2010 Women's Head Of The River Race

Today it is The Women’s Eights Head of the River Race on the Thames in London. 2,700 athletes will row the course between Mortlake and Putney (the opposite direction of The Boat Race). Read more about the race by clicking here. On the ‘Heads’ website there is a very interesting 11-minute video how to cox a Tideway Head – it is trickier than you think! Watch it by going to the website, or by clicking here.

The Race

The Race

All that year, he rose,

Just after dawn broke

Light across the sky.

He took his shell to the river,

Laid it on the water,

And slipped quietly,

Effortlessly, into rowing.

Each day he grew

In strength, in confidence,

Each day his mind

A day closer to realizing

Competitive readiness.

The day of the race

He arrived early, ready.

He laid his shell on the water.

He eased into the race,

As though he was one with the race,

His oars, his arms become one.

He could see the finish line,

In his mind, before he saw it,

Just ahead of him. It was then

He saw, in a flash,

He shadow cross it, a second before him.

Philip Kuepper

(2008)

A friend of mine, Philip Kuepper, is a poet who lives in Mystic, Connecticut. Among other things, he has written some poems about sculling. Above is one of them, which he kindly has allowed me to publish here. Many thanks, Philip!

1 Year Celebration!

Exactly a year ago today, I started this blog. To be perfectly honest, I did not have high hopes that it would actually take off. I was expecting to sit in my little study, called The Rowing Room by the family, to hammer away some good old stories and thoughts about the noble art of rowing and sculling that would be read by a group of very few enthusiasts. As I am particularly interested in English rowing history, my blog would cover a lot of that stuff; although, as a Swede living on the east coast of the USA, I was not sure how well it would travel over the pond. Of course, my blog would not merely be about rowing in England, there are very good stories to be told from the USA and my old home country, too. And for certain from other countries as well where rowing has set its mark as a sport.

The response from many of you has been overwhelming. Not only have I received nice and kind comments and e-mails, your feed-back has given me an idea of what you are interested in and what you are attracted to when it comes to rowing. This has kept me going. It is what I have mentioned a few times before, this blog is not about me, it is about the rich history of rowing.

Thank you for your support. I hope you will continue to send me e-mails and post comments on my blog.

With very best wishes,
Göran

About Rowing

Let us pretend that you know nothing about rowing, but would like to get information about the sport as you are thinking of taking it up for recreational purposes, or even having a go at racing in regattas. Naturally, of course, you would go to your country’s rowing federation’s website to see what kind of information you can obtain.

Just for fun that is what I did; I began with USRowing’s website where you will find the link ‘About the sport’, which has the following sub-links: Viewer's Guide; Rowing Quick Facts; Glossary of Rowing Terms; Eleven Insights to the Sport of Rowing; Sweep Rowing Vs. Sculling; Rowing Classifications; Equipment; The Race; The Stroke; Race Watching Tips; and Rowing Lingo.

Then I went to the British federation’s website, British Rowing, where there also is a link about the sport, called ‘About rowing’. Here you will find the following sub-links: Get into Rowing; Types of Rowing: Fine, Adaptive, Coastal, Indoor, Ocean, Pilot Gigs, Recreational, Surf, Veteran; Rowing Basics; Water Safety; Rowing & Health; Types of Competition; Rowing Stroke; Image Conscious; History; Rowing Diary; News; Frequently Asked Questions; and Charity Events.

Both websites have valuable information about (sweep) rowing and sculling. Though it might be that you will find the same information under different links, and some 'rowing lingo' might be a little different between American English and British English ('two countries divided by the same language' as it was wisely said...). The main difference is that in Great Britain, and other European countries as well, there are different types of rowing which you will not find in the US. I find it odd that Coastal and Surf rowing have not caught on in the US yet.

I leave it to you readers to click on the sub-links to compare the two sites and their sub-links.

The photographs are taken from the two sites!

Good Old Spectator Trains

In the olden days, rowing races could be a great spectator sport. Large crowds of people would follow the races from river banks and bridges, as is still the case nowadays with The Boat Race on the River Thames in London. The American counterpart of The Boat Race, The Harvard – Yale Boat Race, had early on something that would be impossible to have in London - spectator trains running along the river banks to allow the on-lookers to really follow the races from start to finish. These were specially built coaches or cars with benches for the spectators to sit on.

It was not only at The Harvard – Yale Boat Race spectator trains could be found; other regattas would have them, too. On British Pathé, I found an old newsreel from 1927, showing seven American varsity eights racing at Poughkeepsie in New York State. The camera man is sitting on one of these spectator trains and for a few seconds we can see them as well.

