THE SPORT OF ROWING likely looking residential lawn and eat their sandwiches, take a swim and curl up for a nap.”3352 Findlay, always a man of strong opinions on just about everything, remembers the details a bit differently: “We didn’t need swim suits. Rowing gear was enough. We were not south of the border. No time for naps . . . and Kurt Seiffert wasn’t called back to Seattle until the sand bags were getting too heavy.”3353 Seiffert: “Findlay is fantasizing about the sand bags in those days. They came along with Kent Mitchell, his coxswain for the 1960 and 1964 Olympics. Conn would always have preferred sand bags to sitting there looking at me, but I don’t remember a single day off or any delay in being ‘called back to Seattle.’ “We did row around Mercer Island once and stopped for lunch at Dan Ayrault’s sister’s home on the Island. We may have gone for a swim, but we never took a nap.”3354 Hecht: “One day they went out into Puget Sound through the government locks, and a trip to Tacoma was projected but never materialized. “These workouts gave the pair-with great stamina and made them a smoother boat than they were in the Trials.”3355 Seiffert: “I’ll never forget George Pocock’s reaction when he first saw them row at Syracuse before the Trials in 1956. He just shook his head and said, ‘Oh, my!’ “That was George.”3356 Stan Pocock: “[Conn] was not a pretty oarsman, true enough, but was strong as a bull. At six feet seven inches [201 cm], he had a tremendous reach.”3357 3352 Hecht, op. cit., p. 15 3353 Findlay, personal correspondence, 2007 3354 Seiffert, personal correspondence, 2009 3355 Hecht, op. cit. 3356 Seiffert, op. cit. 3357 S. Pocock, p. 123 Findlay: “George Pocock said that the best oarsmen in the world had been the Thames professionals who rowed all day long, so he would meet us at the dock at 8:00 AM and return at 4:00 PM. “I once asked the dumb question, ‘How hard should we row?’ “He said, ‘You’ll find out.’”3358 1956 Olympic Trials Seiffert: “We traveled from California to Syracuse a full month before the Trials to get any additional coaching we could. We had had only one race before the Trials, and that was against the NYAC Pair at Hunter Island Lagoon. Conn was convinced that a coxed-pair should never be rowed above a 28, but 500m from the finish of that race we were about four lengths behind. We won but only because of big rollers coming in from Long Island Sound that almost capsized our competition. Needless to say, a little higher stroke rate was installed.”3359 Rowing News, describing the Olympic Trials: “Don Ayrault and Conn Findlay with Kurt Seiffert as coxswain beat Detroit, Princeton and the Fairmount R.A. in that order in 9:01.1.3360 Stan Pocock: “Findlay, Ayrault and Seiffert had been extremely lucky to win their event at the Trials. The coxed-pair rowing for the Detroit Boat Club3361 were 3358 Findlay, op. cit., 2007 3359 Seiffert, op. cit. 3360 USA Olympic Tryout Winners and National Champions, Rowing News, December 1956, p. 10 3361 Under Coach Walter Hoover, Sr. – see Chapter 55 – Detroit won the Olympic Trials in the coxless-fours and doubles and came in second in the coxed-pairs. With the same nine athletes, Detroit had led Yale University for 1,500 meters in the opening heats of the eights before withdrawing to concentrate on the small 930
