THE SPORT OF ROWING “In 1967, they started a small-boat camp at Laconia, New Hampshire. In ‘68, more Laconia, and then in ‘72 they closed off the National Team to open challenge by clubs, and you could just see the club thing shrinking. The incentive to get involved in summer rowing disappeared, and we lived through that for more than twenty years. “In 1966, I introduced seat racing to U.S. National Team rowing, so I feel partly responsible for all the National Camps that followed.”4694 Parker: “I was very impressed by the thoroughness with which Kent Mitchell did his seat racing in 1966.”4695 The Impact of Seat Racing on the Harvard Technique Because it rewarded moving boats, especially small boats, seat racing in coxed- fours must have had a lot to do with determining how the Harvard Style evolved. Monk Terry’s experience is a case in point. Monk’s father had started him in the sport when he was still a small child. Terry: “It was all about small boats. I grew up rowing in a single first of all and rowing in a four in high school. And of course we did seat races in fours at Harvard leading up to spring break “In small boats, you quickly learn you’ve got to keep pushing it to the release. You can’t just have a hard catch and make the boat go fast enough to stay up with everybody. In my mind, the so-called ‘hard’ catch was the setup for being able to finish the stroke, which meant accelerating through the drive.”4696 This approach to force application is the essence of Schubschlag and quite the opposite of the approach to boat moving that 4694 Mitchell, personal conversation, 2005 4695 Parker, op. cit., 2006 4696 Terry, op. cit. most of those attempting to copy Harvard were adopting during the 1960s. As Steve Gladstone has said, “That’s the danger of copying. You look at a crew and ask, ‘What is it that’s making them fast?’ and you’re not understanding exactly what they’re trying to do.”4697 Terry: “A four-with is like the next stage up from a pair-with, and rowing in a pair-with is the ultimate in pushing a boat because you get it in there, and then you’ve got to accelerate or it just dies. “I rowed with Larry Hough4698 in a pair-with at the Nationals in 1970, and then we rowed the straight-pair in the Worlds. I loved rowing with him. Talk about strong. What a beast! “Larry and I were fast, but we just didn’t train enough that year. When I think about how much we trained, it was pathetic, but we were fourth-fastest in the world that year. “We didn’t make the final. The three medalists qualified ahead of us in our semi- final. We won the petites. “The four racing and the pair racing with Larry had a lot to do with me keeping in touch with the fact that you’ve got to work to the finish no matter what you’re doing at the catch.”4699 Besides the explosive entry that others imagined they saw in Harvard crews, the second attribute of the Harvard Style copied by outsiders, often with disastrous consequences, was recovery rhythm. Terry: “As for Stop & Shop, it was the idea that once you’re moving into the catch, you don’t stop. That was the key. No hesitation at the catch.”4700 Brooks: “When we were at low cadence just warming up or something, it looked 4697 Gladstone, personal conversation, 2005 4698 1967 and 1969 European Champion in the coxless-pairs. See Chapter 110. 4699 Terry, op. cit. 4700 Ibid. 1304
