THE LONG ECLIPSE OF AMERICAN ROWING Bratten, who became highly influential sequential segmented-force Kernschlag Philadelphia coaches who then ruled Boathouse Row for decades. Allen Rosenberg’s 1964 Vesper Eight, a beautiful concurrent Schubschlag crew, yielded at least two members who became influential sequential segmented-force Kernschlag coaches. After a stint at Columbia, former Vesper stroke-seat Bill Stowe found great success as coach of the Coast Guard Academy. His crews used explosive, sequential segmented- effort Kernschlag pullthroughs to dominate the Dad Vail Regatta year after year, but their approach was the opposite of the subtle technique that Allen Rosenberg had once coaxed from Bill Stowe, the oarsman. Kenneth Heisler, one of Stowe’s Columbia rowers, tells an interesting story of the way a word or a comment about rowing technique gets passed on: “You’ll recall that back in the day, during the spring season The New York Times used to devote a whole page to rowing in the Sunday Sports Section. The Ivy coaches would often arrange to have a luncheon on Fridays before race day where they were joined by the press (all those bylines from William Wallace). As this one particular gathering was breaking up, the insouciant Bill Stowe approached Harry Parker with a question. “‘Say Harry, how do you get those crews of yours to go so fast?’ “Parker laid a hand on Stowe’s shoulder and replied, ‘Well Bill . . . I tell them to pull really, REALLY, hard!’ “This became a watchword around the Columbia boathouse for quite some time afterwards. Bill absolutely had us ‘attack the catch’ with everything we had – I still do it to this day.”5245 In 1975, Boston University coach and former Vesper 2-seat Hugh Foley described the Rosenberg pullthrough as follows: “At the conclusion of the drive, the arms and back work together to supplement the diminishing leg power and hold the bend kicked into the oar shaft with the legs at the initial explosion of the catch. “This manner of finish takes the back and arms away from the ‘active’ role of ‘motivators’ and puts them into a more ‘passive’ role of ‘connectors.’ “Thus we find a more relaxed finish motion due to the early completion of the leg drive and the ‘passive’ role of the back and arms. [my emphasis]”5246 This is mutant Kernschlag mentality! Even if it retains a few of Allen’s own words as quoted above, this was never Allen’s position, not in 1964 or 1974, and not today. Allen has always maintained that the draw into the finish ought to be “the hardest work in the stroke” in order to extend the steady pressure.5247 Allen has Schubschlag mentality! In 1964, the effort level of Clark, Budd, Knecht and Stowe during the last few inches of their pullthrough shown in Chapter 109 was most assuredly still in the “active” and not the “passive” category. Rosenberg’s cogent and persuasive descriptions of sequentiality are all that most of us have had to go by these last forty plus years, and they are accurate as far as they go, but they are also subject to gross misinterpretation. If one focuses on the end result, namely the sequential motion, it is easy to miss the proper means to achieving that end, namely the concurrent recruitment of muscle groups. 5245 Heisler, personal correspondence, 2011 5246 Qtd. by Ferris, p. 29 5247 Rosenberg, USRA Clinic, Chula Vista, CA, Sept 11-2, 2004 1445
