Feather under water.—The fault is one of the most common, the remedy simple, ‘The pupil should be shown the difference between turning the oar-handle before he drops it (as he is doing) and of dropping it before he turns it as he ought to do ; and it should be impressed upon him that the root of the thumb, and not his knuckles, should touch his chest when the oar comes home, and should be done éefore, and not after, he has dropped his handle to elevate the blade from the water.
If a crew feather much under water, it is a good plan to seat them in a row on a bench, and give each man a stick to handle as an oar. ‘Then make them very slowly follow the actions of the coach, or afugleman. 1. Hands up to the chest, root of thumb touching chest. 2. Drop the hands. 3. ‘Turn them (as for feather) sharply, 4. Shoot them out, &c.
Having got them to perform each motion slowly and distinctly, then gradually accelerate the actions, until they are done as an entirety, with rapidity and in proper consecution, The desideratum is to ensure motion, No. 3 being performed in its due order, and sof before No. 2.
Five minutes’ drill of this sort daily before the rowing, for a week or two, will do much to cure feather under water even with hardened sinners,
Swing across the boat—This is an insidious fault. ‘The oarsman sits square, while his oar-handle moves in an are of acircle. He has an instinctive tendency to endeavour to keep his chest square to his oar during the revolution of the latter. A No. 7 who has to take time from the stroke by the side of him is more prone than others to fall into this fault. The answer is, let the arms follow the action of the oar, and give way to it, and endeavour to keep the body straight and square. Keep the head well away from the oar, and its bias will tend to balance the swing.
Bending the arms prematurely isa common fault. Sometimes even high-class oars fall into it after a time, ‘Tiros are prone to it, because they at first instinctively endeavour to work with arms rather than with body. Older oars adopt the trick in
