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05-05: "When the oarsman is told to row as easily as possible, he must not slouch."
01-01 Don't start the next stroke too soon.
01-02 The best results are got by exaggerating the points where the oarsman is most likely to fail.
01-03 Always be ready for a spurt.
01-04 Spring off the stretcher as fast as you can, and on no account reduce the leg-drive to stop fast sliding.
01-05 If you can't do it easily, you can't do it at all.
01-06 The dreamier a crew looks, the nearer it approaches to the poetry of motion.
01-07 Think for yourself and work in a natural manner.
01-08 Test a man's utility and earnestness by his blade-work, the manner in which the blade of his oar stirs the water.
01-09 Rowing means pushing the water past the boat. It makes no real difference in principle whether we say it is that or say that it is pushing the boat past the water.
01-10 No movements of the crew in the boat can make it progress or retard it any more than one can make a bus go from London to Oxford by merely running about inside it.
01-11 It is a mistake to make an oarsman think consciously about his body.
01-12 An oarsman makes hundreds of movements during his life similar to all the movements of the body throughout the stroke, and he ought to be able to make the movements of rowing without being told how.
01-13 A high blade means a true springy strike on to the balance.
01-14 Read Notes on Rowing, and read them frequently, to get the constant repetition of principles which makes the book like a rowing coach.
01-15 A man's success as an oar will depend on the amount of thought he gives to the subject.
01-16 Keenness and enthusiasm are everything in a coach.
01-17 Let the blade lead all through the stroke.
01-18 If the oarsman is properly controlled in his swing, he will not hit the front stop.
01-19 Hands, body, slide, is the order of timing. The movements should be as natural as when picking up a piece of paper.
01-20 Let the subjective mind control all the movements of the body unconsciously.
01-21 The longer the oar is held balanced on the feather the better.
01-22 The cox must be the voice of the stroke and express his messages to the crew on the instant that he reads the thought upon stroke's face.
01-23 Spring from the stretcher and row the blade in.
01-24 Enjoy your rowing, win or lose.
01-25 Oarsmen, especially beginners, vary the draw much more than most people think.
01-26 Swivels are much better rowing appliances than fixed rowlocks.
01-27 Try to squeeze the button through the rowlock at each end of the stroke.
01-28 The education of an oarsman should never be allowed to become stereotyped.
01-29 The important thing in reading about rowing is not to swallow everything as though it were gospel truth.
01-30 If the oarsman rows his oar in one plane the boat can't roll.
01-31 Cox is too often overlooked. He is almost the most important man in the boat.
02-01 The oarsman who swings with the main idea of showing the coach how long he can swing, and the coach who shouts at him to swing the body farther, are both on the wrong track.
02-02 Every movement should always be made as cleverly as possible.
02-03 The cox must shout loudly enough for bow to hear him.
02-04 "An apparent slight hang is no harm in a crew. They don't hang really, but they are taking time to gather and strike."
02-05 Try to jerk the cox out of the boat.
02-06 "The ""needle"" is apt to be cumulative, and the more one races the more one gets it."
02-07 "The harder the downward stroke at the finish, the lighter the action feels. This movement is the key to good rowing."
02-08 The swirl of the water at the finish shows much more in a moving boat than in a fixed tub.
02-09 "If rowing can be made to seem easy, it will be easy."
02-10 On no account hold the back stiffly and consciously flat.
02-11 A very good exercise is to row without straps in a tub pair.
02-12 Row the blade straight home in one plane.
02-13 Row to your strong point. There is a limit to the forward reach for effective work.
02-14 "Orthodoxy is particularly severe on keeping the eyes in the boat. This not only turns the body into cast-iron, but also paralyses the mind."
02-15 Everybody ought to start by sculling.
02-16 "Driving the back out round is what gives the appearance of shortness, but it gives real length."
02-17 "A man can be taught a lot by being made to row in a wrong way, as an illustration of how not to do it."
02-18 "The underlying principles of rowing are the same as in all athletics; viz., timing, control, balance, and touch."
