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.
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° to 53°. Personally, I prefer 50°. The prouder (up to a certain point) you set the stretcher the firmer will your leg-power be at the finish of the stroke.
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. 5½ 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. 8½ 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 5¾ 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.