This Page About Love To Know Article on Rowing

Love To Know Article on Rowing

History The earliest historical records describe battles and voyages in which the ships were propelled by oars. There must, have been from time to time friendly trials of speed between these ancient craft, such as that described by Virgil in the fifth book of the Aeneid, but there is no record in classical or even in medieval times of rowing having been indulged in solely as a recreation, or as a means of promoting athletic contest. The absence of any element of competition is sufficient to account for the fact that the boats, the oars, and the method of rowing of the 17th century differed but little from those of the earliest times.

This use of boats and barges as a means of conveyance for merchandise and passengers provided a means of livelihood for a class of professional oarsmen known as bargemen or watermen. They were professionals, not in the sense of professional athletes, but because they made their living by rowing and navigating passenger and other craft along and across the Thames...

The first English regatta (Ital. regata)an entertainment introduced, as the Annual Register records, from Veniceof which we have evidence, took place on the Thames off Ranelagh Gardens in 1775. Great public interest seems to have been taken in the spectacular aspect of this pageant, the barges of the lord mayor and the city companies being present, but there is no record of the competing wager boats or of the names of the watermen who took part in the races.

About the years 1800 to i8ro there are instances of matches between watermen for stakes presented by gentlemen who no doubt made wagers upon the result, and from these professional wager matches it was but a short step to sporting matches between the gentlemen themselves. When once the gentleman amateur, as he was called, appeared, his evolution, from the sportsman who occasionally rowed a match against a friend, or against time, for a wager, to the amateur oarsman of the present day, was not slow. The amateur rowing which began about the year 1800 on the Thames at Westminster has flourished as a branch of athletic sport, and has spread to every quarter of the globe.

Rowing in tile United Kin gdom. The earliest rowing clubs in England were small groups of oarsmen who combined to purchase a six-oared or eight-oared boat for the purpose of racing. The club was called by the same name as the ship it possessed, and at the commencement of the I9th century the principal clubs in existence upon the Thames were the Star, the Arrow, the Shark and the Siren. The two latter have long since disappeared, but the Star and the Arrow combined about the year 18,8 and founded the Leander Club, an institution which after varying fortunes has for many years, been recognized as the premier rowing club of the world.

The earliest contemporary record of boat-racing is the Watei Ledger of Westminster School, which commences in the year 1813 with a list of the crew of the six-oared boat Fly. In 181s Eton had a ten-oared boat and three boats with eight oars, but there is no existing record of a race until 1817. In 18I8 Eton challenged Westminster School to row from Westminster to Kew Bridge against the tide; but the race was stopped by the authorities, and it was not until 1829 that the first contest between the two schools took place. Between 1829 and 1847 there were eight matches between Eton and Westminster. Tho race was revived for a few years in the sixties, and in the year 1868 the state of the lower tideway was such that the West. minster boys moved their boathouse first to Wandsworth and then to Putney. This arrangement was found to be inconvenient, and shortly afterwards Westminster rowing came to an end. Eton rowing, on the other hand, has continued to prosper, and for maoy years it has been the greatest nursery of firstclass oarsmen. Since 1861 the Eton College Boat Club has never failed to enter a crew at Henley Regatta.

At Oxford the records of periodical races between college boats begin as early as 1815, and those of Cambridge a few years later. The first contest between eight-oared crews representing the two universities took place at Henley-onThames in June 1829. The second contest was not until 1836, and was rowed from Westminster to Putney. In 1837 and 1838 the universities were unable to make a match, and in each of those years a race was rowed between Cambridge and the Leander Club, which had thus early become the premier club of the tideway. It was not always easy in the early days of boat-racing for the university boat clubs to agree as to the conditions and time of the match, but on several] occasions when the universities had been unable to meet on the tideway they fought their battle whilst competing for the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Regatta. Since I856 the Oxford and Cambridge boat race has been an annual event.

Rowing in the United StatesThe earliest record of a boat race in the United States is that of a contest in light barges in the year 1811 between the Knicker-bocker of New York and the Invincible of Long Island, in which the former was successful. The evolution from racing in heavy pleasure boats to racing in specially constructed craft proceeded with great rapidity, and by the year 1834 a large number of small clubs in New York had combined, under the title of the Castle Garden Boat Club Association. In 1837 the first regatta took place at Poughkeepsie, the race being between six-oars for a prize of $200. In those days there was no real distinction in America between amateur and professional, and in spite of rules and definitions the distinction between one who is qualified as an amateur and one who is not has remained in America much less certain and precise than in the United Kingdom.