02-19 Timing can only be got by taking time; hurrying is fatal.
02-20 "Control means keeping the body braced firmly, that is, taut, all the time."
02-21 "Balance means keeping the boat on the point of balance, and this is done by keeping an even and controlled weight on the handle of the oar, feeling the blade balanced evenly in the air on the sill of the rowlock all through the swing."
02-22 Touch means delicacy and cleverness in doing every act.
02-23 The only way to begin and to row is to have the slides unlimited in length.
02-24 "The easier and lazier the swing looks, the faster and truer it is."
02-25 A 'raw' beginner is a term which may be applied to a promising novice without necessarily suggesting the application of vaseline anywhere.
02-26 The oar must be held controlled all the way when coming forward.
02-27 It is better to row with your eyes shut than to keep them glued on the head of the man in front of you.
02-28 The cox can do a lot to balance the boat by keeping his body taut and well braced.
02-29 "After rowing a couple of strokes, he said: ""Let us talk to those girls."" This gave me the reason why he was turned out of the crew the previous term."
03-01 One need not confine one's reading to books that one agrees with.
03-02 Differences in methods of teaching are merely relying on different points to attain the same object. It is like two men climbing a tree from opposite sides. Let them both go on climbing.
03-03 The blade is the only index that can be read as to what work is being done.
03-04 "The art of moving a boat is a thing which grows with the years, if one keeps at it seriously."
03-05 What catches the eye is not motion but the checking of motion after a jerky action.
03-06 "The bell note gives life, and the blade cutting through evenly gives length."
03-07 The reaction of the water on the blade is what moves the boat.
03-08 Making no apparent effort on the forward swing is the hall-mark of a good oarsman.
03-09 "When the oar is on the feather, keep the blade well off the water, so as to allow it to be squared without touching the water."
03-10 "Spring on to the beginning, so as to make the boat jump in its stride and punch cox in the back."
03-11 "Get a crew to row a piece with bent-arms; it is one of the best exercises to give them. It teaches them how to draw the weight evenly, and makes the draw a true regulator."
03-12 The beginning of the movement of getting the hands away is to start turning the blade on the feather just before the finish of the stroke.
03-13 "Energy is lost in the rattle of the oars in a fixed rowlock, and it is a false notion to time the stroke by this sound."
03-14 The body must not be held rigid like a piece of castiron.
03-15 "It is by confidence alone that one will become a good oarsman, and confidence can only follow knowledge."
03-16 "Many young oarsmen think of the hands going forward in a straight line, with the result that they fail to maintain the lateral pressure."
03-17 "From the moment one gets into the boat until one leaves it, the oar should be held controlled, and the body taut and truly balanced."
03-18 "The more one tries to let the muscles rest on the forward swing and trust to the run of the boat to bring one forward, the better will be the swing."
03-19 "Every stroke has a keynote depending on the pace at which the boat was propelled by the last stroke, and according to that keynote the oarsman should regulate the stroke."
03-20 "When one feels lost in a rolling boat, one had better stop trying to row a full stroke, get a rest, and be ready for the next stroke."
03-21 "To call out, Three, your are rushing, will only result in making him hurry more."
03-22 The men rowing on each side of the boat are as much co-ordinated in the same machine as the two hands of a man who is sculling.
03-23 If an oarsman asks for his work to be raised it has often been found to be much more satisfactory to lower it. This is one of the many anomalies of rowing.
03-24 The crew are nothing but a human hammer driving the boat with a hit.
03-25 Pick the weak point of a crew rather than of an individual.
03-26 Mileage makes champions.
03-27 One does not need to win a race to get enjoyment.
03-28 It is a reversal of the natural sequence to start instruction with a description of the style of a finished oarsman and to tell the novice to make himself look like that.
03-29 The first outing in an eight should be as early as possible in the schedule of training.
03-30 Many a man has lost his Blue from being one-sided.
03-31 "The oarsman is a human rowing machine, and the more he practises using his oar correctly the better rowing machine he will become."
