360 RECREATION 
At the point B the hands are raised, the 
blade following the line B C. 
The horizontal distance X C of Fig. 1 has 
disappeared; therefore, the S check, that 
A 
FIG. 2 
due to applying power to the oar before the 
blade is anchored, which was represented by 
the line X C, has been eliminated. But the 
F check, that due to 
the stopping of the 
slide, is still present at 
the point B. 
Before taking up 
Fig. 3, it may be well 
to repeat what has 
already been explained. 
While the slides are 
being pulled toward 
the stern during the — 
recover, the boat is 
being pulled ahead at 
the same time, and, 
therefore, cannot check 
until this pull ceases. 
This must be kept in 
mind to properly un- 
derstand the third form 
of catch. 
During the tage third 
of the recover the 
wrists are turned 
gradually until the 
blade is well past the 
perpendicular — about 
at an angle of 45° 
with the surface of the water, pointing ahead. 
An instant before the full reach, at a point 
we will call B1, the hands are mmawed upward 
and jorward at the same time—the forward 
motion of the slide and, therefore, the pull on 
the toe-straps continuing until the full reach 
is reached at C. At this point the oar is already 
buried and ready for the power to be applied. 
With this form of catch there is no check pos- 
sible. While the blade is traveling the hori- 
zontal distance X C, the boat is being still 
pulled ahead by the slides, and at the point C, 
where the F check would be likely to occur, 
the oar is already firmly anchored. Of course, 
there is no S check where there is not even the 
F check. 

THE CLIPPING CATCH 
The power has been applied before the oar was anchored. 
Therefore the boat has checked badly 
I am firmly convinced that the importance 
of eliminating any check during the recover 
cannot be overestimated. The recover is the 
all-important part the stroke. With the 
ordinary oar, eight t-~« of which is outboard, 
the boat cannot possiu. ‘travel more than twelve 
feet while the oar is’ =e water. As the boat 
travels something li: ___tty-five feet from one 
stroke to the next, s: must cover a distance 
of about thirty-five ‘ect while the oar is out 
of the water duri:7* the recover. Therefore, 
more distance run during the recover is the 
object to be striven for. When we stop to think 
that the crew which clears one foot more than 
another during every 
stroke will gain a 
length every two min- 
utes where the number 
of strokes is thirty to 
the minute, the ad- 
vantage of eliminating 
as much of the check 
as possible is brought 
home very forcibly. 
The possibility of 
gaining a length every 
two minutes may sound 
exaggerated, but it is 
not. It falls a little 
short of the max- 
imum possibility, if 
anything. When Cor- 
nell wins at Pough- 
keepsie by twenty 
lengths, as she has 
done several times, it 
means that she has 
gained over a length 
during every minute 
of the race, or that 
she has cleared two 
feet more than any other crew during each 
recover. 
And yet rowing coaches will not learn. 
? ’ 
A eo ae 
aN 
as 
WATER i a 
x Cc 
FIG. 3 
Is it due to professional jealousy, or what? 
Truly, ‘‘none are so blind as those who won’t 
ee.” May the day hasten that shall see not 
one, but every crew rowing with its head as 
well as its muscles! 


et See) 
