FIRST LESSONS ON SLIDING SEATS.
Let me assume (I am still addressing my imaginary novice) that you have
passed through the first few stages of your novitiate. If you are an
Oxford or a Cambridge freshman you will have been carefully drilled in a
tub-pair, promoted later to a freshmen's four or eight, and during the
next term may have been included in the Torpid or Lent-Boat of your
College. At any rate, I am assuming that you have by now rowed in a race
or a series of races for eight-oared crews on fixed seats. But I prefer
to leave the general subject of combined rowing, whether in eights or
fours, to a later chapter, while I attempt to explain the mysteries and
difficulties of the sliding seat.
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 1.--POSITION AT FINISH OF STROKE.
(_Stationary Photograph._)]
The slide may be described as a contrivance for increasing the length of
the stroke (_i.e._ of the period during which, the oar-blade remaining
covered in the water, power is applied to the propulsion of the
boat), and for giving greater effect to the driving force of the
oarsman's legs. Long before the actual sliding seat had been invented
professional oarsmen and scullers had discovered that if they slid on
their fixed thwarts they increased the pace of their boats, and even
amongst amateurs this practice was not unknown. Mr. R. H. Labat has told
me that so far back as 1870 he and his colleagues fitted their rowing
trousers with leather, greased their thwarts, and so slid on them. In
1872 slides were used at Henley Regatta, and in 1873 the Oxford and
Cambridge crews for the first time rowed their race on slides, Cambridge
winning in 19 mins. 35 secs., which remained as record time until 1892.
This performance, though it was undoubtedly helped by good conditions of
tide and wind, served to establish slides firmly in popular favour, and
from that time onwards fixed seats were practically retained only for
the coaching of novices and, in eights, for the Torpids and Lent Races
at Oxford and Cambridge. Now, proceeding on the principle that rowing is
meant to be an exercise of grace, symmetry, and skill, as well as of
strength and endurance, I think I may lay it down as an essential rule
that it is necessary on slides to observe those instructions which made
fixed-seat rowing in the old days a pleasure to the eye. In the very
early days of slides, while men were still groping for correct
principles, this important axiom was too often neglected. It was
imagined that swing was no longer necessary, and accordingly the rivers
were filled with contorted oarsmen shuffling and tumbling and screwing
on their slides. Veteran oars and coaches, to whom "form" was as the
apple of their eye, were horror-struck, and gave vent to loud
lamentations, utterly condemning this horrible innovation, which, as
they thought, had reduced oarsmanship to the level of a rough and tumble
fight. "If both Universities," wrote the Rev. A. T. W. Shadwell in his
"Notes on Boat-building," published in the "Record of the University
Boat Race" in 1881, "would condescend to ask Dr. Warre to construct for
them, and if their crews would also either learn to use the sliding
apparatus effectively, or to discard it as pernicious and as an enemy to
real oarsmanship when not thoroughly mastered, then we should be treated
again to the welcome spectacle of boats travelling instead of
dragging, riding over the water instead of the water washing over the
canvas, combined with that still more-to-be-desired spectacle of
faultless form and faultless time--eight men ground into one perfect
machine. Nothing short of that result will satisfy those who know what
eight-oared rowing ought to be, and lament its decadence." Yet Cambridge
had produced the 1876 crew, Oxford the 1878 crew, both of them models of
style, unison and strength, and Leander both in 1875 and in 1880 had won
the Grand Challenge Cup with admirable crews composed exclusively of
University men. It would seem, therefore, as if Mr. Shadwell's
strictures were undeserved, at least by the better class of University
oars. The fact is that by that time, and for some years before that
time, the true principles of sliding had been acquired, and the more
serious defects of form had once more become the cherished possession of
inferior college crews. But then, even in the glorious old fixed-seat
days, College crews were not always remarkable for the beauty and
correctness of their form. I am not going to deny that the difficulty of
teaching good style has been increased by the addition of the sliding
seat; but there have been innumerable examples during the last quarter
of a century to prove that this difficulty can be faced and entirely
overcome. Four crews I have already mentioned. I may add to them, not as
exhausting the list of good crews, but as being splendid examples of
combined style and power, the London Rowing Club crew of 1881, which won
the final of the Grand from the outside station against Leander and
Twickenham; the Oxford crews of 1892, 1896 and 1897; the crews of
Trinity Hall, the Oxford Etonians, and the Thames Rowing Club in 1886
and 1887; the Cambridge crew and the Thames Rowing Club crew of 1888;
the London Rowing Club crew of 1890; the Leander crews of 1891, 1893,
1894 and 1896; and the New College and Leander crews of the present
year. It is fortunate that this should be so, for, the proof of the
pudding being in the eating, it is hardly likely that crews will abandon
a device which, while it has actually increased pace over the Henley
course by close on half a minute, has rendered skill and watermanship of
higher value, and has given an additional effect to physical strength.
