AMERICAN ROWING COMES OF AGE With his first force curve experiment, Courtney had discovered that his sequential Extended Body Swing Style produced a specific and distinctive force curve which intuitively struck him as not ideal. He also discovered that if he changed the technique, he immediately got a very different and equally distinctive force curve. Courtney: “We experimented and found that we must start the leg drive and the body swing together at the very catch of the oar and carry them through together. In that way, we got a single regular curve on the paper, like a wide letter U upside down, showing that we were getting the maximum power in the middle of the stroke, where it ought to be. The stroke as thus modified has been the standard ever since.”1415 “recruited” when its individual fibers are signaled to begin their efforts to contract. What Courtney discovered, much to his astonishment, was that sequential recruitment of muscles all too often leads to segmented-force application, and common sense told him that continuous effort from entry to release was preferable. In other words, the new Courtney Stroke would use legs and back concurrently in order to produce a continuous surging stroke from entry to release. But what about the arms? Arms Over the years, Courtney‟s use of arms on the pullthrough has been a matter of some confusion. Part of the problem seems to be Courtney‟s own words. In Charles Young‟s 1923 biography, Courtney and Cornell Rowing, and again in Robert F. Kelley‟s widely-read 1932 history, American Rowing, Courtney was quoted as saying: “Another point which cannot be too closely followed is to keep the arms perfectly straight until the shoulders have gone back as far as it is intended they should go.”1416 All the rowers, amateur and Author Courtney’s Ideal Curve 0°, +30° to - 30°, 0-10, 0-10, 0-10 Only concurrent use of all three major muscle groups yields a “letter U upside down” curve. Interestingly, the curve is a parabola. Segmented Force Application Courtney„s experiment was an early scientific test of the biomechanical principle of Summation of Segment Velocities. In the language of biomechanics, a muscle is 1415 Ibid. professional, in Thomas Eakins‟ paintings of the 1870s rowed with straight arms until the end of the stroke.1417 This was still universal in collegiate rowing of the 1890s. Ellis Ward: “All my crews, as well as Cook‟s and Courtney‟s, show the straight arm, as do all our professionals.”1418 In practice, this would have tended to lead to a ferryman‟s finish, characteristic of 1416 Qtd. by Young, p. 92, Kelley, p. 218 1417 See Chapter 9. 1418 The Various Positions of the Ellis Ward Rowing Stroke, Now Being Taught in Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 21, 1897 377
