HOW TO HANDLE A BOAT.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 35, 29 August 1891, Page 330

HOW TO HANDLE A BOAT.

BY

EDWARD HANLAN.

THE I.tUT OARSMAN TELLS BOVS HOW TO TRAIN ANT> HOW TO ROW A »AT.

*AN give no better advke to boys and amateur oarsmen, as to bow they should row or train for a sesiling race, than to tell my early experiences and th* regimen and rules of exercise I followed to get myself into condition. Ln 1372 I began life as an amateur oarsman. Like all berare's paj myself into the hands of a trainer. I had the idea that training meant tearing yourself so pieces with exhansting work and literal starvation, and this seemed to be ay

trainer's idea, and for a long time I was foolish enough to follow his method-. After he bad got my system into much worse trim than it was before I began to train. I rebelled, ami since that time I have followed my own i-ieas regarding traiwrwg, with the result that instead of breaking down at the end of 6re or six years, absolutely unable to row a deeent speed, I am physically as capable as I was in my early life. THE BEST METHOD OF TRAINING. \FTER I had begun my ova training, my ideas regarding this important part of rowing matters underwent a complete change. Instead of starring myself and doing hard work I built up my constitution by light work and eating what my system eraved in the way of more substantial food. When lam in training I eat what I desire, excepting. of coarse, condiments and other indigestibtes. The first thing to do in training is to get the blood in condition.

Any physician will give yoa med seine that will eiean.se the blood by regulating'the stomach and liver. When these organs are in good condition, the rest is easy. It is difficult to prescribe proper training to suit everybody. All beginners are not constituted alike. Food for one youth would be gall for another. No two men are alike in their habits or desires, The first thing to do when a young man derides to prepare for the sliding-seat is to study fits own eonsritatfou weiL He ought to understand the erayings of his stomach first and last of aIL If his stomach tails him, that settles him. There are hundreds of athletes who put themselves in excellent condition on two meals a day. I would not adrne any beginner to try ths plan unless be feels certain he can stand 1L There must be moderation in food, as there must be moderation in exercise. But the youth who starts oat with the idea that he must starve himself to get into condition, will eome to disaster. Nourishing food, no matter bow much, if well digested, is what every beginner wants if he would put himself in good physical shape. It makes bat little difference when the rood is taken, providing it be taken at the usual time. A good breakfast for a lad in training can be had of oatmeal porridge, eraeked wheat, brown bread and butter, a steak or ehop, and a little trait. Drink eold water if necessary, but it i- better to firink nothing at all while eating. For dinner, whirls should never be eaten after 6.30 p.m . 'a piece of beef or mutton, as as roar hand. with potatoes and other vegetables and brown bread. Don't eat too tn neb. and never touch dessert, except it be fruit. Always drink one or two tumblers of water on going to bed and upon rising in the morning. Never forget to take a nap of an hour or two in the mid die of the day. Many cannot do this, bat it is of a lasting benefit to a man in training. Get at least nine boars' rest at night. Avoid warm drinks as yoa would a plague. Tea or coffee are specially injurious to many, just as eold water and pare cream are helpful to aIL " Salt, pepper, spice, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, doves and mustard are all hurtful, and, if used at *H. should be used with great moderation. How true is Roasseau's saying : * The stronger the body, the more it obeys : the weaker the body, the more it commands.' To be” trained too much or too fine, as the saying goes. is worse a hundred times than no training at aIL Professorial trainers invariably give the beginner too modi to do. They will make him do the most absurd things, which in the end pall the lad down so fine as to make him as weak as a kitten. It will take a trainer a full year to understand a man's eoestimticti ; and, in the meantime. he will probably batcher him physically. That is why I claim it to be a"great risk to pat yourself in charge of a man whose method of training may not suit yoar constitution at alb If the young man who starts out to train and row uses whisky and tobacco, he must break hi itself of both habits. These habits are positively injurious to a good scalier. HOW I TRAIN MYSELF. IW ILL give yoa a short account of how I train myself. I arise aS six'or half-past six, walk one mile, running perhaps two hundred yards at a stiff speed, sufficiently to

get my wind Thea I rrruin and take a light ihnwn both, after wtneh any man rabs me dawn with Seth gloves, rubbing in aB firartiiißi Afterwards be goes over me wit& bin bauds and then finas me dry with a urweL I thee rent for tweaty nunulet before sitting down to breakfast. I eat fine thin meal some fruit aed a small steak, and drink a glass of milk and cream. After sitting around for aa hour, I go for a two or three ■lie- walk. Then Igoto my boat-house aed am rubbed down. After this I take a spin over the coarse, rowing from twenty-ax to thirty two strokes a minute. This is amply aa exercise row. The robbing process is gone over again when 1 return. For dinner, I imve roast beef or mutton, sometimes a fowl, with vegetables, I rest util halfpast two, take a walk, and thee go for another exercise row. Onee or twice a week I take a -speeder*' over the course. One thing amateurs should bear in mind never leave your race oe the river, that is, never row six races a week before the day of the race eooMs. It stands to reason that no man earn row as hard as he is able, eoeh day. and be in better cuodition the day of the raee than when he began training. More races hare been lost by * leaving the raee ou the river ’ than I can name. SOME IDEAS AB* >IT RACING. AWvRD aboat amatears, their regulations and laws controlling the Association. I think it would be a good idea to have two or three different classes of angles, doubles, ami fours. For instance, a man weighing one hundred and thirty-five pounds, in my opinion, has not a chance when rowing against a man who weighs ooe hundred and rixty or one hundred and seventy pounds, or, in tact, one hundred and fifty pounds. A one-hundred-ami-fifty pound man is large enough and strong enoogfa to row anyone ; but a small man has neithe the power nor the endurance to be able to win a prize in any sort of a senior or a junior contest. He may be able to win ooe big raee in ten years, bat that is aboat aIL And. I think it would be a good idea for the benefit of amateur rowing to elass men according to their weights, and to have two seniors heavy weight senior and light weight senior in seußs. and the same in doubles, and also in fours : juniors likewise. Thea the National As soriarioos would find that rowing woaM be very much improved by this change. Then again I notice that there is considerable controversy going around the press of this country in refeenee to the dtstaaee an amateur should tow. In my own opinion, I think a mile is plenty tar enough for any amateur; and I would never think of having a turning raee except there are only one or two contestants. I speak from my experience in the Duluth Regatta, held a year or so ago. The races were a mHe and turn for the foots, and the other races, and in every conies: there were three or four fouls, caused mostly by one boat colliding with another, so much so that several of the races were rowed over and delayed the regatta two or three days, and finally they had to resort to towing the races straightway, which proved very satisfactory. Amateurs are hoc like professionals : they have not the experience, and the enaseiiueriee is that they do not steer &* straight a course as professionals do.