Fancy Rowing Ties

Those HTBS readers who have been around for a while might remember that I have a weak spot for ‘neckwear’: ties, bow ties, day cravats, you name it. Early on this summer, I received a nice e-mail from Madeleine Johnson, an American lady who lives in Milan, Italy. She was wondering if she might use images of two old cigarette cards that I had posted in one of my blog posts ‘Notes from a Rowing Tie Snob’ on her own website. Of course, I said yes, being happy to accommodate someone who was interested in ties, and, I would like to add, had a grandfather who was a Swede in Minnesota.

Madeleine request was not simply to satisfy her interest, no it was more than that, she has founded a company to make fancy hand-made knitted rowing ties! It all started when she wanted to present a gift to the Groton School’s varsity crew where her son is rowing. As it happens, Groton (in Massachusetts) has a rowing coach who is famous, Andy Anderson. Although, a splendid coach for the school, Andy is probably more ‘famous’ or known as ‘Dr. Rowing’, a columnist for the magazine Rowing News. ‘Andy has been a huge help in my little business’, Madeleine writes in her e-mail. He, for example, wrote about Madeleine’s company Old College Ties. If you have missed Andy’s, ‘Dr. Rowing’ piece, try to track down the April issue of this year of Rowing News – a most entertaining article.

But back to Madeleine’s ties. She writes to HTBS: ‘They are handmade in a historic factory here in Milan where I live. The factory makes ties for brands such as Gucci and Ralph Lauren, so the quality is high and the ties can be worn for style as well as spirit. The minimum order is 20 and they can be made in silk, cotton or cashmere and wool. The price ranges from $30 for cotton ties to $45 for silk. For an extra charge, we also do a nice commemorative label with the club’s name.’

Madeleine’s ties made their debut at Henley Royal Regatta this summer as Brunswick School (in Connecticut) varsity boat was wearing them, and so were Groton and Tabor Academy, the latter also from Massachusetts.

Brunswick School’s handsome varsity crew

The questions are now – how is HTBS going to round up 20 people, and which should be HTBS’s colours on its tie?

On Rowing Writing And The 'Old Guard'

In the latest issue of Rowing News for November, I read that rowing historian and writer Chris Dodd is coming out with a new book, Pieces of Eight. It is about coach Bob Janousek and the British eight that put British rowing back on the Olympic medal stand, according to the short 'contributor' introduction piece in the magazine, where Chris has a well-written article about the World Championships in Bled earlier this year. I don't know if it has to do with Chris being a Brit and/or belonging to the Old Guard of rowing correspondents, like his fellow countrymen Dickie Burnell and Geoffrey Page, but his writing always carries a substance while still having an easy-going way about it.

I guess those of you who are going to the Rowing History Forum in Henley later this month, on the 29th, will hear more about Chris's new book. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it, but for sure Chris will share some information at next year's Rowing History Forum, which will be on Sunday, 11th March, 2012 at Mystic Seaport, Connecticut, USA. The previous day, Saturday, 10th March, there will be rowers inducted in the NRF's National Rowing Hall of Fame, also in Mystic.

Going back to the Rowing News: I am not saying that young American rowing writers can not write. I good example, whom I already brought up in an earlier entry in September, is Bryan Kitch, who also in this issue of Rowing News has some very good pieces published. Of course, of the American 'Old Guard' we have 'Doctor Rowing', Andy Anderson. In this issue of the magazine, he is writing about the rowing cartoonist John Hooten, who had cartoons published in the old rowing magazine The Oarsman in the 1970s and 1980s, but then suddenly stopped publishing his cartoons. Well, 'Doctor Rowing' managed to track him down.

So, two thumbs up for this issue of Rowing News, too!

Photograph on top shows Chris Dodd (on the right) together with HTBS's Tim Koch at Henley this summer. Photograph: Hélène Rémond.

I Like Pink...

I like the colour pink. I sometimes wear a pink shirt, or a pink tie, and socks with a dash of pink. I know that some of you might think that it’s a really girlish colour. But, I would like to ask you then, how come some of the most prestigious rowing clubs in England are using pink as their club colour? The men of Leander Club, Auriol Kensington RC, Westminster School, and Abingdon School are all having pink on the oar blades, racing kits, etc. This question is brought up by the good ‘Doctor Rowing’ (Andy Anderson) in the current issue of the magazine Rowing News (September, 2011).

Doctor Rowing writes in his article (p. 61) that, although Leander calls its colour ‘cerise’, “it’s not a cherry color at all. It is pink.” I would not like to offend Leander Club in any way, but I would like to call it ‘Leander pink’. Well, anyway, Doctor Rowing explains why pink is actually for men. He writes, “Since Victorian times, the color pink has been a manly color associated with friendship. Even here in the U.S., a clothing trade magazine was counseling in 1918 that, ‘The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.’”

There, you see, it’s blue that is the girlish colour!

'I Crew' - I Don't Think So...

Now, Andy Anderson, writing as 'Doctor Rowing' in the magazine Rowing News, is a man of my liking. In the latest issue of the mentioned magazine, of February 2011, he answers a question from 'Jim' about the word 'crew' in the sentence "I row crew" and in the expression 'crew team', which the signature 'Jim' finds preposterous. Andy, 'Doctor Rowing', agrees - good man, Andy, I say!

Some months back, I was involved in an e-mail discussion about using the word 'crew' as a verb. Strangely enough, that discussion was also initiated by a man called 'Jim'! (Probably the same fellow, I would imagine.)

The school I went to in Sweden taught us children British-English, instead of American-English, so when I moved to Connecticut ten years ago, I was convinced that ‘crewing’ was American-English for ‘rowing at an American college’ where they only row in eights and fours. But I now understand that it is not that easy. Early on you only ‘crewed’ at American upper-crust educational institutions, like Yale, Harvard, Penn, and the other Ivy League schools, while, for example, they practise ‘rowing’ at Trinity College in Hartford (their web site says ‘rowing’). In his article Andy mentions the example "My grandfather crewed at Yale".

It is true that the Ivy League schools’ practise of the word ‘crew’ has by now slipped down to the lower levels, smaller colleges, clubs, community rowing programmes, etc, and therefore more and more people are using ‘crewing’ as substitute for ‘rowing’ in America. However, after living here for ten years, I still have a problem with ‘crewing’ instead of ‘rowing’. In Britain they would never say ‘crewing’ for rowing at Oxford and Cambridge, nor would I. To me, ‘to crew’ can never be synonymous with to ‘row’ or the sport of rowing, because you would never say ‘crewing in a pair’, or would you? And my apologies all around as I am a foreigner in this country and my mother-tongue is not American-English, nor British-English, but Swedish (even some Swedes would disagree on this as I am from the south of Sweden with a strong dialect of its own). To me, using ‘crewing’ at certain times instead of ‘rowing’ is bad English, or at best, sloppy English that can confuse the listener or reader.

It can also, quite honestly, turn people off from continuing reading a text, at least that is what happened to me some months ago when I began reading an article in the Rowing News about one of the United States' most prominent female rowers, a world champion as a matter of fact, who was asked what she was doing for winter training. She answered: "I erg". I stopped reading right there!

Anyone interested in the expression 'crew team', should read what rowing historian Bill Miller has to say about that by clicking here.