With the two coxes both vying for the same quick water, they have to tread a careful path between giving their crews the fastest conditions, and also the clearest run - which can sometimes have calamitous results.
US-based researchers were the first to propose that the wrinkles might act like the tread on tyres, and even demonstrated how the patterns in the skin resembled those of run-off channels seen on the sides of hills.
The religious scholars he studied at Harvard, such as Jewish philosopher Martin Buber (1878--1965), helped this devout Episcopalian articulate what is in essence a Buddhist worldview: Business is interdependent with everything around it, and hence it must tread lightly alongside nature, so both can remain healthy and sustain each other in the long run.