THE SPORT OF ROWING on was force application, and not so much on body mechanics. Nevertheless, the technique they arrived at closely followed the Classical Technique GDR/Fairbairn model. Legs, backs and arms worked concurrently from entry, their motion coordinated, smooth and organic. Layback was limited to -15°, and the legs and backs finished in Frame 7 on the previous page. The final frame reveals a hint of ferryman’s finish as the crew completed the last 10% of the stroke with arms only, just like the Einheit Dresden Coxless-Four, their model crew. The result for Vesper/Union was an organic pullthrough with none of the Sturm und Drang, the “blood and guts,” of Dietrich’s earlier crews. The Summer of ‘72 At the 1972 U.S. Nationals in Philadelphia, the re-engineered Vesper/ Union crew lined up against, among others, a really fine Penn Elite Center crew coached by Ted Nash5734 and made up of members of his 1972 IRA Champion Penn Varsity. Before Strawberry Mansion Bridge, Vesper/Union had open water on them and the rest of the field, and was never challenged thereafter. This was another independent confirmation of the GDR Classical Schubschlag approach. GDR may have had great athletes training with the help of illegal drugs, but they also had a very effective and efficient boat-moving technique that could work for anybody. Hewitt: “The U.S. Coxless-Fours Trials and Coxed-Pairs Trials were the last ones of the summer, only about three weeks before the Olympics. They were at Lake Waramaug in Kent, Connecticut. Our main competition consisted of the combined 5734 See Chapter 129. second- and third-fastest coxless-pairs at their Trials two weeks prior. “Warming up for our heat, we had a head-on crash with the Northeastern Four, consisting of members from their EARC Sprints-winning Eight. They were in the wrong lane. We were both taking our last start-and-20 before the race. “The committee gave us three and a half hours to regroup. Moroney was badly hurt – a separated sternum to go with his already broken collarbone – from his oar handle hitting him in the chest, and the boat was beat up, the port riggers destroyed. “Dick and Dietrich rebuilt the boat with borrowed parts and duct tape, while Bill and I took Jim to a country doctor who told him he couldn’t possibly breathe deeply because the pain would be too great. “Because we were in the Trials, the doctor gave him aspirin, the strongest legal substance he had, and then sent us off.”5735 What was Moroney’s take on this new calamity? “I’m not so sure my injury from the collision was quite that bad, just a bit uncomfortable.”5736 Hewitt: “We won the heat, so we had the repêchage day off to recuperate.”5737 Miller: “We knew we were a very steady crew with no super-fast burst of speed. In the final, we expected to be behind in the first stages of the race, probably still trailing by a bit at the 1,000, moving up through the field in the third 500, and perhaps still behind into the last quarter. “We figured we’d go for it in the final 750. “Early in the actual race, we were surprised to be cruising easily and moving on the field with each stroke. We were near the lead at the 500, and in the second 500 we 5735 Hewitt, personal correspondence, 2005 5736 Moroney, personal correspondence, 2005 5737 Hewitt, op. cit. 1580
