THE SPORT OF ROWING the Willebroek Canal near Vilvoorde, is less than twenty kilometers due south of the modern Rijkssportcentrum Hazewinkel artificial rowing course. British eights coach Author Royal Sport Nautique de Bruxelles 1865 men took daily exercise on the rowing machines, which were set up on the quarterdeck. “On the evening of August 6th at 7 PM, the ship arrived at the docks in Antwerp after a very interesting twelve-day trip. “After considerable delay, quarters were secured for the crew, who were beginning to show signs of poor condition from lack of proper exercise. “A canal barge was secured, and the racing shells were transported through a series of locks for twenty miles to the Royal Nautique Boat House, the King’s own, about four miles from the ancient city of Brussels. “The squad’s quarters were located in the Steamboat Tavern, which was about a mile from the boathouse. The building had been partly demolished during the war, and living there was much like camping out.”1769 The regatta site, nearer Brussels than Antwerp, in front of the Royal Sport Nautique de Bruxelles 1865 boathouse on 1769 Glendon, pp. 200-1 Cherry Pitman:1770 “The surroundings were not picturesque. On the right bank . . . is a rough pavé road, bounded on the right by a dreary, dusty wall and an odiferous ditch. On the left bank . . . is an almost continuous line of factories, some of which discharged streams of hot water from their condensers into the murky waters of the canal.”1771 “Even Coubertin qualified it an ‘anti- Olympic setting:’ walls of factories, reservoirs, and oil storage tanks so horrid that all attempts to hide its ugliness were abandoned.”1772 Glendon: “There was much excitement and interest in the American camp when the various foreign crews went by for practice.”1773 Photos of the Navy crew show comfortable overall posture, +30° of body angle forward at the entry, backsplash entries and excellent suspension, including active arms, at mid drive. Glendon: “After many trials and tribulations, the first day of the regatta, Friday, August 27th, arrived.”1774 1770 For the British perspective, see Chapter 24. 1771 Qtd. by Page. P. 60 1772 John E. Findling & Kimberly D. Pelle, Historical Dictionary of the Modern Olympic Movement, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, USA, 1996 1773 Glendon, p. 202 1774 Ibid. 470
