Page:Boating - Woodgate - 1888.pdf/79

 Having shown the importance of careful study and tuition in the details of scientific oarsmanship, we now enter into those details themselves, but still confine ourselves to what is known as ‘fixed’ seat rowing, taking them separately, and dealing first with the stroke itself, as distinct from the ‘recovery’ between the strokes.

While carrying out the stroke upon general principles, the oarsman, in order to produce a maximum effect with a relatively minimum expenditure of strength, has to study the following details:

1. To keep the back rigid, and to swing from the hips.

2. To maintain his shoulders braced when the oar grasps the water.

3. To use the legs and feet in the best manner and at the exact instant rcquired.

4. To hold his oar properly.

5. To govern the depth of the blade with accuracy, including the first dip of the blade into the water to the moment when the blade quits it.

6. To row the stroke home to his chest, bending his arms neither too soon nor too late.

7. To do so with the correct muscles,

8. To drop the hands and elevate the oar from the water in the right manner and at the right moment. Then again, when the stroke is completed and the recovery commences, the details to be further observed are:

9. To avoid 'hang' or delay of action either with hands or body.

10. To manipulate the feather with accuracy and at the propcr instant.

11. To goverm the height of the blade during the recovery.

12. To use the legs and feet correctly and at the right moments of recovery.

13. To keep the button of the oar home to the thowl.

14. To regulate the proportionate speeds of recovery of arms and of body, relatively to each other.