ROWING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2678, 7 December 1909, Page 6

ROWING.

GISBORNE CLUB

The committee' of the Gisborne Rowing Club met last evening, Mr. C. J. Hamilton preevding. The Hawke’® Bay Rowing Association sent a programme of their regatta to be held on March 26th, and invited entries.—lt was decided to make an endeavor to send crew*.

The following alterations were made in crews: Winter replaces Morgan in McConville’s crew, and L. Bright replaces Parnell in Williams’ crew. The matter of arranging substitutes in Wheeler’s and Peacock’s crews was left to the captain and secretary. In regard to the Buscke cup for sculling, it was decided that entries should close on 19th inst. The races to be rowed on the Waimata course during the .first week *m January. M- S. Edwards was elected a new member.

The committee then went through the proposed club by-laws.

POVERTY BAY CLUB

The weekly meeting of the Poverty Bay Rowing Club committee was held in the club-house last evening; Mr. J. .Webb, captain, presiding/ A programme of the Hawke’s Bay lipwing Association’s regatta,' to be held on the 26th March, at West Shore, Napier, was received, and it.was agreed to invito entries, v The following alterations were made .in crews: S. I)oig takes A. Payne; S. Ledger, It. Wilkinson; C. Winter, WThird; M. McLeod, L. •Ens.br; G. Douglas, F. Clark. The following new members were proposed: L. Ensor and W. Third. The Visiting Committee reported that all. the crews were in active train's, in g for Robertson’s- fours, .and that all vSiatches in ■connection with the club progressing satisfactorily. Nssrs J. Stuart and S. Ledger were a ,visiting committee for the v/- : "7H the meeting adjourned. ) ,

LECTURE ON ROWING:

(Contributed.)

To become a rower you must first get into your boat. To get in you should step carefully on the keelson, or backbone, steadying yourself by talcing hold of each gunwale and then taking your seat , gently. I must impress upon you the necessity there is for treating boats as if made of Jin. cedar instead of malleable steel. Having got into your boat you must be sure of sitting on the proper part of your anatomy. No doubt you think that Nature Jias given you little choice in the matter, but she lias given you ■just enough to permit you to choose ’wrong" and to ruin your chance of becoming a good oar. Sit erect on the bones of your buttock, so that your body works as if it were on a hinge or pivot. There is a great tendency among some oarsmen to sit back on the end of the spine, a position in which it is impossible for you to swing freely or to recover smartly. Having taken your seat, see that yoiir stretcher is set to right length and that your straps are tight enough. The next thing to do is to take hold of your oar, and it is very important that you should take hold in a proper manner. Take hold of the end of the oar—of course, I am presuming that the oar is of the proper length inboard. Do not take hold tightly. The oar must not be held in the fist, so to spealc ; , but in the fingers, to enable the wrist to work easily and lively. The two hands must be about a liandsbreadth apart. Some authorities will tell you that they must be neither more nor less than a handsbreadth ajiart. This is wrong, as a narrow-chested man will work correctly with his hands comparatively much closer together than a broadchested man. The‘object of parting your hands is to enable you to bring your elbows straight in to your sides, and your hands close to the side of the lower part of your chest. When the blade is square and ready, to take the water the inside wrist must be slightly arched. ■ This will enable you to have both arms straight at the elbow when at your extreme reach. Having mastered this much, you must begin your stroke. Your oar-blade lias been lying flat on the surface) "of the water. You have been sitting well on the bones of your pebois —with a straight back mind you. You must endeavor to keep a straight back. You reach out, opening the knees, until your hands are well over the toes (on a fixed seat, and on a sliding sat until ypur knees are about under your armpits). Tllie knees should bend gradually and steadily into position, and not fall loosely apart. Do not over-reach or bend back, but get your length from the swing of the body, and not by bending the back or over-reaching with the shoulders. Having reached well-forward, the oar being on the feather until it is within about a yard of the catch, or beginning, you must gracefully bring it to the square and drop it into the water without splash until the blade is well covered. It is the pratice with some good oarsmen to bring the oar over the perpendicular when catching, and I am not prepared to say that it is wrong, but personally I prefer that it should enter the water, square. Having got the beginning, the next object is to keep the pressure on and keep the oar at the same depth to the end of the stroke. The body must be held firm, and the swing carried back without relaxation.

