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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (June 22, 1897)
XY Pio 78 1 IWIN WV Ee ea THE RECORD NEW LONDON FIGHT. Thompson (Coxswain). THE YALE CREW OF ’88. Cross. Carter. JUST BEFORE THE RACE. Harvard Very Confident, Wale Not Without Hope, Cornell Quiet—The Times Made and Condition of the Men. He who seeks to foretell the issue of boat races is more to be admired for his boldness than for his prudence. It is always to be assumed that he has no immediate use for his reputation. And it is not forgotten by the writer, that the Weekly’s more distant read- ers may not see these lines until after the race has been decided. But some things are true now and always will be. Of the three crews that go into the race at Poughkeepsie on the 25th, there is no doubt but thait Harvard feels the surest of crossing the line ahead. There is no doubt, too, that as far as outside signs show, she has more right to feel this way than either of her rivals. Practically all the Harvard undergraduates and a large part of the alumni believe it is settled. They know that they have a crew of fine material; they know it has made almost phenomenal time. The separa- tion from Yale, the defeat of the Blue at Henley last year, and the generally unfavorable reports that have gone out from New Haven about the Yale eight, have all conspired to remove the old- time idea that Yale is a dangerous rival. At Cambridge, at Poughkeepsie and practically everywhere Harvard men look for this order: First, Harvard; second, Cornell; third, Yale. As to Yale, it is surely true she is not over-confident. Up to the first of June there were comparatively few Yale men who liked to think about the outcome of the race. It seemed hope- less. Since that time and especially within the last two weeks, there has been so much progress that it is safe to say that Yale men feel at least that their eight will make a good race. They think also they have a chance of win- ning. The Weekly’s long letter from Gale’s Ferry, printed elsewhere in this paper, shows some of the grounds for this feeling. Captain Bailey’s men at last pulled together early in this month. The break in the boat was gone, The very long reach was adapted to the average stature of the Crew so that all were able to get their oars in to- gether and pull through together. The men learned to catch the water with a more vigorous grip and to know what it meant to “rip the catch through.’’ The generally increasing confidence in the system adopted, the healthfulness of the life at New London, put life and dash into the men’s work and those - who went to Yale’s quarters were both delighted and surprised to see a very different-looking eight. Cornell has been keeping very quiet. It is not probable, however, that the Ithacans have forgotten the long series of victories under the Courtney coach- ing. They realize the importance of the race, the very apparent prowess of their Cambridge antagonists, the un- known quantity of the Yale crew, and they are prudent when it comes to talk- ing. But last year’s crew, rowing the stroke which has been coached again this year, won in record time, and they know that the light men in the boat finally selected, are capable of rowing fast. Just a word as to time already made. It may be said that Harvard has cov- ered the course in less than 19 minutes. When this trial was made, the boat was interrupted somewhere in the last mile, But there was a small distance yet to be made, and a computation brought the time well within the 19 minute mark. Cornell has made a very fast mile which is a very few seconds one side Stevenson (Captain). Corbin. Hartwell. or the other of 4:30, This pull was also interrupted just before the finish and the remaining distance computed. Yale has beaten the New London record for four miles by at least half a minute. She has certainly been over the course in 19:40. She may have gone - a bit faster. She has also made a very fast half mile. The general condition of all three crews is one of fineness. Harvard has slacked on her work’for the past week in order not to overdo. Mr. Courtney’s -erews are always fine and this year’s set of light youngsters is no exception. The Yale men ’**t New London in a condition that was certainly down close enough. All human calculations are upset if the pace is not a fast one and the race won in fast time, if favorable condi- tions are given. All crews are fast for two miles, all are fast for three miles. Neither Mr. Lehmann nor Mr. Courtney nor Mr. Cook like the fourth mile. If there is not some very remarkable hustling between. the second and third mile it will be a surprise. Harvard and Yale ought to have it pretty close for the first two miles, and Cornell, perhaps getting away not quite as rapidly and pulling a slower stroke, is not unlikely to repeat her attempt of last year to row down her rivals at the second mile. : ‘All crews will row a fairly slow stroke, staying somewhere near 832. —_———__ooe Notice to Subscribers in °97 and 97 8, Those who have subscribed to the Weekly and are in the graduating Class - and who have begun to receive it, are especially requested to notify the paper if they wish their Commencement num- ber sent to other than their New Ha- ven address. Their permanent address has been taken and to that address the paper will be sent after September 1st. The Commencement number will be sent to the New Haven address unless otherwise ordered. As the Commence- ment number will be a specially illus- trated one and will seek to cover all events of Commencement week, the right address will be particularly de- sired. TIME, 20.10. Brewster. Gill. Wilcox. WORK OF YALE’S OARSMEN, Development of the Eight Under Mr. Cook’s Coaching — The Rapid Progress at New London. Gales Ferry, June 2i Candidates for the present Yale University crew began their’ rowing practice on the harbor within a week after college had begun last Fall. The work was purely volun- tary, no strict training or even regular attendance at the boat house being re- quired, yet aspirants for a seat in the boat were plenty, and they worked with a steadiness and earnestness that was a great encouragement to their cap- tain. The men rowed in the University barge, which had been rerigged with seats on alternate sides of the keel in the English fashion. Captain Bailey rowed, and did all the coaching himself until the latter part of October, when Mr. Cook surprised everyone by mak- ing his appearance in New Haven for a week—something almost without pre- cedent for that time of year. Under Mr. Cook’s direction several experi- ments, both in the rigging of the boat, and in the stroke were tried and, not withstanding considerable adverse criticism by those who did not under- stand the situation, the experiments were continued during the Fall, and for a short time in the Spring, until Mr. Cook felt that he had been able to pick out the best features of the En- glish stroke as rowed by the Leander crew at Henley, and to combine them with the salient points of the old Yale stroke rowed with such success from 1886-1892. His idea was to form a stroke which sent the boat through the water faster than anything that had been tried previously, and was at the same time -ad-pted to the rougher water of American courses, and to the greater strain of a four mile pull. The crew’s experience at Henley had taught Mr. Cook that the Yale stroke, as rowed at Henley was not productive of as great speed as it was possible to obtain from a crew of such splendid oarsmen, and it started him off on a train of investigation, and experiment which
