather with much more concentrated energy. 

 The Oxford stroke, again, is necessarily a few inches shorter. 

 For as Cambridge men go as far forward and swing further 

 backward, it stands to reason that they get a little more 

 length. But they get this additional length at the cost of a 

 great strain on the abdominal muscles, and with no propor- 

 tional effect. A very strong crew which can maintain the 

 long, dragging stroke with the lightning feather from beginning 

 to end may win, as Cambridge men have won, but only 

 because of their superior strength, not by virtue of that lift 

 at the end, which wearies the most stalwart, causes sluggish 

 disengagement of the hands, and in a long race has often 

 caused a powerful crew to be beaten by weaker men rowing 

 in a more scientific manner. It is not impossible, now that 



