Malcolm Cook: Shaved Blades were used in the Boat Race in the 1920s and 1930s

In the 1931 Boat Race, the Oxford stroke, W. G. Holdsworth, had a blade 1/2 inch narrower than the rest of his crew.

HTBS received an interesting e-mail from Malcolm Cook of Quintin Boat Club (below on the right) regarding our blog posts about ‘shaved blades’ (or ‘narrow blades’ as they are also called). Malcolm writes:

‘In September HTBS discussed whether pre-war strokes sometimes used a narrower blade than the rest of their crew. You asked for any information about this practice. I’ve discovered that it was quite common in the Boat Race. While recently reading a pre-war Rowing Almanack I found a mention in its report of the Boat Race that both strokes had shaved blades. I decided to dig a little deeper by searching the online archive of The Times. I found that The Times’s report on the morning of each Boat Race often had detailed measurements of the crews’ boats, rigging and oars. Shaved blades were reported as being used in the following Boat Races between the wars.’

[Editor’s note: some newsreels from British Pathe have been thrown in between the races, so a film following the 1922 race is a film with that race, etc.]:

1922 Boat Race: Both stroke and 7 of the Cambridge crew had shaved blades. Stroke’s was 1/2 inch narrower and 7’s was 1/4 inch narrower.
(The Times, 28 March 1922)

VARSITY BOAT RACE

1924 Boat Race: Oxford’s stroke had a blade 3/8 inch narrower than the rest of his crew.
(The Times, 5 April 1924)

THE BOAT RACE 1924 long version

1925 Boat Race: Oxford’s stroke had a blade 3/8 inch narrower than the rest of his crew. Stroke and 7 of the Cambridge crew had blades that were 1/4 inch narrower but their oars were an inch longer than the rest of their crew.
(1926 Rowing Almanack)

1926 Boat Race: Both strokes had blades 1/4 inch narrower than the rest of their crew.
(The Times, 27 March 1926)

1927 Boat Race: Oxford’s stroke had a blade 3/8 inch narrower than the rest of his crew.  Cambridge’s stroke had a blade 1/4 inch narrower.
(The Times, 2 April 1927)

1929 Boat Race: Both strokes had blades 1/4 inch narrower than the rest of their crews.
(The Times, 23 March 1929)

1930 Boat Race: Oxford’s stroke and 7 had shaved blades. Stroke’s was 1/2 inch narrower than the rest of the crew and 7’s was 1/4 inch narrower.
(The Times, 12 April 1930)

1931 Boat Race: Oxford’s stroke had a blade 1/2 inch narrower than the rest of his crew.
(The Times, 21 March 1931)

THE BOAT RACE

1933 Boat Race: Both strokes had blades 1/4 inch narrower than the rest of their crews.
(The Times, 1 April 1933)

1936 Boat Race: Oxford’s stroke had a blade 1/4 inch narrower than the rest of his crew.
(The Times, 4 April 1936)

THE BOAT RACE 1936

1939 Boat Race: Both strokes had blades 1/4 inch narrower than the rest of their crew.
(The Times, 1 April 1939)

THE BOAT RACE - OXFORD V CAMBRIDGE 1939

Malcolm also notes that ‘In a few instances a heavy oarsman in the middle of the crew was given a slightly wider blade than the rest of his crew.’

The interesting question is if it helped the crew to win the Boat Race if the stroke had a narrower blade? It is impossible to say, of course, but it should be noticed that all the races mentioned above in Malcolm’s list were won by Cambridge. This was a period, between the wars (1920-1939), when the Light Blues had a good run – Oxford only won the Boat Race in 1923, 1937 and 1938.

You might recall that the question about a stroke rowing with a narrower blade than the rest of his crew came up in the HTBS review of Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in the Boat (on 19 August). I was highly skeptical that Ran Laurie, the stroke in the 1936 British Olympic eight, rowed with a narrow blade in the Olympic final, where the British crew ended up fourth. However, Brown directed me, and other misbelievers, to his source, Stanley Pocock’s book “Way Enough!” – Recollections of a Life in Rowing (2000), where it states that Laurie had told Stanley Pocock’s father, George Pocock, ‘that he [Laurie] had not been able to pull hard enough to row himself out. The lighter water caused by the head wind had rendered his small blade too small’.
[p. 77]

I found it extremely interesting to read Malcolm’s list to find out that the years Laurie stroked the Cambridge winning crews, in 1935 and 1936 (he rowed in the 3 seat in 1934), he is not mentioned in The Times as having a shaved blade. Food for thought...

Many thanks to Malcolm for all the hard work going through The Times’s archives!

Rowing Film: Symphony of Motion

Symphony of Motion (original movie) from Ken Santucci on Vimeo.

You have probably read or heard this saying by one of the true legends of American rowing, George Pocock,

It’s a great art, is rowing.

It’s the finest art there is.

It’s a symphony of motion.

And when you’re rowing well

Why it’s nearing perfection –

And when you reach perfection

You’re touching the Divine.

It touches the you of you’s

Which is your soul.


As you can read above, not only did Pocock have a way of building boats, he also had a way with words. In the 1970s, a rowing movie was made which borrowed its title from Pocock’s ‘symphony of motion’. In this film we meet George Pocock, and also his son, Stan, and other legends in American rowing, Bill Tytus, Harry Parker, Ted Nash, Hart Perry and others.

The quality of the film might not be the best, but just listen to what they are all saying, true words of wisdom…

Special thanks to Mrs. B. who found this film in cyberspace!

