New-York tribune., 1885-08-09
SCIENTIFIC ROWING.
An OLD CLUB CAPTAINS IDEAS ABOUT THE VARIOUS
STROKES.

s;on aoaiust Cambridge in the university boat-race
The chance that this long-continued SUCCESS wa
dne 70 nero. good fortune, Oxford getting th'
stroneer men and better oarsmen among those WHIT
YEARLY 90 mp to the two universities, seemed small
aud many began to see that there must be some
radical difference between tho Oxford and Cam
bridge stylcs. Yet Cambridge rowed according tt
tho princirl los which she had followed when agar
and again the light blue had come in ahead o
Oxfords dark blue. There was tho same long drag
Qiuq stroke, followed by the lightning feather
The mon swung we'll forward and far back-asevery
Cambridge man know from somewhat painful
experience. Oxford, on the other hand, seemed moi
to follow those excellent oldtashioned rules TheiI
recoyeryn had been again aud again condemned
a. sluggish as compared with the quick recovery Of
the Cantabs Thoir stroke, to unskilful Observers
even seemed to DO short. Yet Oxford had won ever
since poor Jack Hall had ceased to stroke " the
Cambridge boat; and Cambridge, often with four
or five of the very pick Of the Eaton and Wcstmin-
ster rowing boys her thwarts, had not been able
to secure d single victory for nine successive years.
When at last in 1870 Cambridge won, her crow had
been trained by of the hest of the Oxford men
q. Morrison. who bad rowed Eve" in 1850. 1850
and 1861, and was umpire at the Henley races In
1869 and 1870.
In 1870. pointed out in The London Daily Nous
the peculiarty of style which hal rendered oxford
40 successful in so many races-a peculiarty really
introduced by Cambridge stroke in ls45 and
1916, when Cambridge won. bat carefully ci'mi-
mated later by tho advocates of the excellent old
fashioned style That popularity consisted in tho
concentrated energy with which arms, shoulders.
back loins and legs were made to do their work in
giving q sledge hammer stroke. by which the ight
racing craft was driven through the water. not
H. l,xyf fbn Str nen af f0rmaP 1ava IL
was Immediately objected by Professor Roy
Lankestcr that Oxford row rs long stroke rs Cam
bridge that the Oxford men careful to insist
OH straight arms during the beginning of the
stroke and that the dark blue rowed fewer strokes
to the minute than Cambridge. But Professor
Lancaster wrote without experience in actual
racing, and mistook all the points of the Oxford
style. Tho Oxford stroke is long, it is rOwed with
straight arms at the beginning and the style re-
qures fewer strokes per minute than the Cambridge
stylc All this il consistent with, and part Of this
directly results from, tho popularity had lndi-
Gated.
+. Since then. the stroke who first showed how by
this popularity of style to achieve Success has
expressed bis full agreement with all had written
(np TO that time wrote under the title of "An Old
Club Captain') And now Harvard has shown the
value OF the principles had described. by bringing
the red flag to the front with apparent case Though
her crew was light compared with tho crews they
opposed AMI seven of their men rowod in uniycr-
ety boat for tho FIRST tinle. rowing this scientific
stroke.
NV contention has been and is that for every
style Of boat there is proper style OF rowing.
From tho barge to the lightest racing craft this
applies There certain rules indeed which are
true of every kind of boat; for instance, it can
never be right 10 phil with the arms alone. or to
jerk, or to pull IN any direction bat that which
gives the most elective leverage, or to waste
strength in anyway or to row short strokes, not
10 keep perfect time. But we cannot pass from
any class OF boats to another distinct class without
that the change in the construction,
weight, leverage and so FORTH involves change
greater or less, in the principles of prODusion,
hanling barge, a method of pulling In which the
arms do more work than If they were ropes,
would DO suitable in racing boat or even in a
pleasure boat And, on the other hand, no one
can suppose that the kind OF stroke used in a
light racing boat would lie seryiceable III barge
gain. not to take so wide difference NO one ho
has hauled away for hours las have) IN heavy sca
boat would expect to do aught but weary himself
nselessly il he tried such a stroke as would he
useful in light racing boat on river or lake nor
boats las / have been, and ami would think OF
pulling in OF them as he would pull IN heavy
sea boat. Yet many oarsmcn aye, and oarsmen of
exrericnce insist on it that the principles of rowing
laid down more tlan half n century ago by the +
leading oarsmen Of Oxford aud Cambridge remaiu /
sound STILL applied to boats as unlike the racing
boats of 1880 as these were unlike our heaviest
1aTEss Es n.cu,arti.. rutasls to the two c,,,e,
boats hero compared, the inrigged racing boats Of
fifty or sixty years ago, aud the racing craft of to-
day. are not far to seek, In the former. a long
dragging stroke was absolutely essential. Decause
they would not answer to q livelier pull A
lightuing feather was also essential because
soon as the stroke finished they lost way. and
sacssd @ % to as @ the less the loss Of way ss and
lighter tho work of tho next stroke, Thus the
objects to which oarsmcn, then directed their
attention were ~ to lcnethen the stroke much
M possible (which is ALWAYS good; t2l to put in
their work in such way that no strength should B
be wasted in endeavorng to give more speed than
The boat would take; 81 tO recover quickly lthe
technical EXPRESSION for going forward to begin the
0ext strokel. suppose. from my recollection Of
row,ag IN boats OIL tIat class wnich SUI renamed
about six-sevcntbs of the interval between the +
BEGINNING OF two successive strokes was given TO
tue pull. the other seventh to the recovery. As K
many strokes per minute were r0wcd then now.
nav, more. In the " Principles of Rowing" forty
six strokes per minute assigned as the greatest
present thirtyseven or thirtyeght would be nearer
the mark. though losing crews (rowing in inferior
style, sometimes row uD to forty or forty-tw0 I
strokes per minute. or even moro.
The long drag of those days obtained by .
nsing the arms only after the body and legs had
Hone their work. Let not the reader hastily D.
Ina gins that am about to praise as suitable in k
the modern racing boat style in which the arms
begin to be actually bent III the first part of the
stroke. But every one who has TO wed much knows
lhat there two entirely distinct ways In which
The arms may remain straight In ono way they are
straight like stretched rope in the other they are
rigid as bars; in the former they are doing no
ork. In the latter they are working encrgeticaly.
The body was thrown back, the legs were thrust b
against the strecher; thus the first
salf Of the stroke was rowcd with the arms
stretched hike ropes bearing strong strain but
he arms were no moro doing work than rope is 4
vhen it il nscd in hauling Bnt when the body in
Is backward swing had reached uprightness, by
which time the beat had received q strong impulse,
md had gathered way, tho arms and shoulders l.
called in to help the body and legs: the OF
he stroke was pulled moro sharply through the +
water than the first half. the velocity of tho boats