THE SPORT OF ROWING plementing a more complex set of tools with varying efficiencies. The other activities you mention all involve a relatively fixed- mass with gravity as a constant.”8647 But isn’t rowing all about accelerating a fixed-mass object, the boat/oars/crew sys- tem, and accelerating it with gravity as a constant? And aren’t so many strength and endurance sports all about fingers-to-toes marshalling of one’s forces, just like row- ing? Despite many protestations to the con- trary by rowing coaches, there is no dynamic sport on earth that does not reward and de- pend upon organic coordination of the body as a whole. Not a single one! History’s Choice The following statement may come as a surprise to many current followers of Mod- ern Orthodoxy, but in the real-world test of two hundred years of rowing history, con- current leg and back motion has completely dominated. A small sampling: Rowe & Pittman, 1898: “The legs must drive with all their strength from the begin- ning to the finish of the stroke. . . It is the lift of the back against the weight of the water on the blade that keeps the slide steady and prevents it rushing straight away to the back-stop, whither the legs are trying to pro- pel it.”8648 “Legs and body, it cannot be repeated too often, must begin their work together, keep together all through, and finish togeth- er.”8649 “A common fault, even when drive has been rightly begun, is to fail in carrying back the swing of the body proportionately with the movement of the slide, or, in other 8647 P. Smith, personal correspondence, 2008 8648 Rowe & Pitman, p. 37 8649 Ibid, p. 39 words, to let the weight down on the seat instead of keeping it on the stretcher.”8650 Steve Fairbairn, early 1900s: “I be- lieve that the best way to apply one’s weight right through the stroke is by letting the shoulders and arms play as feels most natu- ral. . . One should keep the legs and back at work right through the stroke and end it with a final whip to the oar. That gives pace to the boat.”8651 Gilbert C. Bourne, 1925: “A good oarsman will so couple up the actions of the body and legs that they aid and reinforce one another at every point of the stroke . . . three powerful groups of muscles situated in the back, in the buttocks, and in the thighs must be brought into action simultaneously at the beginning of the stroke, mutually aiding and reinforcing one another.”8652 Haig-Thomas & Nicholson, 1958: “The ‘opening-up’ of the body from the stretcher produces more power on the oar handle than the piston action of the legs alone – the human spring is used more effec- tively. It is more natural because it allows greater and more normal freedom of move- ment.”8653 Colin Porter, 1958: “Timing of the en- try of the blade with the simultaneous appli- cation of all the muscle groups is something requiring concentration by the oarsman, pa- tience by the coach and many miles of water covered in practice . . . Ideally, the finish of the stroke should coincide with the finish of the leg drive, the finish of the body swing and the finish of the arm draw.”8654 Paul Wilson, 1969: “By experiments in a sculling boat, it is possible to establish that a violent leg kick gives a higher specific power impulse than progressive opening of back and leg angles, but it does not last long 8650 Ibid, p. 40 8651 Fairbairn On Rowing, p. 164 8652 Bourne, p. 133 8653 Haig-Thomas & Nicholson, p. 49 8654 Porter, Rowing to Win, pp. 28, 37 2432
