THE SPORT OF ROWING Rosenberg3393], Old Dominion [the Amlong brothers3394] and Riverside [Charlie Grimes3395 and Sy Cromwell3396]. Hot tip is that Vesper’s boat did a 7:26 in Philly last week.”3397 Cromwell: “In ‘60, I rowed with Charlie Grimes who was in the Yale ‘56 Eight and very strong, but we didn’t know what it was all about. We just didn’t know what had to be done to make a pair go.”3398 Mitchell: “Won our first heat against Riverside, so go straight to the final. Vesper won, too. Our time was the fastest, but that means nothing with this headwind. Also, we trailed Riverside for the first 500 – never saw a boat move so fast off the blocks. Course, their last 500 didn’t amount to much, and we won by 13 seconds, about 4 lengths. “Theory is to forget about them in the first 500, watch them closely in the second 500, get within one length of them in the third, and race them in the last 500 when they don’t have anything left. “Led from stroke 1 of the final and without sprinting won by 5 lengths in the slow time of 8:46. The wind was roaring from finish to start, and this completely wiped out the lighter boats. Ten strokes off the starting blocks it was obvious that the long low stroke would win. Conn saw we were ahead and told Dick to knock it down to 28. We did and took off from the pack immediately.”3399 The Post-Standard of Syracuse, New York: “The classy Lake Washington Pair of Conn Findlay and Dick Draeger, riding their 3393 See Chapter 107. 3394 Ibid. 3395 from the 1956 Olympic Champion Yale Eight. See Chapter 67. 3396 See Chapter 87. 3397 Mitchell Journal 3398 Interview: Sy Cromwell, The Oarsman, May/June 1977, p. 11 3399 Mitchell Journal cox (Henry Mitchell) up in the bow, scored a smashing five-length victory over the Undine-Vesper tandem. Third was the Riverside crew, with Old Dominion last. The Far Westerners led all the way, enjoying a three-length lead at the halfway mark.”3400 1 Lake Washington 2 Vesper-Undine 3 Riverside 4 Old Dominion 8:37.7 8:50.6 8:54.1 9:07.1 The first three boats to cross the line in the final had their coxswains up front. Lago di Albano Lyon: “When they got to Rome, they heard a rumor about getting sick from bad water, so Conn took a drink from a nearby hose soon after they arrived, saying, ‘If we’re going to get sick, might as well get it over with before the races.’”3401 Mitchell: “August 17, 1960. Our pair was first shell to get onto Albano, a beautiful clear lake set in an extinct volcano. Wind swirls down crater slope and around circularly on the lake, creating a strong tailwind on the 2,000 meter course. This has upset Draeger no end. He feels the high- stroking crews who are normally cut out of contention in a headwind will have the advantage in this tailwind.”3402 Two Racing Philosophies Indeed, a strong influence on European racing strategy in the 1950s had been the Moscow Style,3403 which was described in 1962 by Soviet National Coach Evgeni Samsonov: “Our style usually depends on our opponents. We mostly open the race very fast – today at about 42 strokes per 3400 The Post-Standard, July 10, 1960 3401 Lyon, op. cit. 3402 Mitchell Journal 3403 See Chapter 79. 938
