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MY BKFATIIING SYSTKM

stroke depcnds, of coursc, a good deal on the kind oł bont. For instance, in a seulling " best boat ” a time of less tluui 24 may be reckoncd as slow, in a " four " the limit wonld be rather about 26, and in an eiglit as much as 28.

Then therc is the ąuestion of wheti to inliale during the strokc. The main principle shonld be to perform inhalation when the trunk swings baekwards, and e.\halation when it bend? to the front. Sonie special styles necessitate smali deyiations, lnit the principle is generally correct. The reason is tliat a frec position in the baekward swing favo.urs the abdominal part of the fuli inhalation ; wliilc the bent or evcn crouclied position in tlić forward swing faeours the corresponding part of the exhalation. I rnust admit tbat I havc both seen and heard the cxactly opposite method rccommendcd. As an argument it was propouuded that the liard water work was performed during the baekward swing, hcnce it was wrong to inhale sirnultancously. It was much better to sil during the easy work of feathering! Of eourse, I do not agrec to this, but I know very wcll how this misunderstanding arosc ; I have met scores of athletes and sportsmen who paid attention only to inhalation, scarcely realising the existenec of exhalation, whicli in reality represents—or ouglit to do—ejuite as great amount of pbysical work as inhalation. The abovc-mentioned simple rule of the distribution of breath in the stroke is illustrated in big. 47, and by the curve A in Fig. 50. It should be applied in liglil rowing gigs and outriggers (pair-oars, fours and eiglds), always when the ratę of stroke is quick, and also when paddling at a slow pace. But, if in these boats. a hard puli is combincd with a slow stroke, an cxtra inhalation should be taken in the tniddlc of the quiet reeoyery, while, of coursc, an ordinary inhalation is taken during the short yigorous stroke (see Fig. 48 and curve B of Fig. 50).

In very heavy rowing gigs, and in ordinary broad seulling

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