THE AMERICAN VARSITY BOAT RACE

For a couple of years, in the beginning of the 2000s, there were old train cars running up and down the river banks either on the Groton or the New London side of the Thames River to follow the crews from Yale and Harvard on their race day in June. Unfortunately, as old trees and bushes had grown wildly for decades along the river, your view would be blocked now and then. However, it was a nice idea, and with a picnic basket with goodies it was rather tolerable.

Rowing Highlights Not To Miss

We are now in the month of March, which means that we are close to two of the spring rowing highlights on this side of the pond. On Saturday, 20 March there will be Induction ceremonies at The National Rowing Foundation’s Hall of Fame at Mystic Seaport Museum. The celebratory reception and dinner will be held in the River Room at the museum’s restaurant, Latitude (former Seamen’s Inne), beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The eighteen 2010 Inductees are: Jason Read, Wyatt Allen, Chris Ahrens, Joseph Hansen, Matt Deakin, Dan Beery, Beau Hoopman, Bryan Volpenhein, Peter Cipollone, Mike Teti (Teti will be further recognized for his prowess as U.S. Rowing’s head men's coach), Karen Kraft Rigsby, Missy Schwen Ryan, Anne Marden, Amy Fuller, Tom Bohrer, Andy Sudduth, Jim Dietz, and Anita DeFrantz.

The next day, on Sunday, 21 March the Friends of Rowing History, the National Rowing Foundation, and Mystic Seaport Museum will organise the popular Rowing History Forum, also in the River Room at Latitude. Special guest speaker will be Kent Mitchell, U.S. Olympic oarsman 1960 and 1964. Other presentations will be made by renowned rowing historians Thomas E. Weil, Christopher Dodd, and Bill Miller. This event begins at 9:30 a.m. More details and information about the Inductees, the Inductee Dinner, and the Rowing History Forum, you will find by clicking here, and on Rowing News's website.

Celebrating Women For 100 Years

Today is International Women's Day, which actually started exactly 100 years ago. This was recognized by FISA, who published an article about it on WorldRowing.com. Read the article by clicking here.

The Famous Sculling Kellys

After several days of English rowing history, it might be time to throw in something about rowing across the pond. In this photograph, taken on 4 June 1935, famous oarsman Jack B. Kelly Sr., is shown giving instructions in the noble art of sculling to his son, Jack Kelly, Jr., or “Kell”. “Kell”, who was born in 1927, was 8 years old when this picture was shot. Daniel Boyne tells the story about this picture and the father’s and son’s outing on the Schuylkill River in his eminent book Kelly: A Father, A Son, An America Quest (2008).

Jack Kelly Sr., Olympic gold medalist in the single in 1920 and in the double in 1920 and 1924 (both years with his cousin Paul Costello) was never allowed to compete in the Diamonds at Henley Royal Regatta, but Jack Kelly Jr., would not only race in the Diamonds, he would actually win the cup twice, in 1947 and 1949; the latter year also becoming the European champion. He competed in four Olympic Games, in the single in 1948 London/Henley; 1952 Helsinki; 1956 Melbourne/Ballarat, and in the double in 1960 Rome. His bronze medal from November 1956, it is said, he gave to his sister Grace in a belated wedding gift as she married Prince Rainier of Monaco in April the same year.

Tom Everson: A Kensington RC Character

Not only did Tim Koch send me the copies of Steve Fairbairn’s letters, he also sent me some wonderful stories about an old member of Kensington RC, Tom Everson. I leave the scene over to Tim and Tom.

While looking for Steve’s letter I also found a wonderful piece by an old Kensington member, Tom Everson (1908-2008). He was active from 1928 to 1939 but maintained his membership and interest in the club until his death. His prose is pure Bertie Wooster, though even those not familiar with the works of P.G. Wodehouse [seen in the photograph] will still appreciate it:

[Tom Everson recollected] Piggy Eyre, Thames but also Kensington: “I remember a very bent heavily built old gentleman who would (weather permitting) come up onto the club balcony from time to time to watch the ‘shipping’. Deaf as a post - BUT he had his moments. At a club dinner once the elder John [Julius] Beresford was replying for the guests as from Thames Rowing Club. His speech (often the same one) was a sort of traditional rowing homily and (usually) rather long. Through the haze of tobacco smoke came Piggy’s booming voice ‘Why’s HE replying for the visitors? HE used to belong to this club YEARS AND YEARS AGO’. And again much later ‘IS HE STILL TALKING?’”

Other people remembered by Tom - in the style of Wodehouse with no nod to political correctness:

“Henry Castlemain. Old prep school friend of mine - went to sea - gained 2nd mates ticket - swallowed the anchor - was my best man. Killed in war defusing a Jerry bomb in Liverpool.

