THE SPORT OF ROWING crews as captured on film and in force curves.8723 Further, Kleshnev shows the sequential Rosenberg (Modern Orthodox) style gener- ating a smooth, symmetrical curve. The Göbel and Haining curves earlier in this chapter clearly demonstrate that this doesn’t always occur in the real world. Shape According to Rekers Rekers: “My first interest in force curves dates from the early ‘60s when I rowed, and later coached, for Proteus Row- ing Club at Delft University. “After having seen thousands of curves of all possible levels of rowing skill, I have come to the following conclusion: A force curve should be smooth and convex all the way.” A parabola! As discussed, GDR scientists also chose a symmetrical parabolic force curve. The actual force curve of Thomas Lange in this chapter well represents GDR Schubschlag force application. Left-Leaning Haystack When GDR crews exploded into the world consciousness in the early 1970s, their force application was immediately contro- versial among many of the Kernschlag fol- lowers of Allen Rosenberg, and as Rosen- berg’s influence spread, that controversy spread throughout the western world. This was true even though Kleshnev’s analysis classifies the Rosenberg force curve as Schubschlag, which is historically accu- rate, and even though Allen Rosenberg has repeatedly declared his preference for Schubschlag force application.8724 8723 See Chapter 92. 8724 See Chapter 108. Nevertheless, as the Rosenberg Style spread and strengthened and morphed into Modern Orthodox Technique, the discom- fort of many Modern Orthodox believers with the concept of even pressure from catch to release, with a symmetrical parabolic force curve, has triggered frequent searches for an alternative. Another shape has emerged, the left- leaning haystack, in other words the smooth Kernschlag equivalent of a Schubschlag pa- rabola, resembling Kleshnev’s idealized Ad- am force curve. Paul Smith, co-developer of ErgMoni- tor software, has worked with force curves for more than a decade. As a coach, as an athlete, as a student of rowing, Smith has thought and thought and then tried his ideas out on himself. Like most mainstream row- ers, he believes in an organic, smooth, con- tinuous curve, but unlike the GDR scientists who settled on a symmetrical parabola, Smith agrees with Valery Kleshnev, and his curve favors the front-half. That curve is contrasted with Lange’s earlier in this chap- ter. Smith is not alone. There are any num- ber of successful international athletes who also have a left-leaning haystack curve. The curve of Eskild Ebbesen, the peer- less Danish lightweight rower, winner of eighteen FISA medals, including three Olympic Golds in the lightweight men’s coxless-fours, is just one example. Ebbesen is an overlapping-sequential Modern Or- thodox rower with a left-leaning haystack force curve. Vaclav Chalupa, seven-time World Medalist and 1992 Olympic Silver Medalist, also has a left-leaning curve, though he was not quite as successful as Smith or Ebbesen at keeping his curve convex in the second half of the pullthrough. In contrast to Ebbesen, Chalupa in 1997 was a concurrent Classical Technique rower. 2456