THE LESSONS OF 200 YEARS John Cooke Vancouver Rowing Club / University of British Columbia Men’s Eight 1956 Olympic Silver Medal, Lake Wendouree [Coxswain Carlton Ogawa, Stroke Laurie West 6’4” 193cm 179lb. 81kg, 7 Doug MacDonald 6’4” 193cm 194lb. 88kg, 6 Bill McKerlich 6’4” 193cm 196lb. 89kg,] 5 Donald Pretty 6’4” 192cm 192lb. 87kg, 4 David Helliwell 6’1” 185cm 180lb. 82kg, 3 Bob Wilson 6’4” 193cm 178lb. 81kg, 2 Richard McClure 6’2” 188cm 180lb. 82kg, Bow Phil Kueber 6’2” 188cm 173lb. 78kg Immediately after the finish, bow up, bodies already swung forward. Melch Bürgin: “The recovery should slow progressively.”8436 In addition, quick motion early in the recovery moves weight into the stern and out of the bow. Stan Pocock: “I didn’t want them to be sitting in the bow as the boat slowed and the bow dipped. Rather, I wanted everyone out of there while the bow was still up. When they did that, the bow could come up even more or, at least, stay up longer. “I can still see the bow of the VRC/UBC Canadian Olympic Eight of 1956 as it leaped up and forward during the beginning of each recovery. This is something I never saw in a boat with its crew rowing the other way (that is, with the pause, rush, snatch and grab).”8437 Canadian Coach Al Morrow: “When I was rowing at Leander,8438 a legendary coach named Paddy Cline came up and coached us fast hands in 1968, and that’s 8436 Qtd. by Ferris, p. 68 8437 S. Pocock, p. 162 8438 in Hamilton, Ontario how people used to row. It was just unbelievable, really hard through the water, and then foom! going half-way up the slide, like the Conibear Style, and then re-e-e-e- aly slow into the catch, hammer it in, fast out, and like that every stroke. “That’s the way the Romanian women row, by the way. Our women have sometimes gone to the victory podium with them, and they’ve traded off, four Romanian women and four Canadian women rowing together back to the dock. They couldn’t believe it! You’ve never seen quicker hands at the finish.”8439 Tradeoffs What are the tradeoffs? One is that the fast-slow people are adding speed to the shell when it is going its fastest and drag is highest. Valery Kleshnev: “The rower’s center- of-mass velocity decreases at the beginning of the recovery, becoming negative in 8439 Morrow, RCA Coaches’ Conference, 2005 2369