Howard Smart. Until you got to know him he gave the unfortunate impression of of a ‘public (private) school lout’. I went to finals day at Henley with him once. We both got very pickled indeed in the company of two very serious minded individuals from New College Oxford who drank nothing but WATER.I don't know how either of us got home - or how much of our sinful life we must have confided in them, but we both received polite little invitations to an Oxford Group Squash - a sort of earnest, hysterical self-examination orgy beloved of the late Dr Buchman. We didn’t go.

Major Lisle. President for a number of years. A keen cyclist, in fact, I believe, in the early years of the century, he was something of a pioneer in organising mobile infantry units. He was five foot nothing in height, had a round bullet head and a walrus moustache. In spite of his advanced years he would come down, collect an unwary crew of shy newcomers and take them afloat. He always stroked, and crammed in as many as he could to the minute, racing up and down his slide like a steam piston with his moustache puffed out in front of him. Tradition has it that he was once stroking a leading a crew in a race when a certain Frenchman in the crew suddenly threw away his oar, waved his arms in despair and shouted ‘I CAN ROW NO MORE. I DIE. I AM OUT OF BREETH’.

There was a time when we went a little international:

Eckhaus. A little blond German with a ready smile. I was never sure where he fitted in the German political spectrum. He might have been Semitic in which case our nickname for him of ‘Adolf’ could have been hurtful but it never seemed to worry him seriously.

Zimmerman. A Czech who frightened the life out of us with his fitness.... I once pointed out the club dartboard to him and his comment was ‘For TRAININK JA?’

Broady Broadbridge. 1914/18 veteran, got the MC, had a fixed idea on the absence of intestinal fortitude in all foreigners. Had two daughters that he referred to as his ‘coxless pair’.

Just before the War (we had several members who) belonged to the ‘Westminster Dragoons’ (a Territorial Army / National Guard Armoured Unit). Rude non military types like me refereed to them as ‘Hyde Park Lancers’. There was a tendency for ‘bum freezer’ mess jackets to appear at Club Dances.

SERIOUSLY though, I love to remember bitterly cold still frosty Sunday morning when we manned the boats. The first mile was HELL with hands stiff and numb with cold. Then the blood would start circulating and the boat would travel smoothly over the dead calm water as we settled down to alternate firm and light paddling up to the Doves at Richmond where we landed for a sandwich and a glass of beer. Then back in the afternoon. We gained a wonderful belief in ourselves, I remember few things in life I have enjoyed so much. My eternal thanks to the Club.”

“Nicely put,” Tim writes, and I agree. They don’t make them like that anymore… Thank you Tim, for yet another brilliant and entertaining entry, and for the copies of the Fairbairn letters!

Letters From Steve Fairbairn 1926

The always very alert Tim Koch of Auriol Kensington RC writes:

“You recently wrote that: ‘In the mid-1920s, Beresford (Senior) had the infamous quarrel with the club's legendary coach Steve Fairbairn, which made Fairbairn leave the club to instead coach the London RC. Decades later, this would still be remembered at Thames RC as ‘The Row’ [see 28 February].’”

Tim goes on, “A couple of interesting letters in the Auriol Kensington archive nicely marks the point at which 'Steve' left Thames. The attached copy of the letter to the Kensington RC Captain suggesting the establishment of a 'Head of the River Race' for eights is dated 27th August 1926 and is on Thames note-paper. The other letter, dated 21st September 1926 and notifying the Kensington Secretary of a meeting of interested parties, is on London note-paper.”





Honestly, is it not these ‘small foot notes’ in the history of rowing that makes all the difference, and why we still keep on researching and snooping around for more, good rowing stories?

Where Thames Smooth Water Glide

Regular readers of this blog know that I am not solely responsible for everything that is posted on these pages. You readers come with interesting ideas and angles to questions raised in different entries. Recent days’ contributions from Tim Koch and Malcolm Cook about Stanley Garton’s letter to ‘Gladder’ show that. I am very grateful for all contributions from the ‘outside’, because, as most of you probably already have figured out by now, this blog is not about me (although, I sometimes take myself as a starting point and then elaborate from there), it is about the rich history of rowing.

Earlier today I received a very short (but powerful, I realised later) e-mail from John Eade of England (see photograph of him on the Thames with Marlow Church in the background). He sent some very interesting links to his website Where Thames Smooth Water Glide. Reading here and there, I was extremely impressed with all the information on these sites and the different links that took you further and deeper into a special niche. The different sites were about: Oxford Rowing, Henley Royal Regatta, The Boat Race, and Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race.