The body swing must bo got on right from the catch. Do the work with the back, not with the arms. The arms are useful to catch and finish with, but do not play as important a part as the back in the .other part of the stroke. If the beginning lias been good, and the body swing brought into play right from the catch, the blade will be brought right! through with one clean sweep. The arms must be kept straight, acting as connecting rods only, between the shoulders and tlie oar handle. Remember that your blade must be covered at the catch, and kept covered to the same depth throughout the stroke, therefore the hands must be drawn in a perfectly straight line to the chest (if .the . boat keeps on an even keel). Row your hands into your chest, not your stomach. The arms should begin to bend when the body is just abaft the perpendicular. The body and legs having done practically all the work up to that point, the arms are being reserved for the finish and the recovery. The work done by the arms at the finish must bedone simultaneously with the finishing work of the legs and 1 body. Therefore the arms must begin to bend while the 'body has still some distance to swing through, and as the handle is being drawn in from arm’s - length, to the chest, the body must still be swinging back and the legs driving. : ,

The handle of tbe oar must come into- the chest as the legs and body finish their work. ... ,

If .this is done,' the rower will 'meet his bar, and 'therefore shorten his stroke. ..Keep the legwork .on to the very finish 1 of the stroke. Pull from the feet, feel your stretcher at every part of the stroke. . Make the stretcher support the body-swing throughout und to the very end of the stroke. Be sure and keep your head up; your shoulders down, and your elbows into your sides, and your eyes towards the stern of the boat. I make no apology for repeating this. b ‘ Keep your shoulders down throughout the stroke, and; especially at the end of it; ; This will tend to a clean, firm finish, and a good recovery.

Having rowed the handle to your chest—this is the moment of the blade is lifted from the water, feathered by a sharp turn of the inside wrist, the hands rattled -away from the chest, and the body started on its swing forward all in practically one motion: i.e., as the hands come into the chest the hands and wrist® are dropped, and by this motion the blade is raised from the water and- feathered, and the hanclo shoot out over: the knees as if by one motion. The actual distance the hands must drop is Very little, as a very slight drop is sufficient to clear the oar from the water. : v , ; : , ' / I. must impress this upon you, 'ft heavy drop with the hands must destrov the steadiness of the boat and make her roll. There must be no marked or special effort to drop the hands. The drop must be done with the turn or drop of the wrists a® the stroke'is finished. ' ■, The hands must shoot over the knee® and the arms straighten before the body begins to- swing forward. This' is essential, and must be attended to. The oarsman has full command of the oar

as soon as the Handle is past his knees,; but not until then. • ~ , , Tile shooting .away of the hands is made with the wrist and forearm, alone,the shoulders take ho part in it. But no difficulty will be found in doing this it the elbows have been drawn fairly close to the. sides, and the shoulders kept down and the back,firm. . "Having finished the stroke, cleaied the water with your blade and the hands shot out. beyond the knees,-the body must swing forward. _lhe .blade should be kept on the father at an even distance above the water, and v it skid, when about three feet of the beginning it must bo gradually Gracefully turned to the square, and dropped in the water without a splash At tie very instant the oar. rough to the square it must enter the water. In rough weather the feather should be much higher than when the water is smooth, otherwise the blades will not clear the water. • . , There is one fault rather prevalent with beginners—that is “cocking the feather.” This is caused by lowering the hands, or, rather, the knuckle?,- instead of raising the wrists to bung tin blade off the feather. The hands must be •kopt'at _one leve until the catch is made. As the Made is brought to the square by tlie raising of the wrists, so should the hands that instant be raised to cause the blade to enter the water. Or, to put .it another way as the oar comes to the <smiare bv the raising of the wrists it 1 should at that^ instant be dropped into the water anu another stroke is b gU The next thing I must speak to you about is time. This is the great seciob of nace The oars must catch together, mult teave the y.t«r exactly together and must get tlielr work ?n together from the beginning, and keep the P re sure on right through to the Mush. The indispensable to pace is unif ity.” Uniformity first, last, and all the time. That is to say, every man must cro through the same movements, at tiie same time, at exactly the same part of the stroke, and should put on th same amount of pressure on the boat If not exactly that, then the next best thing is that each side of the boat must have equal work done on it. To enable a crew to get together, ie. to perform every portion of the stroke at exactly the. same moment, they must get the rythm of t lie stroke into- their heads, get the time of the oars, the rowlocks, the slides, and th swirl of the water caused by tlie blades, into their heads. Just as one does when dancing to good music. The swing forward is slower than the swino- back, but not nearly so marked as is usually seen. Do not hurry your swing forward. It is simply a waste of energy to get into a fresh stroke while the boat is still increasing her pace from tlie effects of the previous one. This can be learnt by practice only, and th© stroke of the crew should -tv it diligently. . At the beginning of the stroke it is essential that the body swing and the slide should commence at the same time. Leg work and body work should begin together, and keep together all through the stroke, otherwise the oarsman is not making proper use of his slide. If he is against his backstop before his hands have reached his chest, his leg work is left off too soon, and he has lost the support of ihis stretcher at the finish. In sliding forward the- movement of the shoulders must precede that of the slide. The legs should be used- as little as possible in drawing up the body, and the slide must be carried forward by the .momentum of the body-swing and. the impetus of the boat as she shoots from tbe previous stroke. The slide should not begin to come forward until after the body has oassed the perpendicular in its swing forward.