Rowing and Sculling by Walter Bradford Woodgate

Author:Walter Bradford Woodgate
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: F.A. Stokes Co.
Published: 1890-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

The anomaly seems to be that, while the theoretic value of sliding, even on a fixed seat, had already been conceded, but

the difficulty in practical application had been the hindrance of friction, this now simple solution of the difficulty should have been unobserved by those who appreciated the system, and should have been left to the casual observation and detection of those who, though they did not appreciate " sliding," yet saw their way to the solution. Like Columbus and his egg, the solution once promulgated seems simple enough. Meantime, English oarsmen must own that they owe to Americans the solution, though not the application of the solution of the problem.

It was still further anomalous that in the first contest that ensued between the old and new world after the practical application of the invention, the country from which the invention first emanated should have pointedly ignored its use, and have rowed upon the old principle of fixed seats, while, on the other.hand, their antagonists adopted the very invention which their rivals had invented only to throw aside. American rowing, deficient in leg work in the very essence of its style, was yet the means of teaching Englishmen how to make the best use of that leg work which constituted the main stay of their style. The race between the London Rowing Club and the Atlanta of New York is, of course, alluded to. The superior physique of the London men, and the further superiority of their style in all first principles of rowing, of form, time, reach, recovery, swing, work done at the first part of the stroke, and all such similar excellences, could no doubt have landed them victors with ease even without the use of the sliding seat. But some of the extreme hollowness of their victory was also due to their use of the sliding seat as against fixed seats. The fact that London could have won in fixed seats made some clubs for the time being fail to recognize the intrinsic merit of the sliding seat till Henley Regatta came, when the comparison of the two styles was

Still further brought into notice. The London Rowing Club—first in the field with the new art—exhibited the best specimen of it, and, with a crew no better in physique and other details in rowing than the defeated London crews of years immediately preceding, secured, for all that, one of the hollowest victories on record for the Grand Challenge. Further, when at the eleventh hour other crews in practice at Henley adopted sliding seats, with but limited time and teaching to acquire the proper use of them, they instantly gained palpably on and over the course to the average of some fifteen seconds for an eight. This last practical illustration turned the scale against scepticism and opposition, at least among rowing men, and before the season came to an end hardly a race was rowed by oarsmen of any pretensions except on the new principle. But, as before stated,

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