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 2.--POSITION JUST AFTER FINISH OF STROKE.
(_As the recovery movements begin, the hands have been dropped and the
wrists have begun to turn over for feather. Instantaneous Photograph._)]
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 3.--THE RECOVERY.
(_Arms have been sharply straightened out and the body has been released
for the swing._)
(_Stationary Photograph._)]
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 4.--FORWARD POSITION ON 16 INCH SLIDE LEVEL WITH "WORK."
(_In movement the body would swing a little further forward, the chest
pressing against left knee._)
(_Stationary Photograph._)]
During my undergraduate days at Cambridge, and for some years afterwards
(say, up to about 1884), the slide-tracks in racing boats were
sixteen inches long.[5] This, allowing seven inches as the breadth of
the seat itself, would give the slide a "play," or movement, of nine
inches. The front-stop, which forms the limit of the forward movement of
the slide, was fixed so as to bring the front edge of the slide to a
point five inches from the "work," _i.e._ from a line drawn straight
across the boat from the back, or rowing, thole. At the finish of the
stroke, therefore, when the slide had been driven full back, its front
edge was fourteen inches away from the work. To put it in technical
language, we slid up to five inches from our work and finished fourteen
inches away from it. Since that time slides have become longer, and
there are but few racing boats in which the slide-tracks are less than
twenty-two or even twenty-three inches long, giving the slide a play of
fifteen or sixteen inches. The front edge of the slide now moves forward
(when I say "forward" I speak in relation to the movement of the body
and not in relation to the ends of the boat) to a point which is level
with the work. In other words, we now slide up to our work and finish
fifteen or sixteen inches from it. On these long slides, when the body
has attained the full reach, the flanks are closed in upon the thighs,
the knees are bent until the thighs come fairly close to the calves,
and, _ex necessario_, the ankle-joints are very much bent. It is plain
that great flexibility of hip-joints, knees, and ankles must be attained
in order that the slide may be used fully up to the last fraction of an
inch in coming forward. This flexibility very few novices, and not all
old stagers, possess. The muscles and joints at first absolutely refuse
to accommodate themselves to this new strain, and you will see a man as
he slides forward, taking his heels well off the stretcher in order to
ease the strain upon his ankles, and moving his shoulders back long
before his oar has gripped the water in order to relieve his hip-joints.
This results in his missing the whole of his beginning, striking the
water at right-angles to his rigger instead of well behind it, and
having absolutely no firmness of drive when it becomes necessary for him
to use his legs. In order, therefore, that matters may be made easier
for novices, and that they may be brought on gradually, I strongly
advise coaches to start them on slides much shorter than those now
in vogue. A slide with a play of eight inches, coming to a point six
inches from the work, is ample. A few days will make a wonderful
difference, and later on, when the first stiffness has worn off and the
movements have become easier, the slide can be gradually increased. At
Oxford and Cambridge the proper seasons for such preliminary practice
would be the Lent Term, when Torpids and Lent Races are over, and the
beginning of the October term, when many College clubs--at any rate at
Cambridge--organize Sliding-seat Trial Eights in clinker-built boats.
[5] The Metropolitan rowing clubs had, I believe, lengthened their
sliding some time before this.
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 5.--BEGINNING OF STROKE.
(_Instantaneous Photograph. N.B.--Head inserted by engraver._)]
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 6.--POSITION OF BODY ABOUT HALF THROUGH STROKE.
(_Stationary Photograph._)]
Two further points remain to be noticed. On fixed seats the ankles
hardly bend up as the body swings forward, and it is possible,
therefore, to use a stretcher fixed almost erect in the boat, the seat
being placed eleven or twelve inches from the work. But with slides, as
I have explained, the seat moves to a point which in racing boats is now
level with the work, and few ankles are capable of submitting to the
strain which would be involved if the stretchers were set up as erect
("proud" is the technical term) as they are with fixed seats. It is
necessary, therefore, to set the stretchers more off on an incline
(technically, to "rake" them). It will be found, I think, that,
assuming a stretcher to be one foot in height, a set-off of nine inches
will be amply sufficient for most novices, even on full slides.[6] I
have myself never found any difficulty in maintaining my feet firm on a
stretcher of this rake or even of less, and I have known some very
supple-jointed men, _e.g._ Mr. H. Willis, of the Leander Crews of 1896
and 1897, who preferred to row with a stretcher set up a good deal
prouder. But the average oar is not very supple-jointed, though his
facility in this respect can be greatly improved by practice. To make
things easier--and after all our object should be to smooth away all the
oarsman's external difficulties--I consider it advisable to fix
heel-traps to the stretcher. This simple device, by the pressure which
it exercises against the back of the heels, counteracts their tendency
to come away from the stretcher; but even with heel-traps, I have seen
stiff-jointed oarsmen make the most superbly successful efforts to bring
their heels away.