04-01 There should be brains in the blade throughout the stroke.
04-02 "Don't get into controversies on style, as language is far too imperfect a medium to express ideas."
04-03 "Any man rows better in his tenth year than in his fifth, and in his twentieth than in his tenth."
04-04 The blade should be turned square just before the end of the forward swing.
04-05 """Poise"" is as good a coaching cry as ""Slowly forward""."
04-06 Try to climb the oar as you grip the water.
04-07 "The swivel, being close round the oar, is always handling the oar knowingly; while the slip in the fixed rowlock must amount to yards of distance lost over a long course."
04-08 "Flick the blade out with a light hand; not a gingery, nervous movement, but a lightning dash."
04-09 "Finish the stroke out, and you will be more likely to get the timing correct for the next stroke."
04-10 "The forward swing should be very smooth, even so as to look lazy and languid, concealing by its ease the oarsman's control of the body."
04-11 "Life must be the leading motive, and length a secondary object, although important."
04-12 No machine -- and the oarsman is only a human machine -- can get 100 per cent of effectiveness from any movement.
04-13 The anxiety to win a race is very apt to defeat its object and make the oarsman rush and scramble.
04-14 The anxiety of a coach or cox to point out faults and tell a man what he is doing wrong always makes the fault worse.
04-15 "The cox can do much for a crew by bringing out his commands with an alertness which suggests life, control, discipline and enthusiasm."
04-16 "As you think and try, so you will improve."
04-17 "Every stroke well rowed will not only improve the oarsman and tend to make each succeeding stroke better, but it also reacts on the crew."
04-18 "Draw with the hands as hard as possible, letting the shoulders move as freely as they want to, and the elbow joints bend as soon as necessary."
04-19 "Give a thought to the circular movement of the oar, and keep your lateral pressure going."
04-20 The first outing upon the water should be taken as an opportunity for explaining the elements of balance.
04-21 It is every man's job to balance the boat; but it is much easier to bring the boat down than up.
04-22 "To make sure that the stroke is rowed out, watch the blade and see that it is rowed out."
04-23 "The beginner rarely, if ever, realises how he can improve by concentration and trying to do better every stroke."
04-24 One does not want to load the oarsman's mind with arguments on the dubious mathematical explanations of how he applies his work.
04-25 "Never sacrifice work to appearance; but of course style is effect, and honest hard work will give true style eventually."
04-26 Use your legs from the very start.
04-27 Let the knees rise easily and naturally just before they feel constrained.
04-28 "Give yourself time, especially at the two turns."
04-29 "Don't let your body flop about, especially when the boat is easied and the coach is giving instructions."
04-30 There's no place like the boat to coach from.
05-01 "My real book on rowing would be: ""Learn to drive your blade through the water to perfection"", and that sentence repeated to the thousandth page and throughout the next volume."
05-02 Try rowing with the arms bending naturally.
05-03 "To flick the blade into the air, the hands must be rowed down. The action is firm and swift; it should not be a rude bang."
05-04 At the finish the oarsman should feel the boat running out from under him with the pace given by the final whip of the stroke.
05-05 "When the oarsman is told to row as easily as possible, he must not slouch."
05-06 A boat launched and manned smartly has a crew in the right humour to row her.
05-07 "Imagine that the run of the boat brings you forward, and so eliminate effort."
05-08 Square the blade and poise before rowing it into the water.
05-09 "Concentrate on your blade, and trust your natural instinct and habit to move your body in the best way."
05-10 "In tubbing practice, the tub should be rowed forward and back in short pieces near to the men who are waiting their turn, so that they may listen to the explanations given by the coach and take example from the efforts of others."
05-11 "To quicken, shorten. Then you will quicken and lengthen."
05-12 Find out how to use your weight and you will have solved the problem of how to move the boat.
05-13 To keep one's body under control and the boat properly balanced is the duty which one owes towards the rest of the crew.
05-14 "Open the hands, let the weight rest on the handle, and float forward balanced ready to square the blade and spring."
