Word: strokes
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Dates: during 1880-1889
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Capt. Robert J. Cook, familiarly known as "Bob" Cook, has been talking again about the "English" stroke and the debt owed by the American colleges to himself, who first introduced the stroke in this country. In an interview with a reporter of the Philadelphia Bulletin, Capt. Cook speaks somewhat as follows...
...secret of success was entirely due to the concentration of the combined power of the men on each stroke, the men throughout the race rowing back and forth mechanically and deliberately as one body. There was no undue haste, as had been the case in previous races. The six men were as though molded into one, operating like the works of a well-regulated clock, in perfect unison and harmony. The result was a conservation of force, previously unknown in a boat. The test was a fair one in every respect. With a crew physically inferior to that...
...Yale adhered to the English stroke with undoubted success. Harvard, too, had in the meantime adopted it. In 1876 I left college, and from 1877 to 1880 Yale abandoned the new system, through the mismanagement of those at the head of its boating department, and resorted, as of old, to a professional coach. The result was that Harvard, with the English system, and no professional coach, won the college boating championship successively in 1877, 1878 and 1879. In 1880 and 1881 Yale, through the efforts of William Wood, who was one of my crew, go back to the system...
...substitutes are J. S. Russell, 155 lbs., and W. Alexander. Altogether, the crew lacks uniformity in facing the oars after feathering, and in taking them out of the water; many have their oars too high on the full reach; stroke is not well supported by the men immediately behind him; No. 7 dips too deep at the beginning of the stroke, and No. 6 "clips; " No. 5 rows "short," while 2 catches ahead...
From a comparison of the crews we get the following result: At present '87 is the heaviest crew, '86 the most skillful, '85 the strongest, and '84 rows the fastest for a short distance. The result of the race will show whether a professional, or the "Harvard" stroke is better for an eight-oared crew in a two-mile race...