[6] The angle made by the back of the stretcher and the kelson may
vary from 43 deg. to 53 deg.. Personally, I prefer 50 deg.. The
prouder (up to a certain point) you set the stretcher the firmer will
your leg-power be at the finish of the stroke.
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 7.--POSITION JUST BEFORE FINISH OF STROKE.
(_The hands have still to come in to chest and a few inches of slide
remain for final leg-pressure._)]
The second point is this: With sliding seats you require an oar of
longer leverage (_i.e._ inboard measurement from rowing-face of
button to end of handle) than with fixed seats. For a fixed seat an oar
with a leverage of 3 ft. 5-1/2 ins. should suffice. With long slides the
leverage of an oar should not be less than 3 ft. 8 ins., nor more than 3
ft. 8-1/2 ins. For this I assume that the distance of the centre of the
seat from the sill of the row-lock is 2 ft. 7 ins. With regard to
leverage, there is a practical unanimity of opinion amongst modern
oarsmen. With regard to the outboard measurement of oars and the proper
width of blade, they differ somewhat, but I can reserve this matter for
the next chapter, merely premising that in any case it is not advisable
to start your novices in gigs with oar-blades broader than 5-3/4 ins.
Let me imagine, then, that my pupil is seated in the gig, his stretcher
having been fixed at a point that will enable him, when his slide is
full back, and he is sitting on it easily without pressing, to have his
knees _slightly_ bent.
And now to the business of instruction.
1. Remember and endeavour to apply all the lessons you have learnt on
fixed seats. Slides add another element to the stroke. They do not alter
the elements you have previously been taught.
2. BEGINNING.--Get hold of this just as you would on a fixed seat, with
a sharp spring of the whole body, which thus begins its swing-back
without the loss of a fraction of time.
(_a_) The natural tendency of a tiro will be to drive his slide away
before his shoulders have begun to move. This must at all costs be
avoided. In order to secure the effectual combination of
body-swing and leg-work, it is essential that the swing should
start first.
(_b_) It is equally reprehensible to swing the body full back before
starting the slide; you thus cut the stroke into two distinct
parts, one composed of mere body-swing, the other of mere
leg-work. Therefore:
(2) When the body-swing backwards has started, but only the smallest
fractional part of a second afterwards--so quickly, indeed, as to appear
to the eye of a spectator almost a simultaneous movement--let the slide
begin to travel back, the swing meanwhile continuing.
(_a_) Remember what was said in fixed-seat instructions as to the
use of the toes and the ball of the foot at the beginning of the
stroke. On slides this is even more important.
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 8.--BAD POSITION FULL FORWARD.
(_Overreach with shoulders, head left behind._)]
(3) Body and slide are now moving back in unison, the feet pressing with
firm and steady pressure against the stretcher, _and the arms perfectly
straight_. As the slide moves, the leg-power applied must on no account
diminish. If anything it ought to increase, for the body is beginning to
lose its impetus, and the main part of the resistance is transferred to
the legs, the blade all the time moving at an even pace through the
water.
(4) The body must swing a little further back than on a fixed seat.
(5) Body-swing and slide-back should end at the same moment.
(6) As they end, the knees should be pressed firmly down so as to enable
you to secure the last ounce of leg-power from the stretcher.
Simultaneously with this depression of the legs, the hands (and
particularly the outside hand, which has been doing the main share of
the work of the stroke all through) must bring the oar-handle firmly
home to the chest, sweeping it in and thus obtaining what is called a
firm hard finish. As the knees come finally down, the elbows pass the
sides, and the shoulders move back and downwards.
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 9.--THOROUGHLY BAD POSITION FULL FORWARD.
(_Overreach with shoulders, back doubled over, arms bent, hands heavy on
handle. A position entailing great labour and resulting in a short weak
stroke._)]
(_a_) Mr. W. B. Woodgate, in the Badminton book on "Boating," says:
"Many good oarsmen slide until the knees are quite straight. In
the writer's opinion this is waste of power: the knees should
never quite straighten; the recovery is, for anatomical reasons,
much stronger if the joint is slightly bent when the reversal of
the machinery commences. The extra half-inch of kick gained by
quite straightening the knees hardly compensates for the extra
strain of recovery; also leg-work to the last fraction of a second
of swing is better preserved by this retention of a slight bend,
and an open chest and clean finish are thereby better attained."