05-15 "Take care of the blade, and the body will take care of itself."
05-16 "There has always been a feeling against skying the blade, but I like the blade-skyer."
05-17 "The blade-skyer is balancing his oar on the sill without a doubt. He is not afraid to leave the water alone, and he must have struck sharply on the balance. Of course, I am not giving approval to the practice of skying the blade just before turning it sq
05-18 The delicacy of touch to be aimed at should be such that the hardest beginning is entirely controlled.
05-19 Every man must try to find out for himself how a thing is to be done.
05-20 "In coaching, it is necessary to repeat the main points frequently."
05-21 Pick the weak point of a crew and work round on it in many different ways.
05-22 "Smoothness in the machinery gets more power out of team-work, and it comes naturally by letting the machine work without interruption."
05-23 The higher the blade is struck on the balance the firmer the strike from the balance will be when the oar takes the water at the beginning of the next stroke.
05-24 "Put both feet firmly on the stretcher, keeping a firm pressure on it always, coming forward and well as going back."
05-25 "Each man should show, by his manner of taking his place and doing his part on the word of command, that his services are at the disposal of the crew."
05-26 "When the crew have to lift the boat down from the racks, the best practice is for each man to be on the side of his own rigger when the boat is brought right way up."
05-27 Nine hundred and ninety-nine strokes in a thousand are never rowed out because the oarsman is rushing for the next stroke.
05-28 Always sit with body taut and oar firmly controlled.
05-29 A rowing style with a noisy exhaust seems to be doing more than it really is.
05-30 As one point improves others will improve also.
05-31 The cox has to discharge the independent responsibility of steering the boat and choosing the course with quick decision and generalship.
06-01 Hold the oar so that it rests on the forward part only of the flat of the loom on which it is balanced on the rigger.
06-02 "Although the hands move the oar forward balanced in one plane, the feeling should be as if one were floating out forward balanced on the oar, and the oar drawing one forward."
06-03 "By coaching for length, the quick application of power may be lost sight of, and a dull drag will set in."
06-04 "It is fear that rolls a boat, and if the crew tried boldly to roll the boat themselves it would eliminate the fear."
06-05 Directing a man's conscious mind towards his body and making him think actively of how he should posture himself is not only a long way to get him to do the thing required but is also the wrong way.
06-06 The mind is apt to think that the blade is square before it is.
06-07 Acquire the habit of taking a rest in a position of control.
06-08 Actively balancing the boat at the slightest sign of any instability is done by varying the weight on the handle instinctively.
06-09 Skying the blade just before turning it square shows an entire lack of balance.
06-10 "In coaching, keep on varying the expressions and metaphors until one or another flashes the true picture on the mind of the oarsman."
06-11 The work of an oarsman with a perfect action would seem to be done by invisible means in a Rolls-Royce style.
06-12 Each man should show by his action that his team-sense is developed.
06-13 The lift-lower exercise is the best I know for teaching balance.
06-14 "The coach should ask the cox to try to roll the boat, and the crew will then see how they can hold the boat firm."
06-15 "If possible, let all the crew go sculling in whiffs and practise Holding her hard ."
06-16 In striking on to the balance the handle of the oar should be struck downwards as if one were trying to break the oar across the sill of the rowlock.
06-17 Pick the weak point of a crew and make it the main point for several days.
06-18 The long point and the strong point would only coincide in a perfect oarsman; and he has not been born yet.
06-19 The crew need reminding that when starting the race one does not want to try to do too much.
06-20 "Changing from ""paddling light"" to ""paddling firm"" and ""rowing"" is like changing gears in a motor car, and gives the oarsman control over body and oar."
06-21 "Make all the movements naturally, and never exaggerate."
06-22 Learn sculling in off times or whilst waiting for your turn at tubbing.
06-23 "Long paddles are best for making men get together, sink their differences, and overcome their troubles without checking the even run of the boat."
06-24 Making individuals in a crew worry about themselves is putting grains of sand in the bearings.
