Word: waters
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Perhaps to the outsider, rowing seems like a basically simple form of exercise, calling for nothing more than a plethora of muscle, especially between the ears. This viewpoint could not be more wrong. Propelling the $2000 instrument known as a shell through the water with any degree of success calls for more skill and coordination than the casual observer could possibly realize...
...instance, at the beginning of each stroke, the oarsman must flip his writs to turn the oar so that it enters the water absolutely perpendicularly. The slightest variation from a 90 degree angle will cause the oar to "knife in" and dig too deeply into the water. When this happens, the handle of the oar is apt to come up suddenly and hit the unsuspecting rower in the stomach, often lifting him unceremoniously out of the boat and depositing him in the river...
...during a race. Many time the effect of knifing in is not so devastating as described above, but even the slightest tendency toward this mistake will unbalance the boat and cause the oarsmen on the opposite side to "wash out," finishing their stroke with oars partly out of the water...
Even if the oars hit the water cleanly, there are still an infinite number of factors for each man to concentrate on. The stroke itself, which is accomplished by a combined pull of the arms, push of the legs, and swing of the body must be achieved with all the power it is possible to muster. At the same time, it must be done as nearly like the other seven men as possible, and above all it must consume exactly the same amount of time...
Even the recovery is no simple matter. The oars must leave the water together, a snap of the wrists must feather them, and the crewmen must slide their bodies forward and their oars back into position again with a smooth, even motion that does not check the run of the shell. If this much is accomplished successfully the whole cycle begins again, and each man must concentrate on doing exactly the same thing in the same way once more--about 300 time in a mile-and-three-quarters race, or about 700 times in the classic four-mile Yale race...