THE SPORT OF ROWING panic. If they don’t lose their heads and keep their rowing form from start to finish, I think we have a good chance to come out in front.”4004 www.huskycrew.org: “It was cold and windy and wet, and some of the men had colds. Even so, Ulbrickson said, ‘The crew is in good shape physically.’ Coxswain John Bisset quipped. ‘You can say we are ready.’ The Seattle Times: “Rain started falling as the crews paddled beyond the log boom to the head of the course. Just as the race got under way, the downpour began.”4005 The Times of London: “Thunder and lightning at Henley signified the clash of the Giants in the first round of the Grand when the University of Washington, champions of the west in the United States, met the Trud Club of Leningrad, and the enclosures were well filled to see the struggle. On the one hand there was the Conibear style, which is now so widely and so uncomprehendingly copied in this country, and on the other the Continental,4006 which has not yet appealed to our coaches and oarsmen, but appears so relaxed and thus efficient. “In the event the race was one of tense excitement. The story is quickly told. Both crews were well off at the start, not at a high rate, Washington at 38, Leningrad at 37, and at the first signal the latter had a half length lead. By the Barrier it was a length in 1min, 55sec., a very fast time in the conditions. By now Washington were rowing at 34 and Leningrad at 36. “So the crews rowed, one length and two strokes a minute between them, and after Fawley, reached in 3min. 18sec., one 4004 Royal Brougham, Admiral Al’s Race Strategy, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 3, 1958 4005 Georg N. Meyers, Russians Defeat U.W. Eight in Storm, The Seattle Times, July 3, 1958 4006 See Chapter 79. 4007 Russian Crew Make Fast Henley Time, The Times of London, July 4, 1958 4008 Meyers, op. cit. 4009 The Times of London, op. cit. waited for Washington to go for Lenin- grad.”4007 The Seattle Times: “At the midway mark of the mile-and-550-yard course the Huskies appeared to be making a strong threat, narrowing the margin to a little less than a length, with John Sayre, stroke, pulling at a cadence of 33 to the Russians’ 35. “The slight advance of the Huskies seemed to spur the Russians. They boosted their stroke to 37 and at the three-quarters mark had regained a full-length lead. Open water began to show between the bow of the Swiftsure and the Trud Club’s unnamed brown mahogany shell. “By the mile mark it was evident that the Huskies would never catch the Russians. Washington’s white blades swung in beautiful precision, but the big Russians had the power as their shell inched ahead to lead by a length and a quarter. “Both crews were rowing 35 as thunder drowned out the cries of Coxswains John Bisset and Juriy Poliakov while the shells cut their way through a hailstorm in the last quarter mile. They hit the finish line in front of a pale-faced Al Ulbrickson who watched the race from the Stewards’ Enclosure.”4008 The Times of London: “The Russian crew showed no signs of being concerned and crossed the line a generous half length [of open water] in front in the time of 6mn. 49sec., an amazing time for the conditions, which were not fast.”4009 Sports Illustrated: “The Huskies relied as usual on a smooth, rhythmic stroke that derives its power from long legs and backs; Trud’s shorter, stockier crew, their bulky arm and shoulder muscles built up by training with weights, rowed in herky-jerky style, pulled away at the start as expected 1110