To take a look at these sites, please click on the links below the illustrations. My warmest thanks to John Eade for sending these links and allowing me to post them here.

Oxford Rowing

Henley Royal Regatta

The Boat Race

Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race

This Old Boat?

The small publication Barking & Dagenham Post reported on 1 March that an antique single scull had been found in Barking Park's boating shed in East London. The park is getting a £3.2 million refurbishment, and the wooden boat, which could have been in the boat shed since the opening of the park in 1898, has been examined by staff from the Henley River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames. Read more about the mystery shell by clicking here.

A Royal Outing

On 19 July 2010, the Swedish Crown Princess, Victoria, is going to get married with a commoner named Daniel (he seems to have lost his family name when the Swedish tabloids are writing their gossip stories about the couple). After their wedding, they young couple will be rowed up the river in the Royal Barge Vasaorden. According to newspapers in Sweden, the Swedish Royal Navy has just begun to train 29 sailors for working the oars. They will be training rowing for hours every day (so the papers claim) to be able to not upset the boat and give the Royalties a smooth voyage on the river in Stockholm.

The original Vasaorden, which was built in 1774 by order of King Gustaf III and designed by the famous shipbuilder Fredrik Henrik af Chapman, was at that time used for Royal outings on the different rivers in and around the Swedish capitol. Later it was used to row foreign heads of state (see 30 December 2009). In 1921, Vasaorden was destroyed in a fire, but two years later a copy of the original barge was built. Among other kings and queens who have been given ‘an outing’ in Vasaorden were Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1956.

The oak built Vasaorden is 18,6 metres long, 3,2 metres wide, and powered by nine pair of oars.

'Gladder'? Maybe Charles Gladstone?

Malcolm Cook has sent me a new e-mail where he has done some more digging about the mysterious letter recipient ‘Gladder’. Malcolm’s deeper research has made him “wonder whether ‘Gladder’ is actually Charles Gladstone rather than Albert.”

Malcolm continues, “Stanley Garton mentions four oarsmen in his letter: Donald Crum, Lewis Clive and [Lord] Forrester of Christ Church and Maurice Waterhouse of Balliol. It could be just a coincidence, but all four of them went to Eton. Hence all four would have been coached by Charles Gladstone. If Stanley Garton was writing to Charles Gladstone, what would be more natural than to talk about oarsmen who Charles had been coaching at school only a year or two earlier? But I don't suppose we shall ever know for sure whether ‘Gladder’ was Albert or Charles.”

It is such a pity that I do not have the entire letter - a signature of the letter writer would really have solve this mystery!

Who Is 'Gladder'? Albert Gladstone!

Earlier today an e-mail arrived from Malcolm Cook of Quintin Boat Club, U.K. Malcolm has a very good guess whom “Gladder” might have been, the fellow who Stanley Garton wrote to on 4 November 1930 (see entries on 23, 24, and 25 February). Malcolm writes:

“Who is ‘Gladder’, to whom the letter is addressed? At Oxford University in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was not uncommon for students to create nicknames by changing the last syllable of the surname to ‘er’. Various slang terms were created in the same way. This is the origin of words such as soccer (for Association football) and rugger (for Rugby football). So someone with the nickname ‘Gladder’ is likely to have had a surname starting ‘Glad’. The Christ Church eight that won the Grand at Henley in 1908 contained two brothers named Gladstone – Charles at stroke and Albert at 4. Both of them had been at Eton – like Stanley Garton – and so are plausible candidates for ‘Gladder’. Of the two Gladstones, Albert had the more distinguished rowing record, getting a blue for four years from 1906-1909 and winning a gold medal in eights at the 1908 Olympics. In later life he became Sir Albert Gladstone, fifth baronet. He died in 1967. His brother Charles (died 1968) became a housemaster at Eton and coached the Eton eight for some years.”

In this photograph of the famous ‘old crocks’, the 1908 Leander eight that took a gold medal for Great Britain at the Olympics in Henley, Albert Gladstone is in the bow seat.

Malcolm has also found another connection. He continues: “I have also discovered that Donald Crum was Albert Gladstone’s brother-in-law. In 1925 Albert had married Isla Crum, daughter of Sir Walter Crum (Oxford blue 1894-1897). Isla was Donald's sister.”

“In fact”, Malcolm goes on writing, “there may be another family relationship. Another of Sir Walter Crum’s daughters was Elizabeth, who in 1939 married John Garton (Oxford blue 1938 and 1939 and ultimately Chairman of Henley Royal Regatta). I presume John Garton was related to Stanley Garton, although I’m not sure about the nature of the relationship.”

I found this information thrilling, Malcolm. Many, many thanks!