
MORE SPEED IN SHELL ROWING 
chored oar. This brings us toa point where we 
must consider the various forms of ‘“‘catch,” 
or of anchoring the'oar, 
Perhaps the most natural and most common 
359 
makes the boat check into two divisions—the 
first, or F, check and the second, or S, check. 
We will call the F check that due simply to the 
stopping of the slide at the end of the recover, 

JUST BEFORE THE FULL REACH 
The oar is following the line B’ X of Fig 3, while the slide is still moving toward the stern 
method of catching is to turn the wrists sharply 
upward at the full reach, pulling backward 
and upward with the shoulders at. the same 
time. Bearing in mind that to eliminate the 
check mo power must be 
applied until the oar has 
taken a firm hold on the 
water, this method of catch- 
ing is absurd. The path of 
the blade in this case can be 
easily seen. 
Let A B in Fig. 1 be the path of the blade 
during the first part of the recover—then B C 
will be the path from the time the wrists are 
raised until] the oar is anchored. All the 
power, then, which has been exerted against 

FIG. I 
and the S check that due to the application 
of power to the oar." 
Coming back to_Fig. 1, bear in mind these 
two divisions—at the point B we have the F 
check, and between B and 
C, the S check. While the 
oar, then, is traveling the 
horizontal distance X C, we 
have both checks present 
to stop the boat—first the 
F check, and then the S 
check, the latter being more or less serious 
according as the “clip” or distance X C is 
great or small. 
A second form of catch is that shown in 
Fig.+2. After the slide has been stopped at the 


THE FULL REACH 
The oar is already buried at the instant power is to be applied. C X has been traversed while the slide was 
moving toward the stern 
the stern of the boat to move the oar a hori- 
zontal distance from X to C has merely served 
to push the boat backward, or, in other words, 
has made the boat check. 
Here it would be as well to subdivide the 
push against the stern at the full reach which 
full reach, the wrists are turned and the hands 
are raised sharply a distance sufficient to bury 
the oar. Then the power is applied as 
usual. This form of catch has advantages 
over the preceding, but is not by any means 
perfect. hare 