06-25 "Always back up the man in front of you, taking the weight off him as much as possible."
06-26 "The run of a boat varies at every stroke, and stroke and crew must vary accordingly."
06-27 The more crews can be galloped together in practice the better.
06-28 Trying to do too much is very apt to bring in rush and effort; and one man doing this will spoil the whole crew.
06-29 "Turn the blade with as little wrist-work as possible, and especially see that the wrist does not sag."
06-30 "A cox can make a tremendous difference to a crew by his steering, and by the way he sits in a boat, as well as by his calls to the crew."
07-01 "A good exercise is to row with the arms straight, and never bend them, finishing with the arms perfectly straight. It teaches one to let the shoulders play freely, it teaches one to strike on to the balance truly, and it teaches a true body-swing."
07-02 "The weight applied by the inside hand should strike the oar on to the balance. In fact, the inside hand should do all the control."
07-03 Hold the body and oar firmly controlled all through the stroke.
07-04 "Though style is effect, to get it at the expense of hard work is obviously a mistake."
07-05 "If the oarsman realises that he can make the movements of the hands, body, and knees correctly because he has done so hundreds of times during his life, it will give him confidence."
07-06 Watch your rigger and prevent it from being injured by a knock when the boat is carried out.
07-07 The coach's first duty is to get the boat steady.
07-08 At first the oarsman thinks that if he is passing the trees the boat is going faster than anyone ever rowed a boat before. From the passing-the-trees stage he gets to rowing a stroke occasionally without the boat rolling.
07-09 The mind is apt to think that the body is gathered ready to strike before it is.
07-10 A rest should not be taken by flinging the oar away and leaning one hand on the other side of the boat.
07-11 "The higher the blade is struck on the balance, the more the hands control the oar."
07-12 Never easy a boat after the first few days of practice more than you can help.
07-13 Getting the crew all in together is best for the boat.
07-14 A crew than can do the lift - lower exercise properly will never let a boat roll.
07-15 Getting every man to learn how to paddle light is the most essential practice of all.
07-16 "When called upon to spurt, let each man be sure he strikes quicker and harder, even if shorter."
07-17 There is only one style of rowing. Good rowing will beat bad rowing from one yard upwards; and the farther the distance the more good rowing will triumph.
07-18 "The action is becoming more natural and easy throughout the English rowing world, and consequently truer."
07-19 I have seen many a bow four earning the race by their good paddling-on in practice.
07-20 "With the weight of the lower part of the body driven out, and the back driven out like a piece of rounded whalebone, the shoulders, back, and slide all move harmoniously."
07-21 "The ""lively recovery"" is a showy fallacy, and a deadly enemy to oarsmen and rowing."
07-22 "The arms must be alive, not locked, and keep drawing the oar in."
07-23 Keep moving naturally and unconsciously and concentrate on working the blade.
07-24 Take it quite easily.
07-25 The coach should show how to stop a boat. He must explain how the oar has to be sliced in and gradually turned square.
07-26 Mental staleness will set in if the work is monotonous and dull.
07-27 "Make the handicap very level in a practice race. If either crew must be favoured, always flatter the colt."
07-28 Just lean back against the rowing-pins.
07-29 The old fear that drawing at the oar with the arms tires them is a fallacy.
07-30 "As the weak point strengthens in a crew, it will be apt to strengthen more in those of the crew who are weakest."
07-31 The cox should fix himself in the boat so as to be as nearly immovable as possible.
08-01 The best way to apply one's weight right through the stroke is to let the shoulders and arms play as feels most natural and unstrained.
08-02 The oarsman does not take a point in from being told once or from reading it once.
08-03 A coach cannot tell his crew too often to rest and float forward.
08-04 An oarsman can easily tell if he is overreaching: the stroke feels to drag heavily.
08-05 The mind is apt to think that the stroke is finished before it is. Sit back.
08-06 One can sit upright easily in a position of rest.
08-07 A high blade means a correspondingly true strike from the balance.
08-08 Many first-class oars have had round backs.
