ENGLISH ORTHODOX MEETS CLASSICAL TECHNIQUE beyond what Steve himself would choose.”925 Burnell: “Just as lesser Orthodox coaches had killed the leg drive by slavishly insisting on the opening of the body angle, so did lesser disciples of Fairbairn, seeing that he encouraged men to use their legs even at the expense of body angle, began to teach men to drive legs down and slides away.”926 Haig-Thomas & Nicholson: “The only characteristic in common to all these crews is a total failure to link up leg-work with body-work, which means that the second part of the stroke is taken firmly on the back-stop entirely with the arms and shoulders.”927 Burnell: “The hit at the beginning gradually developed into a row-in almost opposite the rigger. “‘Rowing round the turn’ developed into rowing right out. “Freedom to watch the blade reached the stage where men rowed with their heads permanently tucked underneath their arms. “Early squaring of the blade reached a point where some men practically gave up feathering altogether, and the use of unlimited slides became an excuse for neglecting to swing at all.”928 Chris Baillieu,929 1977 World Doubles Champion under Mike Spracklen: “By the time that I got to Jesus [1969], rowing there had become utterly corrupted. They thought that they were doing what Steve Fairbairn taught, which they thought meant basically hitting the water from a great height with your blade. “My view is that Steve was an innovator, and he was always ahead of the game. Their view was that when Steve died 925 Brittain & Playford, p. 84 926 Burnell, Swing, p. 57 927 Haig-Thomas & Nicholson, p. 25 928 Burnell, Swing, p. 57 929 See Chapter 130. everything stopped. They were worshipping a totem, which is not as he was at all.”930 Spracklen: “They took the stroke with their legs with such force that with their round backs it looked as though Fairbairn crews were bum-shoving, shooting their slides away.”931 Schubschlag had evolved past ordinary Kernschlag into dysfunctional Kernschlag segmented pullthroughs. This is the second occurrence of Rowing History’s Greatest Lesson,932 a technique deteriorating in the subsequent generation. Burnell: “The Fairbairn method, which had discarded rules and spurned style, gradually built up its own rules and developed its own style.”933 This new phase in the manifestation of the teachings of Steve Fairbairn acquired the name “Jesus Style,” named for the college at Cambridge where Steve was coaching, and it was ironic, for according to many English Orthodox adherents, Steve Fairbairn was the Antichrist. And so at this point in history there existed two approaches to rowing among world professionals: Thames Waterman’s Stroke Classical Technique and three distinct branches of rowing technique among English amateurs: English Orthodoxy Classical Technique Jesus Style Steve Fairbairn was responsible for the last two. In 1951, Burnell wrote, “I have heard it said of Fairbairn that he began by doing more good to English rowing than any 930 Baillieu, personal conversation, 2008 931 Spracklen, RCA Coaches’ Conference, 2005 932 See Chapter 18. 933 Burnell, Swing, p. 57 243
