THE SPORT OF ROWING Joyce and John Hunter in particular, were in touch with the lads from Harvard, and we ended up racing them at the Head of the Charles in Boston, and it was just a hoot!”5671 U.S. Stroke Monk Terry: “When they came to Boston, we went out for a ‘practice’ on Friday, something we had not done in years. We had a nice row to the basin, and when we got out at the dock, I remember thinking, ‘Good Lord – no wonder they beat us!’ They were a very large crew, and even though we had been on the podium with them in Munich, that was not something one would notice then. “Bow, 7 and stroke were ‘normal’ (bigger than I) but 3, 4, 5, and 6 were and are quite large! Not compared to what you see today but back then, absolutely.”5672 Veldman: “The time difference in the race was about the same as we had in Munich, maybe three seconds or something. “It was just fun! We had a wonderful time. We had a week there. They housed us exceptionally well. They treated us royally. “We had also made contact with the East Germans, and then we went and raced them on the Olympic course in Munich. “That was fun because it was their first get-together since 1972, so it was really special for them. The only one missing out of the crew was the coxswain, who actually was living in Cuba at the time. And they said it was just as well he wasn’t there because they reckoned he’d got pretty damn fat. “We raced them over 1,000 metres. It was a stately race. “Then we had a cup of tea, and we went out a second time where we put our bow- four with their stern-four, and we did it again. 5671 Veldman, op. cit. 5672 Terry, personal correspondence, 2010 “And then we came back and had another cup of tea, and then went out alternating, East German, Kiwi, East German, Kiwi. “We were away from New Zealand for about three weeks altogether, and the Americans had enjoyed our visit so much that meanwhile they had arranged to actually meet us when we got back. They had a quick bus tour around the South Island waiting for us to arrive, so to speak, and then we raced them again on our own home turf on Kerr’s Reach at Avon Rowing Club in Christchurch, and of course there again we did the same thing. We had half the American crew and half the New Zealand crew.”5673 Gene Clapp, USA: “No one would disagree that the trip was a ‘hoot’ and that Wybo is a varsity story teller.”5674 Terry: “Our trip to NZ was one of the best I have ever taken. We had time as a crew to be together, culminating in a dinner at Simon Dickie’s house. “They are a terrific bunch of guys and remain heroes to the rowing crowd in NZ. “They were most gracious hosts, and of course we let them beat us in Christchurch.”5675 Robertson After Munich Oberschleißheim was the zenith of Rusty Robertson’s career, but the following four years also brought success: coxed-pairs Bronze in 1973, Silver in the coxless-pairs and Bronze in the eights in 1974, followed by two more Bronzes in the eights in 1975 and 1976 as GDR’s reign in World and Olympic rowing picked up momentum. After the Montréal Olympics, the five- year Rothmans contract ran out, and when 5673 Veldman, op. cit. 5674 Clapp, personal correspondence, 2010 5675 Terry, op. cit. 1560
