The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-26

caught them and dragged the boat over
with them.
AS soon as the oar is dipped straight
and square in the water, just deep
enough for the whole blade to be COW
cred and not more, brace your Shout
der muscles and gather them in. In
stantly, but without a jerk, you must
pull with all your might Pull with
your upper arm and shoulders and
back and loin and abdomen. Your
thighs and calves must swell with the
pull Even your toes have to help.
AS the oar comes home your biceps
and triceps will have more and more
work to do. 1t is their duty then to
make the last part of the stroke Just
as powerful as the first part was. 1t is
their duty, too: to make the recovery
pretty instead of clumsy. Your elbows
should close into your sides and sweep
back beyond your body, while the
arm, held at right angles, sweeps the
oar in firmly so that it shall bite" the
water until the very last possible mo-
ment.
Many oarsmen practically cease row.
ing before they come to the real re-
covery. As soon as the labor begins to
fall on the arm muscles, their bodies
straighten out and the oar begins to
leave the water. They lose fully one
fifth of the stroke and, consequently,
must row six strokes to another mans
five to remain even with him.
If you never have rowed at all the
very first thing that you must do to
learn is not to try to row, queer as
that may seem.
Learn first to sit in the boat. OBJ
serve how your body must be poised
Push your feet against the stretchers
and swing back and forth slowly and
steadily as if you had oars in your
hands
Then takes the oars and learn to lift
both of them into the roWlocks with
one motion. You will find that they
seem extremely clumsy and hard to
handle; and at first you will feel as If
you never could get them out without
using both hands to each oar. In.
deed, many persons always put their
oars into the roWlocks that way. even
after they imagine that they have
learned how to row.
But 1t is utterly wrong, so you must
not do it even in the beginning. Lei
the boat remain moored to the float
and practice at Shipping your oars
until you can put your hands to them.
lift the blades and drop them both
into the locks at the same moment.
And when they are thus "shipped''
your hands must be gripping the oars
so mat you could, if necessary, row off
instantly. Before the oar is in the
water, you must be ready in position.
Ihere must be no shifting into posi-
ton afterwards.
This is a most important matter. If
you were caught at anchor for in
stance, in sudden squat and your
boat began to drag toward a reef, YOU
might have to haul in anchor or cut
the cable and then get back to your
thwart, ship your oars and row almost
with one motion.
After you have learned to ship your
oars, learn to dip them into the wa
ter. Do not try, at first, to make a
stroke, but Just let them extend at
right angles from the boat and prac-
ice the art Of dipping them just deep
enough. Remember that. If they go
IN too deep. they will sink in the wa
ter and sometimes will actually dive
underneath the keel, with the result
OF uDsetting the boat.
When rowing In heavy seas, the
clumsy man who dips his oar too deep
OFTEN succeeds In capsizing his craft