THE SPORT OF ROWING Meek: “I can remember the rains just beating on us so hard! We must have had four inches of water in the boat, at least that much!”4385 Steiner: “Weather conditions had turned bad pretty quickly from the direction of the finish with a full-blown thunderstorm upon us. The headwind and chop breaking over the riggers took no time in slowing us down, and to make matters worse, we were taking on plenty of water. “After we got going again, I can clearly remember the slosh of the water running back and forth in the boat with every stroke. It felt so heavy! In my frustration, I began shouting encouragement, but stopped yelling as soon as I realized the whole crew was doing the best they could. “Visibility was poor. Not only was the finish line not in view, but neither were most of the other boats . . . nor the shoreline at the side of the course.”4386 Reece: “The rest of the way, water was sloshing over our clogs. We wouldn’t really have cared except that the lanes next to the shore hadn’t had so much wind and rain to contend with. We were out in Lane 13, and boats on the inside, three hundred yards to starboard, were catching up . . . ”4387 Despite being more than ten seconds behind the leading Penn boat when the storm hit, the Navy Jayvee had already gained open water on their various rivals in the near-shore lanes. With the storm assaulting the left side of the course, the Navy coxswain veered away from its worst all the way into Wisconsin’s Lane 1 and even beyond it toward the shelter of shore. The Sunday Bulletin of Philadelphia: “Amid cries from ship-to-shore radio that some – or few, or none – could be seen, the Penn shell, in an unprotected outside lane, 4388 Hugh Brown, Penn Approaches Sweep in IRA Rowbottom . . . Stopped by a Squall, The 4385 Meek, op. cit. 4386 Steiner, op. cit. 4387 Reece, op. cit. Sunday Bulletin, June 18, 1967 4389 Reece, op. cit. 4390 Brown, op. cit. was skewed off its course, losing all forward progress. “Wisconsin, Navy and Cornell, all in inside lanes, came on strong. With a magnificent effort, the Quakers, who were nearly swamped, managed to right themselves and flail back. “All the while the announcer had been handing Wisconsin the lead [all the racing shirts were soaking wet, and Navy was by then rowing in Wisconsin’s lane], and he actually gave it to the Badger boat while the Middies were churning across the rain- pimpled finish line with the Penn shell wallowing in their wake. “Ten minutes or so later, the judges were still trying to untangle the shells, although it was announced, cautiously, that ‘the Navy oarsmen are going around collecting shirts.’”4388 Reece: “I thought we had won, but I couldn’t see very well. I could barely see anything.”4389 Official times: 1 Navy 17:28.2, 2 Penn 17:36.4, 3 Wisconsin 17:49.2 and on down the line, but newspaper photos tended to suggest a much closer finish between first and second. The Sunday Bulletin: “The Penns were bitterly disappointed, for it was the same Navy eight they had beaten in several previous encounters. The Middies, though, had succeeded because of their adaptability. When the squall struck, they shifted from their lane toward the shore, sneaked by Wisconsin in the No. 1 Lane and won the way all future admirals should.”4390 Steiner: “It was an emotional race. I felt disappointed to have let Joe down. 1204
