Rowing on the Hudson by John Mylod rowing is a sport in which you work going backwards to get ahead. It is a mix of personal fortitude, individual achievement and, with other rowers, meeting the difficult goal of working and staying together as a team. In well-rowed boats, oarsmen and oarswomen strive for a complex interaction between athlete efficiency and boat speed. there is a synchronization of skill, technique, physical endurance, mental toughness, and pride of accomplishment which, when things are going well, combine to reach that splendid moment when a rower is one with the boat and the water. In other words, “it don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing.” the famous Seattle boat builder, George Pocock said rowing is a “symphony of motion. rowing well is nearing perfection.” 1 that symphony of motion has been played over and over again during the past two centuries as boat design and equipment, including oars, have been improved upon to make the most of the mechanical advantages advanced by new shell building methods and materials. Crew shells made of wood are rarely seen now that tough and lightweight composite-fiber has replaced old materials, including paper. 2 Indeed, it is all the more remarkable that 19th century competitive rowers on the Hudson and elsewhere on the east Coast and in england were as successful as they were in covering a measured distance, considering the boat design and equipment of the period. In addition, 19th century races were typically at distances of four and five miles with a turn, and winning times for these events were surprisingly good, especially when considering the mid-point turn. Unlike today’s boats, early boats could also generally row through choppy river conditions and the rolling wakes of other vessels which crowded in and sometimes, intentionally and unintentionally, interfered with a given race. early racers used four and six oared Whitehall fishing and yawl-boat skiffs or other pulling boat designs. Somewhat more slender boats evolved with lapstrake construction, although these boats continued the use of a fixed seat and oars that were set between two pins on the gunwales. • reflections on a river
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