New-York tribune., 1872-06-24
INTERNATIONAL BOAT RACE.
THE FAILURE OF THE ATALANTAs.

THE CAUsRs WHICH LED TO THE FAfLURE-IN'
FERfoRrTY OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF
| ROWING-UghCR CRIPTI0N OF THE RACE
rFRoM THE RYoULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THB TRiBUkEl
LONDON. June IL should like very well TO
be excused from saving anything about tho "Inerna
tiona race OF Yesterday Incurred my full share o
odium by telling unpleasant truths about 'ne hh
ward race and by various unpatroc remarks on Amer
cau rowing in general But suppose have no e"ce,
and "a there will be pretty general conourrehce VI
Testimony about the Atalantas and as it lsreNy hi
fault and not that have TO tell an unpopular sory'
sball venture now as before 10 write as II no quesuoh
of natienal pride we're involved yesterdays perform
ance. f . ..- .....-, ,,s
n might have been thought that the Harvard deeat
v,,ud have done some good That crew had cdPi'h
opportunity stHy English rowing to compare IL wiz"
their own % get as secret OF their own deiects
aN,out which fbere was secret-and to carry PACK
some Lessons which would have laid the foundaton Oh
new school in America snd have given us some reason
TO hope that tine might turn out crew ht 70 co'n
pete With an English They chose 70 10 nothing Oh
the sort Throu ghout their vraining and down 10 emu
of the race and to the day OF the departure from Lon
don thew stuck TO their old ideas. Their training was
conducted on principles which would have done ois'
credit to a respectable bnatie asylum Iheir praoV0o
vas carried on under conditions when maze tmProNe
Tent impossible They attributed their defeat 20 every
cause but the f1e one Winch their and st more
strongly in that of the Atanasr may be summed up IN
epCe sentence The English knew how TO row ana tne
Americans did not But the Harvard men went Daek IN
sistng and no doubt believing that their way was as
good as anybody and that England haA nothing 10 sach
then To their obst1nacy that point which may LhVe
seemed very spirited but simply very fooisn We
may trace directly the far more disastrous ana aus
racesu defeat OF Yesterday Atalanta came over rely
ing upon their having beaten Harvard ana iuiy pneF
fu. that Harvard was beaten because simmons ano
Io, ing we're unfit to the daY OF the race
Eyer since the Atalautas appe Ted on tho Thames tre
Aau tp ITlyyl
vialatouof every principle which lay at the found.'
ton good rowing. It long time before me pus
lie win interests itself IN such matters, cod DC per
suaded thas they were in ewnest Either they were
rowing dark or they did Isot moan businessI ana II
Won ask ID chen what have they come 5000 forf
Won could ony get shrug Of the shoulders Tor answer
went o,t to ttammersmith' some three or fouS weeks
since to a Col HFgginson went at the same
time ThU Co 9nel had never seen an Engsn crew. anu
at first view IL eught the AtaaIEa very pretw. INC
Londoners utup the riyes soon after AT tha1 ume
they had be en- together In the boat ana
powerfu as they undenably were, they also rough
and as they splashed goo deal of water, they were Dy
no means q, taking TO the eye OF novice. Inc
Colonel is vary from he ing novice; unused thoash
lie is tho English STYLE las quick eye ior Sucn
matters and the sight tire Londoners was reYe-
ation to him. He saw tina tIsy were really applying
their great strength and of IT, TO the oars rowing
with legs and bacas and loi well as with arms,
getting hold tbs water he instant the oar ouch7n
it. pulling the blade through win swift tremendous
wrench finishing with fiat uldors and straight backs,
feahering well Of water, nd coming forward again
as soon as the work each stroke done. In tho
American boat nothing OF all lis was to be seem The
oar was dropped into the water with no effort to catch
hold of it point Of entran ce end to begin the stroke
there and then and it thro Ugh from the beginning
with uniform power and speed, Tie full power of the
Atalanta men, such was, uot applied to the oar
till the oar had been peroepb fraction of time in tha
water and had travelled part Of the distance had 70
90 before coming out 1t catch" that was want
ing. When power brought to bear it was not the
whole power of the body aud legs was the al ms thai
did the work. and though the Ataautas will that
am mistaken and that they row With their legs and |
all the Of themselves, that only proves th don't
know what rowing with the legs means. When &c stroke
ended it ended under water and the h III feah
cred there and when 1t out they stOpp little |
while to get it to rights again. meeting the oar With
their bodies rounding the shoulders IAN almost nfable
sign Of bad rowing and then in the effort make up
time rushing forward the techni cal phrase
is, which is much picturesque, buck )ting for
ward with curious wrigge Of tho. body a. nd sudden
projection of the elbows, which equal awkward
20 look at and hurfu TO the speed II the boat II you
have followed this description, WHICH l hive tired to
make untechnca you will that the de If the
two STYLES fundamental In tho. Aner( boat the
dominant idea to get the oar back into she water
soon as possible after the queer hang at the hnio the
stroke had come to end and obey seemed think |
that the longer it could be keptin the better.
But what the English did got the OF the
water as soon as possible and if you viii hi
ment you will there is but way in which this
be DONE and that is by pulling IT through the water and
since it is agreed all hands that the srOe must be
long it is possible 70 make it. it only remains to
cor the resistance by putting the whole strength the
whole body on tho FROM the time it dAers to hC i
tiue it the water. The apparently quick stroke
and apparently quick recovery of the Amecicans
ceptive They pull greater number OF stokes mia
ute but they by making each stroke sA9rterthat s.
moved through a less extent Of waier-than the Ian
doners and a that is gained by the ruh forward and
the apparently quick recovery is more than lost by the
hang at the end. 1 avoid going into details, for
that would be 20 write treatise rowing.
only seek to indicate IN peculiar
way some of the chief faults Of the Americans They
are unhappy rooted In what seems TO be the accepted
American system. They radical that crew
which has once learned them viii seldom never
wholly unearn them. It would ee easier to take four
mon who had been In boat and make good oars.
men of thom than TO teach the Atalantas to And
.her faults fatal that against properly
taught crew hopeless. Whls this system ia followed
in America look upon International match sheer
folly II 1t ia entered upon with view TO winning 1t
iso long as rowing matches attract the attention they
do something than folly. tits necessary to
say to the Ataantas and 20 the who may DO med
itang repetition Of their exploit, that they have no
right TO subject their teowcountrymen, at home and
abroad, TO the moruhcation OF such defeat as yes
terdays
IT, as the papers all along been saying the public
had taken less in the preminares OF this
than OF Internationally contest there
lack of interest on the day itself There has seldom Of
late years been greater thrOng the banks Of tie
Thames and the number OF boats and barges and steam
ers small craft of all sorts the river greatly