THE SPORT OF ROWING “Of course, she still was the first American woman ever to qualify for a FISA Championship final.5848”5849 Joan placed sixth in the final. Lucerne 1974 Lind drew four of the eventual six finalists, including international newcomer Christine Scheiblich 5’8” 172cm 150lb. 68kg, in her opening heat at the 1974 World Championships. She beat one of them, 1973 defending European Champion Genovaitė Ramoškienė, 5’7” 170cm 159lb. 72kg from RK Žalgiris in Kaunas, Lithuania in the Soviet Union, but finished fourth in the heat and failed to qualify directly for the semi- finals. Scheiblich won the heat. Ramoškienė and Lind finished one-two in their repêchage and then met again in the second of the two semi-finals. Here, Joan’s bad fortune continued. She lined up against the three eventual medalists, finished fourth and had to settle for winning the petit final at the end of the regatta. McKibbon: “Joan just had the worst luck in the world! “We had this plan. You know the Rotsee in Lucerne. Big trains go by, and it’s so loud when you’re on the water, it can’t help but consume your attention and your energy. Every time for the couple of weeks we were there before the regatta, no matter what Joan and the quad were doing, when the train went by they had to take ten hard strokes. We were sure that during the race there would be that time when everyone’s 5848 A Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club eight rowed to sixth place at the 1967 European Championships in Vichy, France, but it was a six-boat final only with no qualifying heats. The Philadelphia club rowers were the first American women to represent the United States at a FISA championship. 5849 McKibbon, op. cit. attention went into the train, and we would be pedal to the metal. “During the races that year, the train never came. “The whole time we were there, the wind didn’t blow, or it blew tailwind. The day they had the race to get into the final, it was solid headwind, and we had 138-pound athletes. They were very tough and strong and rowed beautifully, but neither boat made the final.”5850 Scheiblich won that semi-final and then the final, with Ramoškienė winning Silver. Holme Pierrepont 1975 In Nottingham in 1975, Joan again drew Christine in her preliminary heat. This time she placed second to her and qualified directly for the semis. Scheiblich won one semi, and Lind placed second behind Mariann Ambrus, 5’10” 178cm 159lb. 72kg of Budapest, Hungary, in the other, qualifying for her second singles grand final. In that final, Christine won her second World Championship, Ambrus was second and Joan finished fifth. McKibbon: “In the year that we were in Nottingham, I didn’t even want to go. It was a place where they were going to put an airport, but they couldn’t because it was too windy! Go figure it. That was the year we were going to boycott. I just wanted to take my whole team to Europe and hit every major regatta. “Anyway, in all the races in Nottingham in 1975, first place was in Lane 1, last place was in Lane 6, straight down the course. In the quads, we got fifth place. We were in Lane 5. The doubles? Same thing. Every race. Joan also finished in her appropriate Lane 5, and then they stopped the regatta 5850 McKibbon, op. cit. 1636