08-09 By "paddling light" I do not mean rowing the blade so that half of it is visible. I mean drawing it through with less pressure.
08-10 If the oarsman concentrates on blade-work as the end to be aimed at, his body-form will not commit errors of substance.
08-11 The body must be bellied out like a sail to get the full weight applied.
08-12 Locking the elbow joint to keep the arm straight is fatal.
08-13 The coach should give the crew the variations of length for "paddling light", "paddling firm", and "rowing".
08-14 Give the crew some rowing with the outside hand off when coming forward.
08-15 Tub about twice a week in long spells, and give a new exercise each time.
08-16 "Fixed seats are an abomination, and should be done away with. One wants to make rowing pleasant; one does not want to have men eating breakfast off the mantelpiece."
08-17 Lay special stress on making the blade cut truly on the light paddle.
08-18 "Ring the changes from paddle light to paddle firm and to row , drop to light and up to row , letting them row ten strokes, and give the crew twenty strokes of rowing before an easy."
08-19 It is very much easier to learn how to row a stroke correctly in a fixed tub than in a moving tub or in a four or eight. Therefore the fixed tub is the best place to start to learn to row.
08-20 Make the blade ring true as it strikes the water.
08-21 Bring the water up swirling as the blade is rowed out and flicked into the air truly balanced.
08-22 Plenty of long rows are the best way to learn.
08-23 The coach ought to find time to coach the cox in the important details of giving words of command.
08-24 The more the true movements become stereotyped in the fixed tub, the more easily will they be eventually produced in moving boats.
08-25 One can tell instinctively by sound and feel whether the blade is being brought through at the right depth.
08-26 Take long rows and plenty of fixed tubbing, both on both sides whenever possible.
08-27 The cox should never call to individuals to correct the time.
08-28 When a man is rowing he is learning, and when out of the boat he is forgetting.
08-29 Keep the blade balanced in the air with an even weight, so that it moves forward in one plane.
08-30 Never coach to drive the back out, but to work the blade as hard and as far as possible.
08-31 The cox is an understudy to the coach.
09-01 Keep the legs and back at work right through the stroke, and end it with a final whip to the oar. That gives pace to the boat.
09-02 No exertion is needed for holding the oar controlled at all times.
09-03 A high blade means a well controlled and balanced oar.
09-04 Keep the oarsman thinking actively.
09-05 Paddling light, paddling firm, and rowing should be much the same as getting into first, second, and third gears.
09-06 With the straight back the shoulders are farther past the belly. This looks longer than when the back is driven freely out, but is not as long, as powerful, or as easy in action.
09-07 Make the blade cut evenly and continuously through the water.
09-08 Give the cox communication-drill to test and exercise his voice.
09-09 Keep the button pressing against the rowlock always.
09-10 One can tell pretty well how an oarsman will shape by the way he steps into a boat.
09-11 The more one rows in a fixed tub the more the right muscles are being conditioned, and consequently the more the movement will be made truly.
09-12 Keep a lateral pressure on the oar all through the stroke, so that the button never loses touch with the rowlock.
09-13 Look for the swirl of the water as much as you like, but you should eventually be able to recognise that the blade is indexing truly by the feel.
09-14 Feel the blade in your hands.
09-15 Start turning the blade on to the feather just before flicking it into the air.
09-16 The turns at the finish and beginning are sleight-of-hand tricks. They are so complicated that they need plenty of time.
09-17 The only time to speak to an individual is when he shows improvement.
09-18 The more oily a crew is, the more life there is; but the less apparent it is. A perfect oar would appear not to move.
09-19 Square the blade just before rowing it into the water.
09-20 In the fixed tub the blade rows about eleven feet through the water against eighteen inches or so in an eight, and so the muscles get more exercise.
09-21 Teaching rowing is the best way to learn it.
09-22 Working two crews together is the best way to concentrate their attention.
09-23 Bring the blade through always at the same depth just covered.
