Dinner-Fish
entrée, joint, milk pudding and fruit. I pint of beer. Dessert, I glass of port. 9.55 A cup of water gruel or barley water, and biscuit. 10.0 to 10.30 P.M. Bed.
Sculling. The principles which guide the oarsman in learning how to row are by the necessity of having also to row-that their rowing practice has stiffened their muscles and thrown them out of gear for sculling. I do not think this complaint is well founded. The man who goes in for one event as a sculler has a sufficiently great advantage over his rival, who also competes in some other event as an oarsman, in the fact that, given they each spend an equal amount of time in practice on the water, the latter will only get half as much practice in his sculling boat as the former his practice as an oarsman is of little use to him as a sculler except as a means of getting him into condition. Sculling requires a great deal of practice.
To attain even moderate success as a SCULLING. also applicable to the man who wishes to learn how to scull. He must learn how to slide, how to swing, and how to use the blades of his sculls in the water on exactly the same lines as if he were rowing. But between the oarsman and the sculler there is a great gulf fixed: a good oarsman, even of the very highest class, is by no means necessarily a good sculler; he might, and probably would, with a large amount of practice, become one; but he would require a long and carefully conducted course of training before he could approach the front rank as a sculler. The converse too is true; a first-rate sculler is not necessarily even moderately good oar. Probably the reason is that he is so accustomed to row at his own pace and in his own style that he cannot accommodate himself to the stroke and style set by somebody else. Men who have both rowed and sculled with success at the same regatta complain that their a [Photograph by Sport and General. sculler, a man must acquire a greater knowledge of watermanship and a greater delicacy of touch in handling his sculls than would be required from an oarsman of the same calibre. The secret of success in sculling lies perhaps more in doing nothing to stop the progress of the boat than in actually applying strength to propel it. Thus it is essential that the two hands should work perfectly together, that the blades should enter and leave the water exactly together, and that the power should be applied evenly and at exactly the same moment from both feet, not only because in this way the power is applied to the best advantage, but also because any failure in this perfect combination and unison means that the boat does not run straight during the pressure of the stroke, and that part of the power is more than wasted-is actually applied to forcing the boat out of its direct course and necessitating the use of further power in order F2 to correct this error. Let a beginner watch the stern of his boat as he sculls, and try to keep it straight on some landmark. Let him try as diligently as he may to get both sculls into the water exactly together and to apply his power equally to both, yet he will find that the stern of his boat immediately wanders off that mark and that he must give extra pressure to one hand or the other before the stroke ends in order to get it back on the mark again. If he keeps on practising in this manner till the stern does keep true on the mark without any conscious volition on his part, he is on the high road to being a good sculler-all his power is going towards the propulsion of his boat.
A sculling boat must not be forced by any jerk either at the beginning or finish of the stroke; she resents it and shows her resentment by jumping up and down instead of adding to her speed. So that any power applied without smoothness and firmness is practically wasted. But the most fatal factor in stopping a boat is feather under water; this fault comes partly from a weak finish, but mainly from slow wrist action.
The first points, then, which a beginner must try to acquire are perfect evenness with his hands and work, and cleanness of feather.
His swing and stroke in the water are guided by the principles which I have already laid down, but there is an additional point on which I wish to lay some stress. The professional sculler, during his swing forward, keeps his sculls feathered till he has all but reached the furthest extent of his swing forward; then he turns them square with great rapidity and covers them in the water with what appears to be the same motion-it is done so quickly that the eye can hardly see the blades squared. The amateur as a rule does not imitate the professionals in this matter, and in my opinion is wrong, since the great failing of all amateurs who do not imitate the professionals in this is that they clip a great part of the stroke and miss the beginning owing to their heaviness of hands over the stretcher. Even a thirdrate professional gets a better and a quicker grip of the water than most of our best amateur scullers, and it is owing to this quickness off the feather and into the water that he gains the advantage. In other respects the modern professional compares badly with the amateur (except, perhaps, that his finish is rather cleaner), but the advantage he gains from this one point is sufficient to make his stroke in the water longer and more effective than that of the amateur. [ROWING The finish of a sculler ought to be rather different from that of an oarsman. In an oarsman it is a fault to meet the oar; the sculler can, and ought, to swing further back than he would if he were rowing, and after he has finished both slide and swing he can still use his weight by pulling his body up to meet his sculls as they come home to him-this not only helps his recovery, but prevents the long swing back from burying the bows of his boat.
