Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/355

* ROWING. 323 ROWING. ep£T/i6v, crelmoii, oar, Skt. arilra, nulilor. pad- dle, in; to drive, pusli, OClmreh Slav, n'yuti, to piish, and tiltiiiiately with Eiig. rudder, oai). The art of iiropelling a boat by means of oar.s. Professional lioating is almost exclusively single ■sculling, which method will be found treated sep- arately. This article is, tlwrefore, conlined to fresh-water rowing in competitive races, by crews mostly of eight men, though occasionally of four, and more rarely of two. The boats are light, long, and narrow. The English custom in an eight-crew boat is to seat each man as far over to the o])posite side from his rowlock as possible, so that, in ell'ect, four sit on one side and four ou the other. In America, the men sit in a straight line down the centre of the boat. In eights, the boat is kept in its course by a steersman (coxswain), sitting in the stern and guiding it with tiller ropes attached to the rudder. In fours, however, it is usual to dispense with a steerer, the first rower from the stern keeping the boat in the desired position by jnessing a board with his feet to which the lud- der lines are attached. Pairs dispense with <a rudder altogether. The styles of rowing dilfer with place and period, and each has stanch advocates. But there is one fundamental prin- ciple governing the whole subject: what the oar does in the water is the only tluHg that gives pace to a boat. The stt-ing forward is to put the oar, held horizontally so as to minimize the resistance of the atmosphere, back beyond the rowlock, so that, when turned on edge it may drop into the water at the most effectual spot. The bcgiiminri is the applying the whole weight of the body against the water in front of the blade. The suing back carries the blade onward. The finish is when the body has passed the perpendicular, and the recovery is when the oar is lifted out of the water by the row-er lowering liis hands, w'lien the swing forward for another stroke begins. The boats have had an interesting develo|)ment in the aim to combine lightness and strength. In the early days they were heavy, wide, and deep, with a keel and with rowlocks or ruts f(n' the oars on their sides. The first decided inno- vation was that of Clasper, a celebrated Oxford builder, who in 1844 designed light iron brackets extending out from the sides of the boat. These enabled the rowlock to be at a point farther out than before from the rower's hand, and thereby increased the power of his stroke. They were adopted both in England and by Yale and Har- vard. The next improvement was in 1S.5G, when the first keelless boat was built by Taylor. This was a revolution necessitating a new method of rowing; in fact, modern rowing styles all date from that event. The sliding seat, introduced by Yale in 1870, was the next, and remains prac- tically the last of the steps in the evolution of the design of the rowing boat. It made row- ing nmch more pleasant and necessitated the use of a longer leverage of the oar inboard, but it did not require any material alterations in methods of rowing. It was quickly im]iroved, and by 1872 was in general use in England as well as in America. The boat of a racing eight is approxi- mately 60 feet long, two feet wide, and one foot deep. The slide varies in length, as does the distance of the rowlock from the centre of the seat. Thirty inches is the average distance in England where fixed rowlocks are used. In .merica the rowlinks wnrk on a swivel. The material of the boat in Creat Itritain has nearly uniformly been cedar, and this wood is iiiiicii used in the I'nited States, altlmugb papier niacin^ and aluminum have been tried with niori- or Icmh success under suitable eomlitiuns. Expert bout- builders, however, .seem to prefer cedar. The oars of .Vinerica are lighter and of a ilitrerent shape from tlios» in use in England, and wiiler. ranging from t;<.j to 7f'i inelu-< across the blade. The standard English length is 12 feet (I imlies over all, laittoned for the rowlock at :i fei'l 8 inches from the handle I'nd, and ">'.j inches wide in the blade, al( hough the oar must 1m» necummu- dated to the individual oarsman. In all probability, competitive rowing owes its origin to the Thames watermen. The Wind- sor watermen of the royal barge and llieir aquatic contests would naturally interest the Eton boys directly across the Thames, so that it is not surprising to find the earliest instance of a rowing dub at Eton. Its list of captiiina is com])lete from the year 1812, although it« operations extend back into the i)revious cen- tury. Since then Eton has been the nursery of the best oarsmen of both the ancii^nl English universities. The rowing history of Oxford ifoi's not go further back than 1815, when Uraseiioso was at 'the head of the river,' a term that neces- sarily implies earlier struggles, the records of which are lost. Cambridge has no authentic racing data earlier than 1825. There, too. for many years every college has had one. two, or three rowing clnbs. The first English club not located at a ])ublic Ahool or university was the Leander Boat Club, on the Thames, which was incorporated in 1812 for the purpose of keeping together 'old blues' of both universities who were resident in London. Its mend)ership is limited to men who have aclimlly rowed in the Oxfonl and Cambridge crews, or in the trial eights from which the crews were selected. Its inlluence on rowing has been of the first importance, ami to- day its crews hold the premier honors of the rowing world. The .Vustralian Kowing .Associa- tion, founded in 1S7!), is the governing body for general rowing in Australia. Rowing in the United State.s. American boat- ing has been greatly advanceil by the colleges, whose crews represent on the whole the most finished watermanship, and hold nearly all the records for the distances and conditions in which they compete. These contests between I'olleges represent, also, clean and well-condn<'led sport. Rowing began in the I'niled Stat<>s early in the nineteenth century, and the first important race was held in ISll', when a New York City crew. rowing in a four-oared barge, defeated a Tx)ng Island crew. The oldest boat club in the country is the Detroit Boat Club, founded in 18.30. In 184.3 the second, and existing club, was fonned at Yale. Rowing at Harvard had been organized as early as 1830. Serious boat racing l«'gan with intercollegiate boating, nine years after the for- mation of the Yale Boat Club, aird its history ever since has been intimately connccteil with col- legiate athletics. The first intenoUegiate regatta was held in 18.')2. Yale and Harvard then lieinp the only boating colleges. Harvard won the race, and also a second one. which was held in 1855. In 18.58, at the suggestion of Harvanl. the I'nion College Regatta Association was formed, com-