THE WINDS OF CHANGE talent of Ed Stevens. Ed was indeed an exceptional stroke- oar, but his technique was also the exception on the squad. Stevens: “At the Fiftieth Anniversary of our 1952 Olympic Gold win, I was in the boat for a short row, and I noted that I was the only one ‘slamming’ my oar into the water. Could the aggressive entry help propel the boat a little faster than a slower entry?”2309 It certainly worked for Ed Stevens and for Navy in 1952, but Rusty’s long-distance training at low strokes ensured that the squad would remain strong and continuous to the release, even if their stroke-oar had a Kernschlag focus on the front half. These workouts put a huge premium on send of the boat, run and stroke length at the finish. As a consequence, the pull- throughs were marked by excellent acceleration from entry to release. After the college season Wisteria Pictures, The Great Eight 1952 U.S. Naval Academy Eight, sprinting, Drumsö Fjord 0°, +30° to -25°, 0-7, 0-10, 0-10, 36 spm, 38 sprint Reduction in body swing to adjust to 2,000 meter distance. was over, to adjust to the shorter 2,000 meter Olympic distance which required higher ratings, Rusty cut back the body swing a bit from the original +40° to -35° down to +30° to -25°, and they rowed the body of their 2,000 meter races at 36 strokes per minute. Just as he had done at Washington and at Penn, day after day in practice Rusty had his Varsity compete with his Jayvee at 18 to 20 strokes per minute, and now he had the endless stretches of water he had lacked at 2309 Stevens, op. cit. Penn and a supply of motivated athletes with “good stamina plus the good, clean lifestyle of the Naval Academy (early to bed & early to rise, consistently).”2310 The intrasquad competition was intense. Bob Detweiler: “We rowed against a Junior Varsity that probably could have beaten most of the varsity teams in the United States, and we rowed against them every day, and it’s easy enough to put it all 2310 Stevens, op. cit. 643
