Page:Boating - Woodgate - 1888.pdf/168

 adversary crosses him, steer exactly in his leader’s wake; the wash then spreads like a swallow’s tail on either side of the sternmost man, and does not affect him. His opponent must get out of his way, if not overtaken, so he need not disturb himself ; and if the leader insists on steering to right or left simply to direct the wash, he loses more ground by this meandering than even the pursuer will lose by the slight per- turbations of a sculling beat’s wash for a few strokes. It is good practice for any sculler to take his boat now and then in the wake of another sculler, and try to ‘bump’ him, 1t will teach him how to sit his boat under such circumstances, and he will be surprised before long to find out how little he cares for being washed by another sculler,

A sealler, when practising over a course, especially when water is smooth, may with adyantage time himself from day to day at various points of the course. He will thus find out what his best pace is, and will ascertain whether his speed materially falls off towards the end, if he forces extra pace at the start or halfway or so on. He must be careful to judge proportionately of times and distances, and not positively ; for streams may yary, and so may wind.

On the tideway in sculling matches, it is usual for pilots to conduct seullers. The pilot sits in the bow of an eight. The sculler may rely on the pilot to signal to him whether he is in the required direction ; but when he once knows that his boat points’ right, he’should rote where her stern points, just as if he were steering upon his own resources, and should endeavour so to regulate his hands that his ‘stern keeps straight, as shown by some distant landmark which he selects. ‘his straight line he should then maintain to the best of his ability, bringing his stern-post back to it, if it deflects, until his pilot again signals to him to change his coursc, for rounding some curve or for clearing some obstacle. The pilot cannot inform his charge of each small inaccuracy which leads eventually to deflection from the correct line ; this the seuller must provide against on his own account, It is only when the course has to