Our French friends, had they seen your rude Vast strength had cried, ‘.efh quel beau Rameur, celui qui argue le coude '— That is, protrudes his elbow.
" Your ship could run like Charley's Aunt, And you, demure as Penley, Knew all the wiles that might enchant The river nymphs at Henley.
No piles had yet marked out the way Forbidding men to try on The tricks that found round every bay The short cuts to the 'Lion.' " Each inch of bay you knew by heart, You knew the slackest water ; All foes who faced you at the start, You beat, and beat with slaughter. To 4 form' a stranger, yet your style The kind that much endures was. I never saw—forgive the smile— A rounder back than yours was.
" But round or straight, when all dismayed Your rivals lagged in trouble, Still with a firm, unfaltering blade You drove the swirling bubble. With you to speed the hours along No day was ere spent dully, Our stalwart, cheerful, matchless, strong, Our undefeated Gully." As a matter of record it may be stated that Mr. Gulston won five Grand Challenge Cup medals and ten Stewards' Cup medals, Mr. A. de L. Long five Grand Challenge Cup medals and eight Stewards' Cup medals, and Mr. S. Le B. Smith four Grand Challenge Cup medals, and seven Stewards' Cup medals. No oarsman of the present day can boast of anything like such a record in these two events.
The art of four-oared rowing, then, was brought to perfection by the crews of the London Rowing Club many years ago ; but there is no danger that it will be forgotten by oarsmen of the present day. Indeed, the rowing of the Leander Four that won the Stewards' Cup this year was about as good as four-oared rowing can be. They were absolutely together, they rowed with most perfect ease, and in the race they beat record time by seven seconds, and might have beaten it by still more, had they not easied a length or two from the finish. Their weights were as follows :— , Bow. C. W. N. Graham ... ... ro st. 2 lbs.
2. J. A. Ford ... ... ... 12 st. i lb.
3. H. Willis ... ... ... ... 1 i st. 12 lbs. Guy Nickalls (stroke, and steers) 12 st. 7 lbs.
From the above remarks it will be gathered that the great points to be insisted upon in four-oared rowing are uniformity, and again uniformity, and always uniformity. A coach should insist, if possible even more strenuously than he insists in an Eight, on bodies and slides moving with a faultless precision and perfectly together. Let him devote his energies to getting the finish and recovery locked up all through the crew, and let him see to it that the movements of their bodies shall be slow and balanced on the forward swing, and strong and not jerky on the back swing. More it would be difficult to add.
When a Four is practising for a four-oared race alone—that is to say, when its members are not rowing in an eight-oared crew as well, their course of work should be similar to that laid down for an Eight. But when, as often happens at Henley, a
Four is made up out of the members of an eight oared crew, it will always be found better to allow its members to do the bulk of their work in the Eight, and to confine themselves in the Four principally to long and easy paddling, varied by short, sharp bursts of rowing. It may be necessary for such a Four to go over the full course once at top speed, but that ought to be enough. Their work in the Eight should get them into condition ; all that they really need in the Four is to be able to row perfectly together. The Brasenose Four that won the Stewards' in 1890 had never rowed over the full course before the day of the race. Their longest piece of rowing, as distinguished from paddling, had been a burst of three minutes. Their men acquired fitness by working in the Eight, and proved their condition by the two desperate races they rowed.
As to steering, it used to be said that anybody might steer in a Four except stroke, but Mr. Guy Nickalls has proved that a stroke can steer as well as row. He has won four Stewards' Cup medals, has stroked and steered in every race, and his boat has always been kept on a faultless course.
In the case of the ordinary oar, however, the old saying, I think, holds good. Bow naturally is the best place to steer from, not only because in turning his head he can obtain a clear view of the course, but also because he has a considerable advantage in leverage, and ought to be able to control the direction of his boat merely by relaxing or in creasing the power applied to his oar. The best part of the stroke for looking round is, I consider, towards the finish. A turn of the head, accom panied by an outward movement of the outside elbow to suit the slightly altered position of the body, while keeping pressure on the oar, is all that is necessary. Yet I have seen Mr. Guy Nickalls look round in the middle of his forward swing without apparently disturbing the equilibrium of the boat. In any case, the best thing a steerer can do is to learn his course by heart, so that he may be able to steer for the most part without looking round at all, judging the direction she is taking by her stern and by well-known objects on the bank as he passes them. Personally I prefer, and I think most men prefer, to steer with the outside foot. The captain of a Four should always look carefully to his steering-gear to see that the wires and strings are taut, and that they move properly and without jamming over the wheels. I have seen more than one race lost by accidents to the steering-gear that might have been avoided by a little preliminary attention.