Henley regatta is rowed in accordance with the rules of the Amateur Rowing Association, a body which has control of all other amateur rowing in England. The Henley Stewards and the Amateur Rowing Association (or A.RA.) are in complete harmony. Their rules are identically the same, but the Stewards being the older body are not subject to the AR.A., and in the improbable event of a difference occurring they would be entitled to act independently. The A.R.A. was formed in 1882 for the purpose of drawing up a definition of an amateur, and for the purpose of having a body who could if necessary select a national representative crew to meet any foreign or colonial invaders. It has long since dropped the latter portion of its original programme, and the A.R.A. as at present constituted is an association to which all the principal amateur boat clubs are affiliated. Its objects are to maintain the standard of amateur oarsmanship and to promote the interests of boat racing. It is governed by a committee which occupies in the British rowing world a position not unlike that of the stewards of the Jockey Club in racing matters. The constitution and objects of the A.R.A. are clearly defined in the rules, and their definition of an amateur is so much stricter than that of some other countries that it is advisable to set it out in extenso.

Rowing in other Countries. During the latter years of the I9th century and during the early years of the present century, rowing increased very greatly in popularity as a branch of athletic sport in every quarter of the globe. It would be impossible here to describe the history or organization of boat clubs and regattas in Australia, in Canada, and in the various countries of Europe. Canadian rowing has always been of a high class. In 1904 L. Scho]es, a Canadian sculler, won the Diamond Sculls at Henley, and on several occasions Canadian eights and fours have competed for the Grand Challenge and Stewards Challenge Cups at Henley. In Australia they have a regatta which is called the Australian Henley, and an inter-university contest for a cup presented by Oxford and Cambridge oarsmen. In Europe international championships have been instituted in the hope of bringing together oarsmen and scullers from all countries. The Belgian oarsmen have by their Henley successes achieved the greatest distinction among continental oarsmen. In Holland the principal rowing clubs have their headquarters at Amsterdam, and several Dutch crews have been seen at Henley. In France there are innumerable rowing clubs which are now governed by the Fdration francaise, a body which has a strict code of rules, but which has not adopted quite so strict an amateur definition as that of the English A.R.A. In Germany, also, rowing is very extensively practised under the auspices of the Deutsche Ruderverband; the chief contests between English and German crews of recent years were at the Cork Regatta of 1902 when Leander Club defeated the Berlin Club in the eight-oared race, and at the Henley Regatta of 1907, when a four of the Ludwigshafener Club were defeated in a heat of the Stewards Cup by a Leander crew.

Methods and Style.The English style is the only one in which the oarsman swings his body to the full extent fore and aft, at the same time making use of his sliding seat. Most of the foreign crews who have competed in England have sacrificed a portion of their swing in order to enable them, as they believe, to make better use of their leg work. There can be no doubt that the English style is in a sense more exhausting to the oarsman, that is to say it enables him to bring more muscle into play and to make full use of his weight and strength, but in spite of recent defeats it is still believed by English oarsmen to be the most effective. The crews of 1906 and 1907 which were defeated by the Belgians were the best that England could at the time produce, but they undoubtedly rowed in a style which fell a long way short oi ideal English rowing.

The secret of good rowing is the simultaneous application of leg and body work from end to end of the stroke. The instant the blades are covered the whole weight must be lifted from the stretcher and applied to the oar-handle, and must remain so applied until the hands come in to the chest. In order to ensure that the pressure so applied to the blade shall be as long and as ~hard as possible, the body must be swung forward to its full extent, and during the stroke the shoulders must always be swinging back faster than the seat, while at the same time the legs are driving hard at the, stretcher. The slide and swing should be finished simultaneously. There are many subsidiary rules of style as to the movements of the hands and arms, but they are all of secondary importance and are devised so as to enable the average man to execute the working portion of the stroke effectively and often, without undue exertion to himself. The movements of a crew must be as nearly as possible simultaneous in every particular. There have been many instances of crews which although inferior in style and strength to their opponents have been victorious owing to being better together. Continue to learn more about rowing, please visit 1911 Encyclopedia.

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