Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-06-18

Je1Stod
vania men had a chance o. witnessing Har-
wards eight row. and all were favorahy
impressed with their form, and especially
the length Of the stroke. but. as Coach
Ward explained. their stroke Is In reality
not as long PENIS The apparent dif-
ference Is due to The length of slides.
PENIS boats are rigsed with slides twen-
ty-six inches in length. while Coach l-eh-
mann uses but siXteen-inch slides. theirs
necessitating ne men to rcacn out much
further with the i,cdy to get the same
length of stroke. The head Of an English
oarsman moves in arc. that of an
American nearly OH c line. Americans be-
lieye that clore power and energy Is saved
and that the boat Is kept stead.er.
In the Corn, Y ale Harvard race the
purely American stroke will be rowed Only
by Cornell.
YaIc's stroke.
Bob Cook has been endeavoring to instill
in his men some of the ideas he picked UP
at Henley, while Harvard is confessedly
following Lehmann's lead.
yale. and. in fact. Harvard as well. had
shortened up the stroke so that her oars
men only swung about fifteen degrees for
ward of the perpendicular. and perhaps
ten back of the perpendicular.
'At present our crew is swinging for
ward of the perpendicular at least thirty
degrees. and back of 1t twenty or more.
The change Is more effective, and no hard
er for the oarsmen.
Minor changes have had to be made
as to give the men more leverage on their
oars inbolrd of the outriggers. The oar
blades have also been cut down. that is.
they are narrower and the oars a trihe
longer. These are all the changes that
Yale has made this year.
1T has been going back to the old-time
longer swing with the body. and conse-
quent longer reach with the oar. and less
of the slide"
The English Stroke.
Mr. Lehman when recently asked to
give the most striking characteristic Of the
English stroke. made the following reply.
which is an exact description OF the stroke
taught for over twenty years at Cornell
and other American colleges: 1T is long.
sweeping stroke. with firm. hard catch
at the beginning, an unwavertng drive
through the water the blade being fully
covered until the hands reach the chest
The recovery is clear, smart and as elastic
as possible. with a very slow, steady. we'll
balanced swing forward, the body bring
ing the side Up with 1t as 1t swings
But the method of acquiring this stroke
is thus described: This kind of stroke
cannot be obtained unless you swing :he
body well down. at the same time reaching
far oLt with the arms, so as to strike the
beginning fair and square The arms be-
ing kept straight, the body swings back
as If released from a spring. all the weight
telling directly on the blade in the water.
As the body swings the legs drive, until
with final shove that fattons down me
knees. the last ounce of leg power is APP
piled to the blades. and simultaneously the
shoulders go back. the elbows pass the
sides and the outside hand forces the oar
handle right home to the chest. The swing
back SHOULD be to point where the body
remains firm and does not sink away from
the work.
Speaking of sliding. he says:
Aav- -fx -tvas.h Sill 40 hn M
mum for best results. l believe fales
slides at Henley were about twenty-on"
inches. I do not see how Il Is possible AT
such long slide to get long body reach.
such as 1 want, and a quick, hard rise on
the catch"
Regarding rowlocks and oars, he says:
II believe the old-fashioned tholepins ar"
better than the swivels except in a single
scull. AS you know, these rowlocks consist
of two upright pieces of iron wrapped with
Irvine to prevent the oar from wearing.
The oars used now by the Harvard crew.
our English oars, are shaved fiat down
on one side, so that the fiat surface strikes
the tholepin squarely on the catch.
"Leander used twelve-foot oars at Hen
ley last year. oxford used twelve-foot, two.
inch cars and New College had this same
length at Henley last year. OF this length
three feet eight inches was inside the out
rigger. Our bla ies were six inches wide. an
inch and half narrower than Yale's. Our
experience has been that this is the maxi
mum width of oar that an eight can tear
through the stream without serious exhaus-
ton"
The Cornell Stroke.
Some rowing critics insist that Cornell
has changed its stroke since the trip to
Henley In 1895 Tom Hall. the varsity
stroke of the "a freshman crew, the 81.
~ '93, "a varsity crews and the Henley
crew, recently said:
That the Cornell stroke has not been
lob 4 S,,ff
well. We may have learned several things
while we were in England: but our defea,
there can be accounted for in other ways
than that the stroke was in fault"
Courtney recently told the writer that
the Cornell stroke was the same one used
twenty years ago by Lewis, Ostrom, Water.
man, Francis and other famous Cornell
oarsmen of that day. Mr.. Courtney gives
the following as the chief points of the
Cornell stroke:
Let a man keep his blades as long as
possible in the water and the least possible
time in the air When his sculls or oars
are in the water. he is pushing his boat
along: when they are in the air he is not.
TOO much attention cannot be paid to
leg work. The legs are, OF course, the
strongest part Of the body, and. to my way
of thinking. they should, therefore, be re-
quired to do the greatest amount Of work
in rowing.
Another point which cannot be too close
ly followed is to keep the arms perfectly
straight until the shoulders nave gone BACK
as far as it is intended they should go. II
stands to reason. IL he keeps his back erect
there is less compression of the vital Or
gans of the body; but must admit in this
connection that a straight spinal column
1, not absolutely demanded OF fast scull-
er, for there are many living examples to
the contrary. l claim, however. II Is easier
for a man to row without kink' in his
back-that's all
THE oarsman should never overreach.
and be careful to avoid going back too far
on the last of the stroke. for bringing his
body back to the perpendicular requires
great effort on the part OF the abdominal
muscles"
In all of which directions can be seen the
tendency to use the slides, thus substi-
tuting an erect attitude for a bent one and
leg work for arm work.
Winnipeg Four ut Henley.
The Winnipeg four. who will compete at
the Henley regatta July IL and the follow
ing days, have arrived at Henley. and had
a short spin on the river yesterday after