INTERNATIONAL ROWING TURNS PROFESSIONAL entire length of the course from start to finish and back. Findlay: “All the boats at the start had a lot of water in them and were getting it out on the starting platform. Our race was postponed, and I asked the starter if he would still be our starter when the races resumed. Mr. Eto, whom I knew from a visit to Japan in 1962, said, ‘Yes.’ “We followed Mr. Eto to the finish line and found a dock to get the water out of our boat. When Mr. Eto went back up the course, we followed him to the start, knowing that the water was very good for the second 1,000.”3481 Stan Pocock: “Because the wind was blowing hard that day, Conn wanted to see what conditions were like down toward the finish line. Finding they were much better than at the start, he was content to let the other crews beat themselves up at the beginning, knowing he could step on the gas in the calmer water to come.”3482 Duvall Hecht described the typical race strategy for the Findlay Coxed-Pair back in 1956: “Their start is about 36 for 90 seconds, settling gradually to a 29 or 30 and hold their beat constant until they begin their sprint.”3483 Lyon: “By 1964, they were rowing over 32 into a headwind, so it wasn’t like the 29- 30 they may have rowed in 1956 through the body.”3484 Hecht: “After the first two minutes of a race, having rowed high and hard, they feel a second wind coming on and take ten strokes at their racing beat thinking only about breathing deeply and form. This is what they call their ‘powerless-10.’ They say rival boats move on them perhaps five feet in these ten strokes, but they feel so 3481 Findlay, personal correspondence, 2007 3482 S. Pocock, p. 203 3483 Hecht, op. cit., p. 18 3484 Lyon, op. cit. rested after relaxing that they are much more effective for the remainder of the race.”3485 Nash: “Just like Joe Burk, Conn figured if he rowed even-splits as fast as he could go every 500, he’d probably win, and he was one of the very few then who could do it.”3486 The Final Ferry: “Before coming to Tokyo, I thought we would do well to make the final. All I was determined to do was row the best race I could. “After a crab by Conn (the one and only one I ever experienced from him) and a false start by another boat, we took the second start, which was good.”3487 As the boats left the starting floats, the Soviet and U.S. Pairs were in the least favored Lanes 1 and 2, rowing into a strong, choppy crosswind. Despite the unequal conditions across the course, the Soviets went for it in typical fashion,3488 and they led the field convincingly by more than half a length at 32 after the first 500 meters, with the U.S. also at 32 and staying only just behind the French and Dutch3489 crews over in Lanes 5 and 6 on the more sheltered side of the course. The technique of this particular Soviet the 1964 European Coxed-Pair, Championship Silver Medalists behind GDR, owed less to the Moscow Style3490 and more to the new West German adaptation of the Soviet approach. Stroke- seat Leonid Rakovtzhik, 6’5” 195cm 201lb. 91kg, bow Nikolay Safronov, 6’2” 188cm 183lb. 83kg, and coxswain/coach 3485 Hecht, op. cit., p. 15 3486 Nash, personal conversation, 2004 3487 Ferry, op. cit. 3488 See Chapter 79. 3489 See Chapter 80. 3490 See Chapter 79. 959
