THE WINDS OF CHANGE Hipple, assistant manager of the rowing squad, said, ‘Navy understroked all the way, but they were leaving the Russians behind.’”2336 For their first appearance on the international scene, the Soviet rowers came with a full complement of high-quality German boats delivered by a train “with a big red star on its green locomotive.”2337 Stevens: “The shells were stored in some tents, and the tent next to us belonged to the Russian crew, and the Russians came over early on to make our acquaintances and also to look at our equipment. “They asked if they could go out and row with us.”2338 Dick Murphy, 4-seat, “Rusty wasn’t terribly keen on the idea, but somehow we got roped into doing a racing start with them. “Our style of rowing was a racing start, Wisteria, The Great Eight 1952 United States Men’s Eight going out for practice Drumsö Fjord Meilahti, Finland and then you settle, you row the body of the race, and then you come on with a strong finish. “The Russians were apparently going to row like a clock spring. You just row as hard as you can as fast as you can as long as you can until you wear out, and hopefully you wear out after you cross the finish line.”2339 Henry Proctor, 6-seat: “They just kept on going like they were rowing a full race, and so they pulled out ahead of us. I think they felt real good, like they could really beat us, whereas we had settled down to our normal racing beat.”2340 Murphy: “I remember Dick Murphy Henry Proctor and Dick Murphy in conversation with two Soviet oarsmen. 2336 U.S., Soviet Crews Hit Friendly Note, The New York Times, July 13, 1952 2337 Ibid. 2338 Stevens, qtd. by The Great Eight 2339 Murphy, op. cit. 2340 Proctor, qtd. by The Great Eight 2341 Murphy, op. cit. when we settled, we kind of looked at them and talked, and I said, ‘If they can row 2,000 meters like that, then they’re going to beat us.’”2341 649
