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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