To a sculler, a long swing both forward and back is very important. In a race a long swing will often carry a tired man past a stronger but equally tired opponent. A sculler ought to be very careful about the arrangement of the work of his boat, the height of the work, and the length of leverage. What is right for one man is seldom right for another. If he cannot get advice from some experienced friend or a professional on this point, he must try experiments for himself. The work in an ordinary boat is often set too high. The ordinary measurement from thowl to thowl is 4 feet 9 inches, with sculls measuring 2 feet 8 inches to 2 feet 9 inches inboard -this is perhaps enough for a man of 5 feet IO inches, or thereabouts; but for a taller man or for a man with longer arms than usual it is not enough; when he is full forward, his sculls form such an acute angle with the boat that a great part of his power is lost in pinching the boat instead of going towards its propulsion. I am inclined to think that 5 feet from thowl to thowl, with increased inboard measurement of sculls, would suit the sculler of average height better than the present arrangement.
The following are the dimensions of a sculling boat which would carry a man of about I1st. 7lb.:- Length over all Greatest breadth Depth forward..
Depth aft Depth amidship Weight... ...... .. 26 feet II inches 1-21-2 36 4 3 6 28 lbs. وو دو وو The sculls ought to be as light as possible, so long as they are stiff; when at right angles with the boat, they ought to overlap at least so much that the hands are well clear of each other. The common measurements for sculls are: total length, 9 feet 8 inches to 9 feet 91 inches; length inboard, 2 feet 8 inches to 2 feet 9 inches; breadth of blade, 5 inches to 64 inches.
Steering: The Coxswain. The coxswain occupies a very responsible and a very ungrateful position; he can do nothing to add to the pace of the boat, and he can only expect to be praised for having done nothing unnecessary to hinder it.
In addition to his actual duties as steers- ROWING] man, he is expected, when in the boat, to keep an eye not only on his course, but also on each individual oarsman, to correct anyone who is out of time, and to rebuke any one who commits the crime of looking out of the boat. In a word, the discipline of the crew is put into his hands from the time that the boat is put into the water till she is taken out again; even when he is out of the boat he has to superintend the crew while they get into or get out of the boat.
The coxswain must sit quite upright on his seat with his legs crossed, his body giving slightly from the hips with the tively, either owing to uneven rowing or to a beam wind or to some other cause, and the coxswain must be on the look out for the slightest deviation, ready to check it before it becomes serious.
Light hands and very gentle touches of the rudder are necessary; racing boats have no keels, and make leeway when the rudder is applied; it is difficult to get them to run straight again after a severe application of the rudder.
On a narrow river, with big corners, the coxswain is rather severely tried.
He ought to take as much room as he can before he comes to a corner, and must not DOUBLE SCULLING. motion of the boat, his hands resting on the thwarts by his sides. He ought to tie the ends of his rudder lines in front of him so that he cannot drop them overboard; the places where he ought to hold his lines are generally marked by pieces of wood. The coxswain must not shift about on his seat while the crew are rowing.
Few coxswains understand that, when the rudder is applied, the boat swings as if pivoted on a point somewhere between Nos. 4 and 5, that as the bow of the boat swings in one direction so does the stern (with the coxswain in it) swing in the other. Many coxswains seem to think that when they put the rudder on, the body of the boat will follow the bows like the body of a snake after its head.
The coxswain ought to make as little use of his rudder as possible; he ought to steer on some landmark, and keep the bows of the boat as it were balanced on it by gentle touches of his rudder. No boat ever runs quite straight for many strokes consecubegin to shape his course for it too soon. The rudder must be applied gradually and between the strokes. In a race the coxswain should not watch the other crew; if he does, he insensibly steers towards them.
In a bumping race he should steer his own course, and not attempt to follow the boat ahead if that should go out of its proper course. He should not attempt to make a bump unless he is sure that he will not miss. If his boat is in danger of being bumped, he may be able to wash off the pursuer, but only if the latter is badly steered; he is more likely to commit some fatal error in his own course owing to his attention being entirely taken up by what is happening behind him.
A coxswain requires a cool head and a ready judgment; not infrequently some sudden emergency arises when the coxswain has to make up his mind what to do. He must not look for advice from any one rowing in the boat; rather than do that, he must rebuke with strong language any COF one who offers advice from the boat; it is the coxswain's duty to settle what ought to be done, and he alone must do it. He must never allow any one rowing, not even the captain or president of the club, to tell him what to do.
