Page:Boating - Woodgate - 1888.pdf/120

 A coxswain is the lightest item in the crew, but unless he sits properly he can de much harm in disturbing the balance of a light boat. He should sit with a straight hack; if he slouches, he has not the necessary play of the loins to adapt himself to a roll of the boat. He should incline just a trifle forward ; the spring of the boat at each stroke will swing him forward slightly, and he will recoil to an equal extent on the recovery. His legs should be crossed under him, like a tailor on a shop-board, with the outside of each instep resting on the floor of the boat. He should hold his rudder-lines just tight enough to fecl the rudder. If he hangs too much weight upon them, he may jam the tiller upon the pin on which it revolyes, so that, when the redder has been put on and then taken off, the helm does not instantly swing back to the exact status gue ante ; and in that case the calculation as io course may be dis- turbed, and a counter pull from the other’ line hecome neces- sary, in order to rectify the course.

AA coxswain will do best to rest his hand lightly on cither gunwale, just opposite to his hips. He should give the lines a turn round his palms, to steady the hold on them. Many cox- swains tic a loop at the required distance, and slip the thumb through it ; but such a loop should not be knotted too tight, for when rudder-lines get wet they shrink; so that a loop which was properly adjusted when the line was dry will he too far behind in cyent of the strings becoming soaked.

When a coxswain desires to sct a crew in motion, the usual formula is to tell the men to ‘get forward,’ then to ask if they are ‘ready,’ and then to say ‘go,’ ‘ row,’ or ‘paddle,’ as the case may be. When he wishes to stop the rowing, without other- wise to check the pace of the boat, the freshwater formula is ‘easy all,’ at which command the oars are faid flat on the water. In the navy the equivalent term is ‘way enough.” ‘Easy all’ should be commanded at the beginning, or at latest at the middle, of a stroke, otherwise it is difficult for. the men to stop all together and to avoid a half-commencement of the next stroke.