THE SPORT OF ROWING Coxless-Pairs Trials Jones: “We were now ready for the Trials for the pairs-without. It was a week after the Nationals on Lake Waramaug, Connecticut. Hough and Lyon were there, having decided to forgo the pair-with since we had beaten them at the Nationals. “I was staying at Kent School on the bottom bunk in a room with Mike, and the night before the race I was having no luck getting to sleep. Every breath Mike took, I woke up. After a few hours, I pulled my mattress from the bunk and set it up at the end of the corridor. I slept briefly but not well. “The first race was not good. First, I forgot to lock my oar into the oarlock. Never in five years had I forgotten . . . until that day. As we pushed off the dock, my oar came loose, and our boat flipped over. “Now, it would have been bad enough to flip at the dock any time, but at the Olympic Trials? “It was horrible! The other competitors watched us flip, swim to shore, empty the boat, and reseat ourselves for our row. It was really an embarrassing moment for me. “We got off to a fair start and were in second place at the 1,500, but then Mike started pulling me around. I could not compensate enough by using the rudder. We moved from our lane through two others before we were disqualified for interfering with the other rowers. This was just not our day.”5971 Staines: “I think we frightened Hough. Twice he thought we were going to ram them. We were in that race until they disqualified us. “And that steering wasn’t Luther’s fault. Penn didn’t have a straight-pair, so Ted managed to borrow some women’s double or something from down Boathouse Row 5971 Jones, Jones, op. cit. and had Wayne Neal, the Penn rigger, adapt some sweep riggers and a rudder to fit it. “That poor boat was just not up to the task with the two of us in it. When we rowed, I could see the stern deck torque with every stroke. “Hough and Lyon ended up winning the Trials and representing the U.S. in Munich. I think we had rowed a straight-pair exactly two days before the Trials. With a little more time and a decent boat, I think we could have beaten them.”5972 Coxed-Pairs Trials Jones: “At the next Trials [two weeks later], there would be heats and finals. We had been rowing well in Philadelphia. Our training was sound, and we were able to keep going straight with Aaron steering. “The heats were rowed into a headwind so stiff that I think the winning times were all around nine minutes. It was a brutal, brutal race. There was heavy chop, and we managed to slog along at a rate that enabled us to get into the final. However, we did not do nearly as well as we had hoped. The combination of our Pocock boat and wide blades, nicknamed pizza paddles for their shape, made us pretty unwieldy in a headwind. “The Pairs-With Trials were really just about us and a boat from the University of Washington. They were typical Washington rowers: thick, strong, well conditioned. [Cliff Hurn ‘72, 6’4” 193 cm 198 lb. 90 kg, nicknamed Cliff House, Bruce Beall ‘74, 6’5” 195 cm 205 lb. 93 kg, and coxswain Dwight Phillips. This crew ended up representing the U.S. the following year.] Despite our size, we were more of a finesse team, and in a headwind, we might have not done well against them. 5972 Staines, op. cit. 1674