D. H. McLEAN.
Style. Before closing the general article on rowing, reference must be made to two so-called innovations in style that have lately come into existence. So much has been written on them, and their real importance is so doubtful, that only short reference to them is called for in an encyclopædia. The styles referred to are what are known as the "Belgian" and the "sculling."
For the former we cannot do better than quote the words of Mr. W. B. Close, who, after studying the methods of Mr. R. Van der Waerden, the Belgian coach, wrote as follows in the Field: "I find that the differences between the theories of the English orthodox style and those of the Belgian style are more apparent than real. Indeed, the foundation of their rowing is based on the same principles and theories that were taught to me when I was at Cambridge thirty-two years ago."
The "sculling" style, as it has been called, is unknown to the present writers. Of the three coaches who had charge of the 1906 Cambridge crew, two had never been in a sculling boat, and the third had done but little. The term probably arose from the fact that the coaches in trying to eradicate a prevalent fault in Cambridge rowing produced, as is so often the case, an exaggeration. S. D. MUTTLEBURY.
F. J. ESCOMBE.
ROWING AT OXFORD.-Early History. College rowing appears to have been in existence at Oxford very early in the last century, but inter-college racing was not then a regular institution as it is now, and records on the subject are very fragmentary. In 1815 we learn that Brasenose were head of the river, Jesus being their chief and perhaps only opponents.
For many years onwards these two seem to have been the principal rowing colleges, the rivalry between them being very keen, as shown especially in the many four-oared matches they contested. At the same time eight-oared bumping races took place with some regularity, although very few colleges were represented. Up to 1825 the crews competing in these eight-oared races were started in a very curious manner out of Iffley Lock; the lock-gates were opened when the word to "go was given, and the boats scrambled out as best they could. The وو [ROWING usual method seems to have been for stroke to stand in the bows with a boat-hook and push out against the lock-gate, running down the gangway. He then jumped into his seat and exchanged boat-hook for oar.
As Iffley Lock would only hold four boats at a time, this system of starting was doomed on any considerable increase in the number of entries, and in 1825, several new eights having put on, a new method was resorted to, the boats taking stations 100 feet apart, the lowest just above the Lasher.
No further change in, or addition to, this system was made till 1839, when, at the start, the coxswain of each crew was made to hold a rope, the other end of which was held or fastened on shore, and the firing of two guns-one preparatory and one final -was substituted for the single pistol shot which had hitherto been the starting signal.
In 1839 the Oxford University Boat Club was formed, and two challenge races-the University Fours and the University Pairs -were instituted. The Sculls were added two years later. The Pairs as well as the Fours were originally rowed in the October term, while the race for the Sculls took place in the Lent term. In 1852 and 1857 respectively, the Sculls and Pairs were transferred to the summer term, in which they have been held ever since. Originally the races in all three events were rowed level, but the Berkshire side proving much the better, and fouls continually taking place, the system was eventually abandoned in 1857 and the present system of "time" racing substituted. In 1839 the first mention is made of Torpid races, which were then rowed a few days after the Eights.
They were not transferred to the Lent term till 1852. There is little more to record as to the history of the various rowing institutions that exist at Oxford to-day. Their growth has been steady and continuous, and the changes and additions made from time to time have been chiefly in matters of detail. The Eights were originally rowed for a more or less indefinite number of nights, the earliest idea being that every boat must have its night"; that is to say that the evenings on which racing should be held must be equal in number to the boats competing; so that the bottom boat should have its chance of rowing head of the river. When the crews had found their level, however, the races appear usually to have been stopped by common consent. In these early times the races did not take place on consecutive nights, but at somewhat irregular intervals.
Subsequently the number of nights was limited to eight and finally to six, and the racing evenings-except where Sunday intervened-were made consecutive. “ ROWING] College Rowing at Modern Oxford.
The rowing year at Oxford of to-day may be said to begin in October and end with the close of the summer term in the following June. This is true at any rate from the point of view of the colleges. From the point of view of the University Boat Club the division is a different one, but this is a matter that will be referred to later.
