Page:Boating - Woodgate - 1888.pdf/122

 carry a stick end upwards on the tip of his finger. He would quickly but gently anticipate the declination denoted by each wavering motion of the stick, checking each such deviation the moment it is felt. In like manner when steering he should, as it were, ‘hold’ his bows on to his steering point, regulating his boat by gentle and timely touches; if he allows a wide devia- tion ta occur, before he begins to correct his course, he has then a wide détour to make before he can regain his lost position, All this means waste of distance and of rowing energy on the part of the crew.

In steering by a distant landmark the coxswain must bear in mind that the parallax of the distant mark increases as he nears it; so thal what may point a true course to him, for all intents and purposes, when it is half a mile away, may lead him too much to one side or other if he clings to it too long without observing its allered bearing upon his desired direction.

When a coxswain has steered a course more than once he begins to know his landmarks and their, bearing upon each part of the course. There is less strain upon his mind, and he becomes able to observe greater accuracy. There is nothing like having the ‘eye well in’ for any scene of action, A man plays relatively better upon a billiard-table or lawn-tennis ground te which he is well accustomed than on one to which he is a stranger ; and a jockey rides a horse all the better for having erossed him before the day of arace, However good a coxswain may be, he will steer a course more accurately, on the average, in proportion as he knows it more or less mechanically.

‘There is also a good deal in knowing the boat which has to be steered. No two ships steer exactly alike. Some come round more easily than others ; some fetch up into the wind more freely than others. In modem times it has been a common practice for builders to affix a movable ‘fin’ of meta] to the bottom of a racing eight or four, undet the after canvas, which fin can be taken out or fixed in at option. In a cross wind this helps to steady the track ef a boat ; but, unless wind is strong and is abeam for a goad moiety of the distance, the draw of the water