THE SPORT OF ROWING Arm Draw Harry repeatedly mentioned the need to avoid “shoulder lift and arm snatch at the catch,”6643 and there was no hint of either in the technique of the athletes on these pages. Harry counseled against “pulling the oar with the arms,”6644 and described the arms as “pieces of string”6645 or “merely connecting the oar to the energy source,”6646 but this seems to be contradicted both by the New Zealand boats of the 1980s and by many boats from later in Mahon’s career. Further, when he counseled the engagement of the “lateral muscles” or latissimus dorsi “to receive and hold the pressure from the legs and water,”6647 this can only be done of the arms are also engaged. Try it yourself. Even though the shoulders usually didn’t rise and the elbows didn’t break much until mid-stroke, the arms, shoulders and upper back muscles often appear to have been engaged concurrently with the legs and back at the entry. In the video frames on the following page of Mike Stanley, stroke of the 1982, ‘83 and ‘84 Eights, the shoulders and latissimus dorsi were clearly straining in Frames 2 and 3 even though the elbows were still fully stretched as late as Frame 3. Harry passed away in 2001, and it turns out that until now, not even Harry himself ever attempted to describe once and for all his technique, his “perfect stroke,” perhaps because it represented such a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Words, even Harry’s own sometimes contradictory words, somehow 6643 Keystrokes, op. cit. 6644 Ibid. 6645 R. Waddell, op. cit. 6646 Keystrokes, op. cit. 6647 1980s NZARA handout posted in boathouses around New Zealand. See above. Harry How, Getty Images Sonia Waddell “Use the arms as pieces of string.” could not do it justice, and he tended to keep his descriptions intentionally imprecise. Harry’s approach to rowing technique defied specific labels. He seemed less concerned with rowing ideology and more with being in tune with one’s inner self and with the boat. Mike Stanley: “Harry was not bound by dogma. He was incredibly inventive, challenging and always looking for the next step up in the quest for an easier, more efficient and relaxed way of moving a boat.”6648 Rob Waddell: “With Harry, if there were two different styles, he wouldn’t necessarily be fixed on either. You might have style A and style B, but if the athletes looked good and they were moving the boat well, he was positive about both. He wouldn’t say, ‘You should open your body 6648 Stanley, personal correspondence, 2008 1836
