THE SPORT OF ROWING Fore-and-Aft Trim One of the adverse consequences of any long layback technique is that as the athletes’ upper bodies rise and then fall in their layback arc, the bow of the boat is forced deeper into the water, significantly increasing wetted-surface and wake drag on the hull. For Glendon, there was a second benefit to be gained by extending the slides further into the stern of the shell. This allowed the footstretchers to be adjusted further into the stern, transferring the weight of the entire crew sternward and protecting the bow. Peet in 1920: “The Navy coach has struck a model for his shells that is wonderfully well adapted for carrying his big, husky men. In his last four races, he has used boats with a wide, flat floor that carry the heavy weight well and that ride up in the bow, very prettily ‘skimming’ over the water, with consequent small resistance. These boats were built by [Al] Ward of Edgewater, [New Jersey] according to designs by the Navy coach. The flat bottom and wide floor make for stability and an even keel, which always spell speed.1761 The Ward design anticipated or perhaps copied the planing hulls of legendary American boatbuilder George Pocock of Seattle, Washington.1762 The Glendon Recovery Glendon’s scientific approach also led him to adjust the stroke recovery to help minimize the downside associated with weight transfer into the bow at the finish of the pullthrough. Glendon: “At the finish of the stroke, the hands are dropped down and outward vigorously, at the same time turning the wrists toward the body to feather the oar- 1761 Peet, p. 98 1762 See Chapter 45. blade. The body is snapped back into an upright position, which is helped by a pull from the toe-straps and a rebound of the oar.”1763 In his 1932 history of American rowing, Kelley made an observation still more-or- less accurate today: “Most coaches hold against any stressed use of the toe strap, feeling that this pull will, in eight men, cause a pressure which cuts down the run of the boat. And in ordinary coaching systems, the body is to come out easily from the layback. It is not to be ‘snapped back.’ “The idea is one difficult to put on paper. It means that the finish of the stroke is strong and that the finish itself can be used, the last drop of the stroke, in starting the rebound of the deeply swinging body.”1764 Kelley was describing the ferryman’s finish, and Glendon rejected it in favor of a strong back surge all the way to the release, and he also quickly discovered that his -45° layback required the upper bodies to be levered back to vertical with the footstraps. He must have concluded that any potential downside was outweighed by the benefits of the longer stroke. Incidentally, during the same era, Courtney in his later years and University of Washington coaches also avoided the ferryman’s finish, but Ten Eyck did not. As for the rest of the recovery, Glendon appreciated the challenge of transitioning to the entry without checking the forward progress of the boat. “The seat is then started forward, the last half of the slide movement being slower than the first half.”1765 “The [rower] must be able to master the recovery to the extent that he gets his grasp 1763 Glendon, pp. 99-101 1764 Kelley, pp. 222-3 1765 Glendon, pp. 99-101 468