09-24 When squaring the blade, make sure that the bottom of the loom of the oar is placed firmly against the thole and held controlledly there all through the stroke.
09-25 The heaviest and hardest work for yourself as well as the man in front of you is when you are just a fraction late.
09-26 It is of the greatest importance to get each oarsman to understand what rowing is, and to have the whole crew or club of one mind.
09-27 Nobody would regret the pains which he had to take to ascend to the higher place of first-class rowing.
09-28 Always begin tubbing by letting men row singly.
09-29 The oar should be gripped firmly but delicately. It should be the firm, steely grip of the fencer.
09-30 We can all always learn.
10-01 Place the oarsmen and the crews as nearly as possible in order of merit at the very beginning of the season.
10-02 If by teaching to swing is meant moving the body harmoniously, it is better to begin on a slide, because the movements have to be synchronised differently from a fixed seat.
10-03 One can never really row. I mean, one can never become a perfect example of an oarsman; one can only illustrate in a boat what one thinks rowing is.
10-04 In coaching, vary the cry as much as possible.
10-05 To get the longest stroke and the least tiring position, the belly must be drawn in, and the small of the back rowed well out.
10-06 The lateral pressure can be exaggerated as much as one likes at the two turns, and the result will merely be a livelier spring in the movement of the oar at each end of the stroke.
10-07 Try to climb your oar when forward, throwing your full weight at the rowlock.
10-08 Try to push your button through the rowlock at the finish, throwing your full weight at the rowlock.
10-09 Poise, spring, draw, and sit back.
10-10 The race is merely an illustration of the amount of thought and care one has given to practice.
10-11 The instability of the boat is the only obstacle to every man's doing his best; so hold the boat steady by keeping a firm and even weight on the handle of the oar.
10-12 The knees should be open and the body come down between them.
10-13 The handle of the oar should be rowed home until it all but touches the body.
10-14 All races are won on the forward swing.
10-15 The young oarsman has hardly the faintest conception of the importance of understanding the subject.
10-16 A coach should be absolutely reliable in his promises as to when the crew will be given an easy.
10-17 When a man shows improvement, tell him he is improving.
10-18 The handle of the oar can be driven much farther back by allowing the body to act naturally than by holding it stiffly straight.
10-19 "The cox's call as the boat approaches a corner, and just before he puts the rudder on, is the most important thing of all."
10-20 Don't wet the loom of the oar.
10-21 The more delicate the touch, the more finished the oarsman.
10-22 Finish the stroke out, sit back, and feel the feet on the stretcher.
10-23 The crew that uses its weight farthest per stroke must win.
10-24 Teach crews to work their oars. Never teach them to do anything with their bodies.
10-25 Once the button is drawn away from the rowlock one's control over the boat is gone.
10-26 If the oarsmen give way to patting the water in order to steady the boat they will never get a true balance.
10-27 The blade should strike the water with the body flying towards the winning post.
10-28 Look at your blade now and then.
10-29 Keeping time is done by feel and not by sight.
10-30 Don't let your rigger rise.
10-31 The oar is a balancing-pole as well as a propeller.
11-01 It is the weight applied by the inside hand that strikes the blade down, flicks it into the air, and brings the oar on to the balance.
11-02 Calm your anxieties during the forward swing.
11-03 Always be alert and ready to start rowing.
11-04 In coaching, keep on hammering at the main points, but do not make the hammer lifeless by turning a phrase into a parrot-cry.
11-05 The saying that the more you hoop your back the harder you will shove is even truer than I thought.
11-06 Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so an oarsman can only row as long as his joints let him, and so a crew can only function usefully as long as the shortest man.
11-07 Keep the lateral pressure true, so that the button is always pressing against the rigger.
11-08 To get crews to talk over the theory of rowing at afternoon tea and at other times is most educational for them.
11-09 The hands must grip the oar with the fingers, where the touch and power are.
11-10 Make the blade ring the bell note.
11-11 Many oarsmen are beaten by inability to strike on to the balance correctly, owing to minor troubles.
11-12 As a rule, the crew that launches its boat best is the winner.
