The English stroke, of which we speak as though it had always been fixed, has gone through many a change ; but for ten years, or perhaps more, it has been the same, and now is a strong, forceful effort. As before stated, it is a grafting of the slide upon the old swing of the fixed seat. The oarsman reaches until the sweep is at the limit of effective power, and then swings up hard, throwing all his weight into the catch with his slide stationary, and his toes well braced, the typical catch of the fixed seat. When the body has passed the perpendicular and the oar is coming into its most effective arc, the legs go out and the slide moves back over about sixteen inches, while the body continues back and the oar is brought in. Then the recovery is made as in our stroke. The rate of stroke varies with the race and the distance ; on the short Henley course it seldom goes below thirty-five and often to forty, while in the university races it is slower, but never below thirty. The Englishmen suit their stroke to the crew and the race.
This stroke brings in nearly every muscle in the body ; the power and swing of the fixed-seat stroke is retained, for one must never forget that some of the old crews rowed very fast, while the slide is brought in to give force at the most useful place, and also to put the body in the best position for a powerful finish. It is a reasonable stroke and seems to have more force-giving ele ments than our stroke, which relies so much on the legs.
The other question concerns the effect on the oarsman, for every stroke must be considered from this point ; an effort that may have great power is faulty if the oarsman is too much fa tigued. The English stroke brings a great deal of strain on the abdominal muscles, and the stomach is the first part of an athlete to give out ; the stroke does not concentrate on the swing and uses all the body freely, but in our stroke we take all the work possible from the abdomen, believing that the legs can afford to do much more than their share. And because of this extra
labor of the abdomen, all attempts to teach Ameri cans a long swing have failed, and the crews so taught have " cracked " in hard races. Therefore we say that the English stroke is not good for American oarsmen.
Leaving aside all questions of comparative merit, the American stroke is the more easily taught because it has as its foundation what most young men possess, a strong pair of legs, while to row the English stroke one must de velop muscles that have never been much looked after. Thus to row in the British style one should spend many months on a fixed seat and perfect his swing before trying the slide. In England they have races on the fixed seat, and at Eton, a boy must master that style of rowing before being allowed on a slide ; even English oarsmen who have rowed for years will often go out in a tub pair without slides merely to strengthen their swing. Here in America, we will not go through this preliminary process, and we can never row with a swing until we get these fundamental ideas down. This is one of the reasons that the Eng lish stroke failed in America, the men would not go through the proper training ; and, though the adaptations were radically faulty, the effect would have been far better had the early training been formed for the stroke.
Perhaps, under the conditions of American college rowing, the stroke that we have worked out is the best ; perhaps it is not. The conclu sion can go either way and be quite sound, for there is always present the man in the boat, and it is he who is going to row the stroke. Our row ing is young. We may change to another style if our oarsmen and coaches can ever pool their ideas ; but, at any rate, whatever the stroke, the boat is going to go fast if the system is logical and is well carried out and both systems are perfectly logical.