At the beginning of the October term each college devotes itself largely to the coaching of its freshmen and junior oarsmen. At the same time, if it is a prominent rowing college and can put on a sufficiently good THE TATE LIBRARY, BRIXTON, S.W. senting the various colleges. No one may row who has exceeded eighteen terms residence. It is rowed in light coxswainless boats, and is a "time" race. It may be well to explain the meaning of this term. As has already been shown, the course at Oxford is in places too narrow to admit fairly of two boats racing abreast. All races at Oxford, therefore, are either "time" races or bumping races.
In a "time" race the boats, which start in heats of two at a time, are stationed one behind the other, a considerable distance apart, and row to different finishing posts, OXFORD. THE BARGES. a crew, it will enter a four for the Coxswainless Fours, an event which takes place early in November. Few colleges are, as a rule, represented in this race, and the majority can devote themselves exclusively to fashioning their raw material with view to future use. To this end, after an adequate period of coaching in pair-oared gigs, each college arranges its freshmen and other beginners in four-oared crews, and, after a further period of instruction, races these against one another. After this, eights are taken out consisting as a rule partly of freshmen and partly of men who rowed in the previous Torpids, but failed to get into their college eight. Practice of this kind continues till the end of the term in view of the coming Torpids. But before dealing with the next term's racing something more must be said of the University Fours.
The Coxswainless Fours. This race, whose institution has already been recorded, is open to four-oared crews reprethe same distance separating the finishing as the starting posts. At each finishing post a man (who must not be a member of either of the colleges interested) is stationed, whose duty it is to drop a signal when the crew for which he is acting reaches its post. A judge, who is stationed in a punt below, whence he can see both signals, decides which of these was the first to fall, and thus declares the winner. On this principle the Coxswainless Fours are rowed, and although, as has been said, the entry is small, considerable trouble is taken in the preparation of the crews competing, which are usually of good quality.
The Torpids.-In January, at the beginning of the Lent term, each college arranges its available material, in one, two, or three eights-as the case may be for the Torpid races, which take place about the middle of the term. In these races a college may be represented only by oarsmen who have not rowed for their college in the first eights of the previous summer, or who have not rowed in finals or in the University Eight (this latter exception does not apply to freshmen), and may put on one or more crews. Some colleges are represented by as many as three Torpids, but the majority by either one or two. The boats rowed in must be clinker-built, and the races are bumping races. They begin on a Thursday, and conclude on the following Wednesday, being rowed on each afternoon of this period, with the exception of Sunday. As the meaning of "bumping race" will not be known to everybody, it will be well to describe here the system as O.U.B.C. PRESIDENT'S CHAIR MADE OF THE "SEVEN OAR HENLEY, 1843. applied to the Torpids. The boats, in these races, start from posts which are set 160 feet apart, the coxswain in each case holding the end of a rope, 50 feet long, attached to one of these posts, until the starting signal is given. The object of each crew is to catch the crew in front of it, a bump being effected when the pursuing boat has touched any part of the boat pursued. The actual distance, it will be noticed, which a crew has to gain in order to make a bump is that which separates the nose of one boat from the stern of the one in front of it; that is to say, about 104 feet, or a little under two lengths. In racing, however, the boat pursuing is at a somewhat greater disadvantage than this would imply, for it must overlap its opponent by some 4 or 5 feet to be reasonably certain of making [ROWING its bump, and when a bump is imminent the crew that is behind is hampered to some extent by rowing in the other's wash. When a bump has been made, and acknowledged by the defeated coxswain holding up his hand, the two boats concerned, having finished their race, draw aside to let those behind pass them. As the whole course available is not a very long one, and the distance for the upper boats would be too short if all the crews raced at the same time, they are separated into three divisions the lowest of which rows first, the middle second, and the highest last, about an hour separating each in point of time. The object of rowing them in this order is to make practicable the passage of a rising boat from a lower to a superior division.
This is effected by allowing the crew that has finished head of a lower division to compete later on in the same afternoon as bottom of the next division. A boat that is in this position is called the sandwich boat. It will thus be seen that a crew which starts second in one of the two lower divisions can make two bumps on the same night. The Torpid races are very keenly contested, and every night a great crowd accompanies the boats, each crew having its band of supporters, who run from start to finish applauding and exhorting.
For some years prior to 1907 another event took place annually in the Lent term -the Clinker Fours. This was instituted to encourage rowing in the lower colleges, whose crews were not likely to be good enough to enter for the Coxswainless Fours.
The boats used were clinker-built, with slides limited to 12 inches in length, and men who had rowed in the University Eight, in Trials, or in the upper division of the