11-13 When turning a boat, it is far better for the whole crew to act.
11-14 Finish up every day with twenty strokes of hard rowing into the boathouse.
11-15 Half an hour's practice in turning the boat will improve a crew's watermanship tremendously.
11-16 Telling individuals their faults destroys their confidence and kills their chance of welding together as a crew.
11-17 Don't tell a man he is improving if he isn't.
11-18 As an old oar and coach said to me recently: If you keep the back straight, you cannot row the oar far past the perpendicular.
11-19 Loose and easy, lazy and long.
11-20 Rowing the stroke out is the quickest way into the next stroke.
11-21 The longer the members of the crew row together the better they become.
11-22 Get the bell-note at the moment of impact of the blade with the water.
11-23 Let the crew go mad for the last six strokes before an easy.
11-24 To improve the oarsman you must improve the man.
11-25 When in doubt as to what to say to a man, or whether anything need be said, say nothing.
11-26 If the coach lets the men know that he is keen and watching, he need not say much.
11-27 Don't think about getting the hands away; think about getting the body away from the hands.
11-28 Though the straight back looks neater to the eye, yet it is in the first place a trying position, and it does not move the oar or the weight of the body nearly so far as the natural action.
11-29 Let the men alone as much as possible, because the more leisure they have for picking up the sense and timing of the crew, the more the stroke will develop into an eight-man drive.
11-30 The cox's calls should be well timed and rhythmical.
12-01 Any conscious effort to lengthen the swing will defeat its object.
12-02 I never could understand barring shop . If you do a thing, you should do it because you like it; and if you like it, why not talk about it?
12-03 Coach a man to coach himself.
12-04 Showiness is not always evidence of usefulness. If one sees eight men carrying a coffin, four of them with backs bent under the load, and the other four turning their toes out like dancing-masters, one knows who is carrying the coffin.
12-05 The idea to get thoroughly into the oarsman's mind is the necessity for taking pains and rowing every stroke as well as possible.
12-06 The best coach for any crew is the bows of a faster boat coming behind them.
12-07 Keeping the elbows close to the side is antagonistic to the natural play of the body at the finish.
12-08 Back-watering must follow from dropping the hands before feathering and trying to lift the blade out square.
12-09 Row the blade straight home in one plane.
12-10 Take plenty of time over the finish, and be sure that it is rowed right out.
12-11 The body has to be held taut in order to supply the lateral pressure, as also to have control over the movements of the limbs generally.
12-12 When starting the boat it is best to start as if racing.
12-13 I have always been a believer in long work, especially early in training.
12-14 Good handling of a boat shows good oarsmanship.
12-15 The stale period that some crews experience arises from starting the fast work when too fat, owing to their having been kept under a glass case too much in the earlier stages.
12-16 So many would-be oarsmen sit without feeling for the balance, not recognising the importance of it.
12-17 Every day and in every way, try to grip the water a little farther behind the rigger and to drive the blade a little farther through the water.
12-18 Eliminate all effort and trust to unconscious action.
12-19 A man can do far more to steady the boat for the other side than for himself.
12-20 Every good outing is a joy, and every good stroke rowed is a pleasure in itself.
12-21 Much can be done indoors with the help of extemporised rowing machines.
12-22 It is advisable to change oarsmen from one side of the boat to the other on alternate days.
12-23 The proficiency of the swing is exactly in the inverse ratio to that in which it catches the eye.
12-24 A crew will learn to row by racing, but it cannot learn to race by rowing.
12-25 Dieting restrictions should not be too irksome. Let them eat and drink what they want, within reason.
12-26 Poise is the foundation of timing.
12-27 A coach should be keen for the boat to go, stimulate the crew now and then, but say very little.
12-28 By getting a beginner to look at his blade he can very soon make it work correctly.
12-29 It is no use rowing yourself blind. You are only baggage in that state.
12-30 A bad cox can do more harm than anyone else in the boat.
12-31 Sit back at the finish till the cows come home.