The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-07
Tho British Oar.

The failure OF British oarsmen TO re-
capture the Grand Challenge Cup at
Henley this year from the Belgian crew
which won 1t last year-the first time
that the prize was ever lost to the tight
little islands a matter of some i'm
portance in the rowing world. Rowing
is rapidly spreading as n popular sport.
and the clairp Of the British, which was
long supported by the outcome Of inter-
national contests, that their style Of
handling the oar is fundamentally cor
rect and inevitably superior to all vari-
ants from it, really needed to be settled
one way or the other. The victory Of
the Belgians at Henley this year Ia gen.
orally regarded al having settled it In
the negative, but there il reason per-
haps to be cautious before passing too
sweeping a Judgment.
What is meant exactly by the British
style Of rowing which has been the CEN
tire Of 30 many debates? It Ii really a
very limited matter. Nothing else Is
involved than amateur eight a rowing.
Sculling, for instance, is not in question.
Professional soullers are VIGOROUSLY
superior to amateurs, whether British
or otherwise. But in amateur eight oar
contests the British, until the Belgians
came to Henley, had invariably been
successful.
Now the eight oar style Of British
amateurs has been evolved wholly and
solely with reference to one particular
race-the annual four mile contest be-
tween Oxford and Cambridge UNIVERSE
ties from Putnsy to Mortlake. Every
boy Of fourteen at Eton OF Radley, every
undergraduate Of eighteen at Oxford or
Cambridge is taught to row in the style
| deemed necessary for success over the
Putney-Mortlake four mile course. Eton
and Radley are practically the only
British schools which contribute trained
oarsmen TO the universities, and at both
the coaching is done entirely by old uni
versity "blues"--that is, men who have
themselves been moulded to the four
mile course. And when the pupil pad
dies forth on university waters the one
glorious possibility in his mind, and, il
he shows any ability, in that of his teach
ers, Ia that he may some day figure in the
in~teruniversity contest. 1t is important
to realize how utterly all British lessons
in this kind Of rowing are based on the
requirements OF that long distance rice.
Every freshman at Oxford and Cam
bridge is taught to row az if he was about
to embark on tho four mile struggle
from Putney to Mortlake, and not at all
18th &.FananRn 90 nnu arnnnar AicfanAn
such as the mile and a half course at
Henley. In the British amateur world
the four mile distance is an obsession, an
ultimate standard, and the British ANA
teur style of rowing is practically a four
mile style and nothing else.
That this four mile style has hitherto
proved good enough over n mile and a
half course to keep the Grand Challenge
Cup in England may be regarded as more
or less accidental. British oarsmen
have not really been devoid OF some
anxiety on previous occasions. To tell
the truth, they have neve believed that
their four mile style was the speediest
over a very short distance. 1t has al
ways been a recognized fact at both
Oxford and Cambridge that more pace
could be got out Of a boat in a supreme
brief crisis by throwing the traditional
style to the winds and -buoketing'-
that is, rowing exactly az the Belgians
do. In the humping" races at the uni
versities, where the boats start fifty
yards apart and the rear boat scores a
victory by humping the stern of the boat
In front. it has long been a practice for
an attendant on the bank to fire a pistol
when the rear boats prov was pretty
close to the rudder Of the leader. And
when the eight toilers In the rear boat
hear that welcome sound they always
reject all "form"-that Is, all four mile
form-and plug" as nature teaches
them, that is, with their arms, a la Bel
gtque, or in other words, bucket" furi-
ously, expecting thus to achieve a mo-
mentary access OF motion which will
suffice to bring Off the bump"
But-and here is the British point-if
this unconventional Juror fails to achieve
its object in fifty strokes or 30, the rear
boat is generally regarded as a gone
coon" which has sacrificed its principles
to greed, and is properly punished for
the heinous attempt. In other words,
the British have always admitted the
superiority of the Belgian" style for a
brief distance, but they have hitherto
denied that it could be effective even for
so comparatively brief a distance as the
Henley course.
They will doubtless recant-in fact,
they have already done so-in face of the
accomplished fact. A crew which could
bucket for a mile and a half has come,
been seen and conquered, and the British
no longer assert that a four mile style is
necessarily the best for less than half
that distance. Indeed, how could it be
SOP In any other known sort Of locomo-
ton the fittest style varies with the dis
tance. Why not in rowing' II the Brit
ish have hitherto triumphed at Henley
with the wrong style for the distance,
it simply near that the advantages of
rowing on home waters and Of having a