Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-16
CREW VESPER CLUB
EIGHT HAD TO MEET

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K ~ x al x K 4
So many malcontents, who are always
poor losers. have been decryfng the defeat
of the Vesper Boat Club crew at Henley.
they may CLEAN some solace over an article
which appeared in the current edition OF
the London Chronicle. The article is re-
printed here because 1t was written by
Clarence Rock a noted rowing critic. who
knows what he Is writing about. 1t also
serves to give rowing men in America an
inside view Of how amateur oarsmen are
developed in the British Isles. and also
with what high regard the vesper crew
was looked upon at Henley.
English rowing was on its mettle this
July. for three other nations sent repre-
sentative crews to Henley regatta. and
America pitted her best eight against our
own best Fights in the hope of carrying
for the first time--the Grand Challenge Cup
across the Atlantic There are many mis-
conceptions abroad concerning the grue
some training of the amateur oarsman. and
there are still people who believe that ne
lives on raw beefsteak. Let me sketch the
career of the man who rows in the final
heat for the Grand Challenge Cup, and
thus reaches Qf he be In the winning boaD
the pinnacle Of rowing fame.
Tn Il thursday OF d OdtuTudy dItcihoOh
at Hammersmith you may see many Fights
practfcing. And the rowing shorts ana
zephyr are an effectual disguise for the
young gentleman from behind the counter
of the stores. But. speaking generally. one
may affirm that the representative oarsmen
at Henley come from Oxford or Cambridge,
even though the lower river clubs contain
many men who have never worn the under-
graduates gown. Still. the two UNIVERSE
ties set the stroke, and in a brief account
Of the making Of the typical Henley oars
man 1t Is fair to select the young man OF
eighteen or whereabouts who goes up 10
Oxford and determines that his afternoon
pastime shall be the river.
How the Freshies Start.
ut is possible that our young man may
have come up as a wet-bob from Elton, and
if he has rowed in the Elton crew for the
Ladies' Plate at Henley he starts with a
generous handicap when the captain of his
college boat club goes over the names or
'freshers' at the beginning of October.
Elton, Radley, Bedford - these are chief
among the few public schools that send up
men with training at the oar. But the
charm of varsity rowing is that one may
start as novice in October, row In the
college eight in May. and reach Putney
and Immortality by the following March.
In October the freshman with rowing
amDit1OnS puts MS name UPON Alots a.
tires himself in f1annels and goes down to
the college barge to be coached. One or the
college eight Tin the Fights coat ana cap
takes him and another In tub pair says
the coach: First thing, undo that top put-
ton. Later on the novice sees the meaning
of that for the conscientious oarsman de-
velops some remarkable abdominal muscles
which help the recovery from the back
ward swing. Most freshmen pass through
the Tubing process, acquiring thereby the
clements of decent OdrSmdTSnlp, Out
though etiquette demands that every mem
Der of the college shall pay the small SUP
scription to the college boat club. many ran
off after few weeks and throw In their
lot with foot ball some other pastlme.
The faithful few, still rather nervous about
catching crabs. are drafted INTO coiieee
fours,' and set to row against each other.
Good solid tubs are those four-oared Doals'
and they take a lot of moving. Moreover
only courtesy clears the course for these
races. But the winning crew gets pot
apiece-and l know many paunchy cltlzehs
who keep on the dining room sideboard the
customary three-handled earthenWare pot,
trimmed with silver, and announcing that
first-and sometimes last-triumph.
But the boat club captain eye nag peen
upon those valiant pluggers in the tours,
and before the end of the term he mas mace
up an experimental eight For the next
thing is the 'Torpids'-the fixed-seat eights
races in the coming term. strenuous aItei
moons are spent by the coming oarsman
who has two journeys in the eight ana one
critical and vituperative interview with d
coach in a tub pair. in which all ms iauils
are noted, enumerated ana curseo' II ~
are remedied he has the joy of spending
his January afternoons on the river, toiiihs
at the oar while from the bank youth, d
year older tells the truth about MIN.
Some Pleasant Memories.
az have pIeasant memories of a day when
II was showing and bowing-the waves
caught me in the back as we crossed the
Gut-the eight settled down and we jumped
for 1t. Then we had to swim back LOT our
oars and the boat When we reached the
college barge my rowing shorts were son"
blocks of ice Three weeks before the races
the crew goes into training. ana emerseS
into splendid prominence. for the coliese
+aLes turns in entertaining the torpid al
breakfast Morning after morning. haViiis
taken the regulation run arounoH oliIs'
church Meadows, the oarsman Sis III I'm
pany of men whose diet ana sihohliiS itt
re stricted and eats fish, chops steahs WI
noached eggs marmalade and toast-anu
goes off to his morning lecture. "A nsn'
lunch with half a pint OF peer pefHiitleu,
and then the afternoon on the iNei.
dinner in hall he sits gloriously at the ior-
mid table where the fare is hSh, chicheh
or Joint sweet and beer. After that ne -
usually invited to these or those rooiiS ioi
the prescribed one glass OF port, one oiauss
T. ~
to do A little reading the captain VIII
prcbably drop into his room to make sure
he is taking his bowl of cruel and IL gong
to he'd without smoking. He finds the Ell
feet of this regular life when, after pelng
rowed out in a race through Fepruary
head wind and tumbling back In the BOAT.
he is within thirty seconds quite ready 10
row another race. He has gained the rign.
to wear special cap. and II the Iorplu
has made bumps the college pays LOT
the photograph he will keep hanging In ms
study till he dies. 49,
$50 with the early spring comes the
struggle for a place in the eight. where we
are on sliding seats and a far higher plane.
Rut by this time the gruelling of the tor
pids' and the imposed control Is supposed
to have had it's due effect on the character.
The eight is on It's honor. 1t may break
fast in its own rooms, and dine at large IN
hall. But the public eye is open and crit
jcaI the public nose is shifting and the
hint of tobacco smoke in corner OF a
room would demand stringent inquiry: BY
this time the oarsman has reached the
moment when the blade of the oar Is a
mart of his own organism and ne has be-
come a portion of machine with an eye
on the shoulder of the man in front OF him.
Now and then it happens that the college
eight is so successful that 1t enters for the
Grand Challenge cup. But the usual course