Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-27

Many Mishaps and Errors in
Saturdays Races on
the Hudson.


collegiate regatta at Poushkepsie under
the conditions which marked the COM
petition last Saturday. The varsity eight
cared crews were sent away from the
mark in such water that Columbia, on
the far outside course. and Wisconsin.
next to the Morningside men, might as
we'll have packed their shells in the
morning before the race. for all the
chance they had.
Columbia's was crew throw away.
Weighing 1917 pounds to the man, the
lightest on the river. the New Workers
had the toughest course. 1t was made
all the worse in that four privately own
ed launches ran ahead of the coaching
boats on this side of the course and gave
the Columbia men liberal wash. add
ing to the existing evil conditions. At
212 miles the Columbia boat was taking
in water rapidly. and at the bridge
water was sloshing about the ankles OF
the men. Columbia was rugged extra
high so that the water was unusually
deep.
Columbia's tactics were to rate the
first part of the four miles and to squirt
the last Half mile. The New Workers had
been covering the last half mile at SO
squirt with a boatload Of water. At the
finish the water was half way up the
legs OF the oarsmen., On the way to the
boathouse they twice had narrow escapes
from being run down by Grant motor
boats. In the dark no one could see
much Of what was happening. Column
bias experience and Wisconsin's were
much alike. Down near the bridge a
motor boat even cut In ahead Of the
Columbia launch 1900. and although
Coach Rice gave the signal to reverse,
the bow was badly scraped.
Had Smooth Water.
pennsylvania. on course 1. inshore had
the advantage Of protection from the
roughness by reason of the conforma-
tion Of the bank for a mile and a half
The Quakers stuck close to the line. 1t
is hard to realize that between course
and course ) there Is 500 feet difference
This means much under the water condI-
tons of last Saturday. AS soon az Cor
nell could she steered over close to Penn
sylvania, and neither crew was in Its
proper water at the bridge. The SYRIA
cuse crew was SO much overmatched
that even the advantage of good water
couldn't keep the Orange men UP with
the procession.
Cornell and Pennsylvania were dead
level at three miles. Just below the
bridge Pennsylvania ran into very rough
water. The ferryboat, churning away to
keep in its slip, sent out rollers which
3.
Cornell got away just about the distance
that the Ithacans won by.
The coaches didn't want to send their
crews out for the varsity race at all and
only when the referee suggested to Co.
lumbia that its crew would do well to get
out did the New Workers. yield to per-
suasion. The idea was that a postpone
ment would mean no race until Monday
and that would be bad for the crews, and
besides there would be no crowd. AS to
<ha tnea 40 hor Av1A fsa <AY
really knew what was going on at the nm
ish anyway. And as for the crews no
postponement could have done more ef-
fectually for the chances of Columbia and
Wisconsin than did starting in the rolling
sea on which the race was rowed.
No Test Of Rowing.
Observers noted that even the coach
ing launches, rather more seaworthy
than racing shells. were bobbing and
pitching heavily when the race was
still some time off, 1t was pointed out
that to start in such going would mean
out who was the luckiest- This ought
not. however. to take any Of the credit
away from Pennsylvania, which rowed
better than 1t knew how and covered
itself with glory.
The delay before the four-oared race
was due to a confusion Of craft in the
finish lane and the inability Of the
steamer Albany to get into place as
finishing boat. The Guide, q revenue
service gasoline boat. was substituted
and that was about the only service
rendered by any OF the four govern
ment boats on duty. The Mohawk,
Manhattan and Hudson didn't keep the
course clear and didn't stop motor
boats from running ahead Of the crews
in the varsity race.
The stewards of the regatta appeared
to regard everything that happened as
the fault Of some one else, and al
though they struggled. to relieve the
tangle before the first race. they couldn't
think of more than one thing at a
time and so didn't send up to notify the
Columbia and Syracuse fours about
that wait Of nearly an hour.