THE LESSONS OF 200 YEARS beginning the slide, lessening the possibility of lunge before entry. For the slow-fast types, the necessity to consciously push against the footstretchers during the recovery is eliminated. Coaches have often had their crews imagine that they had eggs under their feet and told them not to break them until after the blade was in the water. Again, this will be also discussed at much greater length in Chapter 164. But, of course, avoiding one potential problem inevitably creates another. During the 20th Century, skillful slow-fast crews have included British Lady Margaret crews of the 1940s and ‘50s, the Soviets of the 1950s, the Ratzeburgers of the 1950s and ‘60s, Harvard Stop & Shop crews of the 1960s and early ‘70s and GDR crews of the 1970s and ‘80s. The best of these crews have indeed picked up their boat at the crest of the surge created by their accelerated recoveries, but the potential for slide rushing and massive check, especially as the crews tired, remained ever present. Al Shealy: “The Stop & Shop is a dangerous technique. It accentuates the run of the boat, but if the catches are sloppy, that rapid movement of bodies into the stern acts like a shifting load of steel on a flatbed [truck], checking the boat and bleeding off speed. The catch has to be clean and crisp.”8446 Richard Tonks: “Only experienced rowers should use the recovery to propel the boat forward, because faster recovery makes the catch even harder to time.”8447 With accelerating slides there is also an unintentional tendency to attack the catch in a segmented-force Kernschlag manner. 8446 Shealy, p. 38 8447 Nolte et al, p. 174 Aggressive into the stern, aggressive back out. Pete Gardner, Dartmouth College: “For five or six years I was using an accelerating slide, and I found that to be successful, the catch had to be very quick and hard in order to pick up the boat. “Eventually, I began to think that this wasn’t as efficient as a constant speed slide because it’s not good to get all your power on when the oar’s at that angle. It is better to apply power a little later in the stroke when the oar is more nearly perpendicular to the boat. ”8448 The mantra of many a thoughtful coach is if you have a problem at one point in the stroke cycle, look back about one quarter of the cycle to find the cause. Force- application problems during the first half of the pullthrough can often be traced back to rushing into the entry position by accelerated-recovery crews. Steady Handle Speed Since recovery rhythm options array on a continuum, there is also a theoretical middle ground between fast-slow and slow- fast, namely no acceleration and no deceleration, just steady handle speed through its arc from release to entry. This is compatible with either low- or high-stroking philosophies. Rowe & Pittman, 1890s: “From the moment at which the hands leave the chest to the moment of the oarsman’s extreme reach forward, the body should be moving at a perfectly even pace, and as slowly as is compatible with the rate of stroke that is being attempted. It is of the utmost importance to swing the body forward at an even, steady pace.”8449 8448 Qtd. by Ferris, 1982, pp. 19-20 8449 Rowe & Pitman, pp. 19-21 2371
