THE SUNSET OF CONIBEAR forward like the piston rods of a locomotive engine.’”4252 Italian crews from gli Scarronzoni in the late 1920s4253 have also rowed high, and in 1938, it was Joe Burk who rowed at high ratings in order “to keep the run on the shell virtually constant, with no variation in speed at either end of the stroke and most especially with no check or dousing at either the catch or the finish.”4254 Indeed, for a precedent for the whole Karl Adam philosophy, the rhythm, the rating, the power application and the training, one need look no further than Burk. Adam’s Influence It seemed that no aspect of the sport of rowing was immune to Adam’s fertile and open mind. The Ratzeburg Style may have broken little new ground in its individual components, but the unique combination hit world rowing like a tsunami. Even before they won the Olympic Gold Medal on Lago di Albano, the Ratzeburg approach was already having an influence around the world. Journalist and historian Geoffrey Page, recalling the 1959 European Championships in Mâcon from the perspective of 1991: “I will never forget the sight of Adam’s young Ratzeburg Eight winning the Gold Medal some ten seconds ahead of the field. Their performance suddenly opened up new horizons and put the rowing scene into a totally new perspective. Nothing that has occurred since has had anything like the impact of the sudden explosion of Ratzeburg into the rowing world.”4255 Rowing in 1965: “The success of the [West] Germans in international rowing in 4252 Mendenhall, Coaches, Ch. II, p. 4 4253 See Chapter 73. 4254 Mendenhall, Coaches, Ch. XIV, pp. 6-7. See Chapter 58. 4255 Page, p. 120 recent years has had a noticeable effect on continental crews. Several countries, notably France, Denmark, Holland and Austria, have made use, either directly or indirectly, of German coaches. “The French National Coach, Pierre Sauvestre, has visited Karl Adam at Ratzeburg and studied his methods, while Adam visited Copenhagen last winter and coached there. The Dutch have had advice from Dr. Cohnen of Düsseldorf, and so on. The result of this interchange is that there is comparative uniformity in approach and results among continental crews.”4256 For example, the 1964 Italian Olympic Coxed-Four employed little body angle forward, a steady entry and pullthrough, only -10° layback, high ratings and no effort to send the boat at the finish. All this could also be seen in the Ratzeburg crews. Ted Nash, stroke of the 1964 U.S. Coxless-Four, had also limited somewhat the layback at Lake Washington in order to row down the course at higher ratings,4257 and he had already consulted with Ratzeburg-precursor Joe Burk and with Karl Adam himself, visiting Ratzeburg in the years before he and his crew got to Tokyo. Another example from Tokyo was the Danish Coxless-Four which beat Nash’s crew and won the Gold.4258 They followed perfectly the revolutionary new West German approach. Mike Spracklen:4259 “As part of the ARA4260 education programme I studied the Ratzeburg method brought to England by Bob Janoušek.4261 I coached that way for a short period and watched other crews rowing that style, but for me it is not a good 4256 Page, Rowing, p. 19 4257 See Chapter 84. 4258 See Chapter 85. 4259 See Chapter 130. 4260 “Amateur Rowing Association,” the British federation. 4261 See Chapter 117. 1167