If Mr. Woodgate means that the legs are _not_ to be pressed down as
the stroke finishes, but are to remain loosely bent, I differ from
him, though, considering his high authority, with hesitation and
regret. As a matter of fact, the front edge of the thwart catches
the calves of the legs at the finish, when the legs are pressed
down, and prevents the knees from being _absolutely_
straightened. But I am certain that unless an oarsman assures his
legs in the firm position that I have explained, he will lose most
valuable power at the end of the stroke, and will materially
increase his difficulty in taking his oar clean out of the water
and generally in getting a smart recovery. This final leg-pressure
not only supports the body in a somewhat trying position, but
enables the hands to come home to the chest without faltering. As
on fixed seats, it is essential that the body should not be pulled
forward to meet the oar. And it is equally essential that it
should not sink down or fall away from the hands, thus rendering
an elastic recovery impossible.
(_b_) The blade, as on fixed seats, must be kept fully covered to
the finish, and there must be power on it to the last fraction of
an inch. If a man takes his oar out of the water before he has
fairly ended his stroke, and rows his finish in the air, or if he
partially uncovers his blade and rows "light," he commits in
either case a serious fault. In the former case his whole
body-weight, which ought to be propelling the boat, not only
ceases to have any good effect, but becomes so much dead lumber,
and actually impedes her progress. In the latter he can only exert
half, or, it may be, one quarter of his proper power during an
appreciable part of the stroke.
(7) The drop of the hands, the turn of the wrists, the shoot-out of the
hands, and the straightening of the arms must be performed precisely as
on a fixed seat, but the legs, meanwhile, are to remain braced, so that
knees may not hamper hands. As soon as ever the hands have been shot
out, and _immediately_ after the start of the forward swing, the slide
comes into play, and the knees consequently begin to bend outwards and
upwards. It is very important not to pause or "hang" on the recovery.
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 10.--A THOROUGHLY BAD AND VERY COMMON POSITION AT FINISH.
(_Body lying much too far back, elbows sticking out. From such a
position a smart and elastic recovery is impossible._)]
(8) The recovery movements ought to release the body smartly, but care
must be taken not to hustle the body forward with a rush before the arms
are straightened. The body _begins_ to swing _from the hips_ as soon
as the hands release it, but the swing is to be a slow one.
(_a_) Do not begin to slide forward before you swing. Let your swing
just have the precedence, and let it then carry your slide with
it.
(9) The pace of the swing forward must be slow and unvarying, and the
slide, therefore, must also move slowly. The time occupied by the swing
should be the body's rest.
(10) Remember the fixed-seat instructions as to balance against the
stretcher with the feet during the swing forward, and especially during
the latter part of it. The fault of tumbling forward over the stretcher
is far too common, and can only be avoided or corrected by maintaining
the pressure on the stretcher. In fact, never let your body get out of
control. You ought to feel and to look as if at any moment during the
swing forward you could stop dead at the word of command. Swing and
slide should practically end together, the body "snaking out," as I have
heard it expressed, in the final part of the swing, but without
"pecking" over the front-stop. There must be no over-reach with the
shoulders.
(11) When the body is full forward the knees should be opened to about
the breadth of the arm-pits, the flanks closed in against the thighs.
The knees should bend steadily and gradually into this position, and at
the moment of beginning they must maintain themselves there and not fall
loosely apart. Such a movement entails a great loss of power at the
beginning of the next stroke. Nor, on the other hand, ought the knees to
be clipped together as the stroke begins.
(12) Remember, finally, that grace, erectness, straightness of back and
arms, and a clean precision, balance and elasticity of all movements are
as important now as they were on fixed seats. A man who on slides rounds
his back, humps up his shoulders, and hollows his chest _may_ do good
work, but it will be in spite of and not because of these serious
disfigurements. Only by carefully observing fixed rules and by prolonged
practice will you be able to attain to the harmonious ease and elegance
by which a comparatively weak man can so economize his strength as to
outrow and outlast some brawny giant who wastes his power in useless
contortions.
[Illustration: SLIDING SEATS.
NO. 11.--ANOTHER BAD POSITION AT FINISH.
(_Body doubled up over handle of oar, elbows sticking out. With the body
in this position heart and lungs get no chance of working properly._)]