Stan Pocock Awarded 2012 USRowing Medal of Honor

Stan Pocock. Photo: USRowing

Yesterday, USRowing announced in a press release that Stan Pocock, an innovative boat builder, oarsman and life-long collegiate and international champion coach, has been awarded the 2012 USRowing Medal of Honor.
Given in recognition to a member of the rowing community in the United States who has accomplished extraordinary feats in rowing, it is the highest honor USRowing can bestow. Pocock, 89, will be honored at the Golden Oars Awards Dinner on Wednesday, 14 November, at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.

“It is impossible to think of rowing without considering the contributions that Stan Pocock has made to the sport,” said USRowing Chief Executive Officer Glenn Merry. “From the evolution of equipment to training Olympians to grass root clubs, Stan embodies the essence of rowing. It is with great pleasure that USRowing recognizes his leadership, passion and love for rowing with the Medal of Honor this year.”

“How about that,” said Pocock. “What a way to end up a life. I just can’t believe how good I feel about this. I really appreciate the honor very much and I’m very excited. I think it’s a culmination of my life in rowing,” he said. “I’ve been in it for a lot of years now, starting when I was a little boy. I went all though rowing at the University of Washington and coaching at the University of Washington and coaching the graduate oarsmen that took me to far places with the crews that were developed at the Lake Washington Rowing Club and then to row with Ancient Mariners (masters rowing group) when they formed in the mid-1980s.”

Stan Pocock was born into a rowing family, the son of George Pocock, who founded the Pocock Racing Shells boat building company with his brother, Dick, in Seattle, Washington, in 1913. Pocock’s father introduced him to rowing when he was a teenager and then taught him the art of building boats.

Read the whole press release here.

Pocock Newsletter

Pocock Racing Shells Newsletter for this autumn is now available on-line. There are a lot of interesting things to read about. Go to it by clicking here.

In The Spirit Of The Pococks

Earlier today, I received a very nice e-mail from Jim Buckley, who is working in Washington, on the American west coast. Among other things, he writes: "We are building Classic Cedar Singles in Port Townsend, WA in the Pocock tradition, Stan Pocock having given us his machines and stock after the Pocock Co. stopped building cedar singles in 2002."

I had a look at their website, which gives you the complete story of the Pococks and how Classic Cedar Singles now is continuing the Pococks' legacy. A lot of great stuff and some very interesting rowing history links. Go and have a look immediately!

...And See's Badge

In my entry on 22 November, I neglected to mention an important thing. On a recent visit to England, Hart Perry, Executive Director of the NRF (seen in the picture below), brought back a Doggett’s badge, which he had borrowed from the Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the River Thames. It is now on display together with Dick Pocock’s coat and cap (see also previous entries on 10 and 11 October) at the National Rowing Hall of Fame and the exhibit “Let Her Run” at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic.

The silver badge once belonged to John See of Hammersmith who won the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race on 3 August 1899. In the picture on top, taken in the beginning of the 1900s, you see winners of the Doggett’s Coat and Badge between 1868 and 1904. Unfortunately, John See is not included.

Mr. Richard Goddard, recent Master of the Company of Watermen and Lightermen of the River Thames, and retired Secretary of the Henley Royal Regatta, has very generously made it possible for the NRF to have See’s badge on a long-term loan.

Pocock's Doggett Coat On Display

Last week, rowing historians Bill Miller and Hart Perry (the latter Executive Director of the National Rowing Foundation), and yours truly managed to put together a base and a cover for Dick Pocock’s Thomas Doggett’s coat and cap (see previous entries on 10 and 11 October) at the rowing exhibit “Let Her Run” at the National Rowing Hall of Fame. Miller had built the base, while a company in Massachusetts had built the cover. It took a couple of hours to put together, but now Pocock’s beautiful coat is on display for everyone to admire. It’s a wonderful addition to the rowing exhibit, and the showcase is right under Dick’s brother George’s single scull, hanging from the ceiling (see also entry 23 June).

Dick's Red Coat

In the beginning of the summer, the rowing historian Tom Weil brought a nice red coat and cap to the rowing exhibit “Let Her Run”, which is connected to the National Rowing Hall of Fame in Mystic. The coat, which is not just any ordinary coat, once belonged to Richard “Dick” Pocock, who, 21-years old, won the Thomas Doggett Coat and Badge Race on the River Thames in 1910. The following year Dick and his younger brother, George, immigrated to Canada.

Both Dick and George had grown up messing about in boats on the Thames. Their father, Aaron, was a boat builder who had served his apprenticeship under his father-in-law, “Grandpa Vicars”, but although Aaron Pocock was a skilled boat builder, he was not a good businessman, George recalls in his manuscript that would be integrated in the book Ready All! George Yeoman Pocock and Crew Racing (1987) by Gordon Newell.

After a year in Canada, Dick and George moved to Seattle – Dick bringing the Doggett’s coat with him. The brothers began to build boats for University of Washington, a trade that George would continue to do there for the rest of his life. In 1923, Dick moved to New Haven to build boats for Yale, but he left his red coat and cap behind in Seattle, where it was once on display at the university.

After Dick’s death, George’s son Stanley reclaimed the coat to send it to his cousin, Dick’s son Jim, in Connecticut. And earlier this year Jim Pocock thought that his father’s prize coat should be on display at the marvellous rowing exhibit “Let Her Run”. He handed over the coat and cap to Tom Weil, who took it to Mystic.

Right now, rowing historian Bill Miller is building a showcase for Dick’s Doggett coat, so that visitors will be able to see it at the Rowing Hall of Fame. Not only is this coat and cap a part of the English rowing history, it is now also a part of the American rowing history.

[Special thanks to Tom Weil for providing information about the background of Dick Pocock’s coat.]