Page:Boating - Woodgate - 1888.pdf/124

 tion (for good) of the Henley course which was inaugurated in 1886 has put an end to this, and both racing crews now take a mid-slream course, ‘he course is to all intents and purposes straight, and yet it will net do to keep the bows fixed on one point from start to finish, ‘There is just a fraction of curve to the left in it, but so slight that one finger’s touch of a line will deflect a boat to the full extent required. The church tower offers a landmark by which all pilots can steer, keeping it more or less 10 the right hand of the bows, and allowing for the increase of tis parallax as the boat nears her goal.

Over the Putney water the best course has changed con- siderably during the writer’s personal recollections. “Twenty years ago the point entering to Horse Reach, and opposite ta Chiswick Church, could be taken close. The Conseryancy dredged the bed of the river, and also filled up a bight on the Surrey shore. This transferred the channel and the strongest current to the Middlesex side. In 1866 a head wind (against flood tide) off Chiswick raised the higher surf near to the tow- path, showing that the main stream flowed there. It now runs much nearer to the Eyot.

Also the removal of the centre arch of old Putney Bridge drew the main flood tide more inte mid-river than of old ; and since then the new bridge has been built and the old one altogether removed, still further affecting the current in the same direction. There is a noticeable tendency in the present day, on the part ef all pilots, whether in sculling matches or in eight-oar races, to take Craven Point too wide and to bear off into the bay opposite, on the Surrey shore. The course should be kept rather more mid-stream than of old, up to Craven steps, but the point should be taken reasonably close when rounding ; there should not be, as has often been seen during the lust six years, roam for a couple more boats to race between the one on the Fulham side and the Craven bank.

In old days, when Craven Point used to be taken close, and when the set of the tide lay nearer to it than now, there ensued an important piece of pilotage called ‘making the shoot.’ It