The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-01-29
TIPS IN SCULLING.
William 0'COnn0r Gives Advice
to Oarsmen.
The Canadian Contrasts the American and
Australian Styles of Boats stanbury
Is Anxious fer a Race

weeks ago, rowing contests nave become
less numerous in the AntipOdes since o. Con-
nor and Hanlan took their departure from
that country.
Stanbury, who holds the title of cham
pioD, has been growing stale looking for a
| race with somebody. and if anything like
reasonable indu ements were offered him to
journey to this country the Australian would
not hesitate to come.
OF the American scullers of note the ma
| joTity of local oarsmen are of the opinion
that Teemer in good condition, is the faster
| man, and a race between him and STAINS
bury would give n great impetus to the
sport on this Coast.
PETERSON AND STANSBURY.
There has been some talk Of matching
Peterson and Stanbury for a handicap
race. If the local man was granted a
reasonable start there Is no doubt but that
several thousand dollars would be wagered
on Peterson by his many friends here.
William OCOnnOr has had considerable
experience in rowing and any pointers from
him on that subject must prove OF interest
| to men who fancy aquatic exercises. OCon-
nor was in Boston recently aud IN an inter-
view with a Globe reporter he gave the fol-
lowing views on training, rowing, rigging,
etc.
He said: "As a rule novices. when start
ing in rowing, purchase a secondhand boat
| that has been in use for some time The
novice may be o man who stand 5 feet
inches IN height and weighs 13J pounds,
yet he will jump into boat made for Jake
Gaudaur or some other man who stands 8
feet in height and row with the same rig
ging.
There was a time when oarsmen, both
short and tall, would row just as Ned Han
Ian did, but among the intelligent class Of
scullerS those days have passed. If l was
TO teach a young man t. row l would first
look him over carefully and find out his
weakest points, and rig his boat to favor
those weak spots. Some men have strong
lower limbs and poor arms, while others
can DO an almost unlimited amount of work
with their arms and shoulders. What
man wants to do is TO reach q medium, and
this can only be done by a constant chang
ing of rig until he feels comfortable and
has his work equalized. If a man has pair
OF strong legs and only fairly strong arms
he eau lower his seat and Outriggers, pro-
ViuInG he is clever enough to clear the
water, but If his body and arms are his
strongest points. lie can raise his seat and
get better results for power expended.
Hanlan is a good Illustration of the former
type OF an oaTsman, and Old BIZ Beach was
the other extreme.
THE SEAT.
''SOmc men ask How am I to find out
is easily answered. If after a hard row
your legs are more affected than your arms
you should raise your seat about quarter
Of an inch, and nj the same time take care
to raise your OutriggeTs until you can clear
the water Should one feel tired in the
arms, and the legs are strong, drop the seat
the same distance. When a man starts in
rowing in the spring after resting during
the winter months he is likely to feel much
stronger in the legs than In the arms unless
he works hard with those members Ath-
letes delight in a long walk in the open air
during the winter, and the result is they
start in rowing with legs in good shape and
arms in Door condition. Under such cir
cumStanCeS an experienced oarsman can
change a trit1e IN order to favor those parts.
! but as soon as he begins to get in shape he
must find that medium.
Rigging a man in a boat is about the
same as hitting harness to a horse. for an
experienced driver viii see in q second what
strap needs taking up or letting out IN order
to cqualiZe the strain. l know positively
that Beach rOwed with his seat nine inches
high, which was q radical change from the
81 inches that Hanlan used TO row. | have
tried the high and low seats and after all
| have settled down to 6l2 inches, which now
! suits me best
! After young man gets well bOated and
| rugged he usually starts in rowing distances
| and eventually trains for a race. You will
| invariably find that the oarsman who has q
professional trainer comes cut ahead, all
| things considered equal at the start The
watchful eye of an experienced man soon
detects changes that can be made which
will develop more speed ana make the work
| lighter and more pleasant TO the athlete.
" Oung men as a rule do too much row.
ing and when it COmesarOund race day they
have left the race behind on the river. IL
man does nothing but row l would advise
! him to go over the distance he will row in
fair TAX
| ing care to watch his blade work and get
command of his seat In the afternoon he
| can take a good long row Of four or five miles
| at a fair pace, but above all he must not do
any squirting unless it is near the bOat-bOuse.
For WUrkingman who has but one row
a day all his work must be dore in the boat
and bis starts and spurts must be done after
taking his full distance.
LONG WALKS.
| 81 favor Professionalism for men who give
| all their time to rowing, and | always take
| good long walks after meals. This would
| never DO for man who works at trade,
| for they would grow stale before race day.
| IF a man knows by experience his best
| weight for a race lie should gradually get
| down to II, but once there he should let up
! on his work and be satisfied to husband his
| strength for the day of tile race. Squirting
| and racing with every man you meet on the
| river VIII not improve you. bu., on the con-
| trary, | am Inclined to think it will develop
! bad style.
more speed will be obtained from thirty
| two clean strokes to the minute than thirty
! five that are piled in in a reckless manner.
| When | squirt | usually run my stroke up to
! tbirtY-h FIVE to the minute In a single, and +,
! with Hanlau for a partner IN a double, we
| can DO thrty-eight with ease. In squirting
! the back and arms are called on to do most
| Of the work and the slide is gradually length
| encd out as the stroke is slowed down.
,t,F If tan, pp,1n mn EFaN hNt
| to train. They eat in hurry, row immedi-
! atey after meals and bring on an awful
! thirst IL a man must row Immediately
| after meals he would make greater progress
| by striking an easy, swinging stroke and
| rowing Il long distance.
THE BEST LINES.
1.-THE boat has much to do with the speed
a man attains, and opinions differ as to the
| best lines While in Australia | found they
| disagreed on what constituted the fastest
| model, Just the same as they have IN this
country. Searle. Stanbury and others have
| their boats built by Sullivan, but had my
| boat built by Donnelly. Australian oars
| men row all their races with the tide, and
| favor deeper and narrower boat. with less
| cember than those in use in this country.
| Sullivan builds those boats to suit the Aus
| tralians, and Donnelly is noted as being an
advocate of the full boats, such as we use
| in this country. A man who weighs 165
| pounds in Australia will row 10b-inch
| boat. They claim that the deeper it sits in
| the water in a race with the tide the faster
| it will go.
81 have given Ruddock instructions to
! make my new boats straighter on the keel,
! as | find the boats that are cut away at the
| bow aud stern require a man to keep up q
! very fast stroke in order to keep Roadway
| on, while the others run much easier ard
| make better boats for race.
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS.
81 find very little difference in Australian
| and American built boats. 1t is simply i'm
| possible tor an American to 90 to Australia
! and expect to defeat Stanbury, for the ell
mate is against us. | believe there are at
| least couple of men who could win from
! Stanbury in this country. | regard Peter
| Kemp Of Australia the most finished oars
j a.. .,-nrIa not nxrn1,tir,cr Ia