Another sample of cause and effect in faults may be cited for
illustration. Suppose a man holds his oar in his fist instead of his
fingers. The effect of this probably will be a want of accuracy in
'governing' the blade. He may thereby row too deep; also only half
feather; also find a difficulty in bending his wrists laterally, and
therefore fail to bring his elbows neatly past his sides. The consequent
further effect may well be that he dog's-ears his elbows and gets a
cramped finish. This will tend to make his hands come slow off the chest
for the recovery; and this again may tend to make his body heavy on the
return swing.
Here is a pretty, and quite possible, concatenation of faults all
bearing on each other in sequence, more or less. To be scolded for each
such fault in turn may well bewilder a pupil. He will be taken aback at
the plurality of defects which he is told to cure. But if the coach
should spot the faulty grip, and cure that by some careful coaching in a
tub-gig, he may in a few days find the other faults gradually melt away
when the one primary awkwardness has been eradicated.
These two illustrations of faults and their origins by no means exhaust
the category of errors which a coach has to detect and to cure.
Sundry other common faults may be specified, and the best mode of
dealing with them by coaches supplied.
_Over-reach of shoulders._--This weakens the catch of the water, and
also tends to cripple the finish when the time comes to row the oar
home. The shoulders should be braced well back. The extra inch or less
of forward reach which the over-reach obtains is not worth having at the
cost of weakening the catch and cramping the finish. The fault is best
cured by gig-coaching and by demonstrating in person the correct and the
wrong poses of the shoulders.
_Meeting the oar._--This may come from more than one cause. If the legs
leave off supporting the body before the oar-handle comes to the chest,
the body droops to the strain from want of due support; or if the
oarsman tries to row the stroke home with arms only, ceasing the swing
back; and still more, if he tries to finish with biceps instead of by
shoulder muscles, he is not unlikely to row deep, because he feels the
strain of rowing the oar home in time, with less power behind it than
that employed by others in the boat. He finds the oar come home easier
if it is slightly deflected, and so unconsciously he begins to row
rather deep (or light) at the finish, in order to get his oar home at
the right instant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account