THE LONG ECLIPSE OF AMERICAN ROWING Washburn, taught us what became affectionately known in later years as ‘Stop & Shop:’4625 a distinct pause at the finish (Stop), acceleration up the slide, sharp and punchy catch (Shop), and a power curve that accentuated the first third of the stroke.”4626 Ted Washburn: “One thing about the tag ‘Stop & Shop.’ As the frosh coach who began to teach the style when we returned from Tokyo, I want it known that I always called the style ‘stop-and-chop,’ which perfectly captured my intent. The later pun was related to the supermarket, but I never changed my spelling to match the store. I stayed with ‘chop.’ “Having taught linguistics, I fully understand how the ‘c’ and ‘s’ could have shifted, and as the history of language teaches us, there would be nothing odd about everyone but the coiner settling on a folk spelling, but ‘chop’ was the original and ‘shop’ the folk.”4627 Parker: “The reason you get the motion you get with those ‘60s crews is that I like dynamic movement of the body into the catch, rather than getting up there and freezing. I just like to have the body in motion. “That’s a big difference from the standard Washington recovery,4628 where you get out of bow fast. They talk about getting your body set, and it would stay set until you get up to the catch. Everything would stop, and then you would start again. The seat would actually stop.”4629 Steve Brooks ‘70, stroke of the Har- vard Eight in the1968 Olympic final: “In the summer of ‘65, I was still in the junior rowing program at the Union Boat Club, coached by Kim Bassett, the Boston 4625 Stop & Shop® is a large chain of super- markets in the American Northeast, including the Boston area. 4626 Hamlin, personal correspondence, 2005 4627 Washburn, personal correspondence, 2007 4628 See Chapter 46. 4629 Parker, op. cit. 4630 S. Brooks, personal correspondence, 2005 4631 “Rob Lea [1963 Pan Am Champion in the double for Vesper with Bill Knecht. See Chapter 107.] was the one who brought the dreaded stadium running to Harvard in ‘62 following a European trip.” – Tracy Lea, personal correspondence, 2011 4632 Hamlin, op. cit. University frosh coach. We rowed a modified Stop & Shop that summer, which was a change from what my Noble and Greenough coach, Bob Warner, had taught. “We rowed essentially that technique the following spring at Nobles, not with much success, alas, but in any case, the slow-hands-fast-catch was spreading fast by ‘65 and ‘66.”4630 Hamlin: “To make Stop & Shop work at Harvard, you had to have massive legs, especially if you were relatively short like me, 6’1” [185 cm]. These we gained with countless hours charging up and down the Harvard Stadium.4631 “The stroke worked because we were strong, well conditioned and synchronized in our execution. Indeed, mine and the crews that followed won a great many races employing this technique. Tours de Stade Hamlin: “Interestingly, some attributed our winning ways to the amount of time we spent in the Harvard Stadium relative to the supposed efforts of other crews. “I can remember distinctly numerous ‘Tours de Stade’ where the drill was to start up every forty seconds, unending relay races, and worst of all, the best time for all thirty-seven sections (well under a thirty second pace). The leg strength and aerobic conditioning the stadium produced made a big difference on the race course.”4632 1283
