New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-06-14
Record Breaking Trial of
Varsity Inspires Con-
fdence in Blue.
ENGLISH STROKE TO
HAVE ANOTHER TEST
Harvard on Edge for Big Race
and Expects to Add to
String of Victories.

from a STAFF Correspondent OF The Trbune.]
New London, Conn. June l3-Not since
1907 has Yale vanquished Harvard in me
varsity boat race, but when these TWO
ancient rivals meet again on Friday OF
next week the Blue is confident that itE
long string OF disastrous defeats VIII be
snapped off short. Yale men point to the
record breaking trial OF their crew week
ago as sufficient evidence Of the ability
of the eight that will fight 1t out WIN
the Crimson on the Thames.
II is disputed by no one that the Yale
crew that meets Harvard this year Is
one of the finest combinations that New
Haven has ever produced. Despite bad
beating at the hands of Cornell ana
Princeton in a two-mile race on Lake
Cayuga three weeks ago, Yale has gained
in confidence because 1t feels that us
crew is a four-mile one, and that two
mile. test is indicative of nothing outside
Of ability TO sprint.
AS a year ago, the Yale eight this year
is rugged in an English boat. will pull with
English oars and has been coached ~
Guy Nickalls, perhaps the greatest OF al
English rowing coaches, and, indeed, one
of the finest oarsmen that England has
ever produced.
Nickals has made a few departures
from the ultra English system that
Averill Hartman with the assistance %
Gold and Kirby, the two oxford coaches,
tried to introduce last year The men do
not swing quite as far back at the end
of the stroke, but they reach out for the
catch much the same as they did year
ago
Like the University of Pennsylvania
crews at Poughkeepsie, the Yale crews
row with thole pins instead OF the con-
yentional American swivel lock, and obey
wear heavy rowing clogs in the shells in
stead of having their feet laced snugiy
into a shoe on the stretcher.
Nickalls had a hard time getting eight
men together who harmonized in their
work inboard and cupboard, but he seems
to have hit on a combination that leaves
little 10 be desired. The Yale men row
mighty we'll together. Whether they ere
getting as much real speed out Of the
boat as they seem to only the race Itself
will tell II is a far better looking crew
than Yale had a year ago. at any rate,
and there is a great deal more OF fire
and ginger In the stroke they row.
There is little TO be said about Harvard
that has not been said year in and y.a-
out since 1901. The Crimson eight is made
I'D of big men who row with the same
hurried stroke that they have always
used They do not go back nearly as far
as the Yale men and they get a jump on
the catch.
Ii is this stroke that Jim Wray, Har-
wards Australian coach, has taught the
Crimson since he took charge in 1906 and
only once since then has Yale won. That
was in 1906, when Glass. bow oar in the
Harvard shell. was taken down with
water on the knee on the eve Of the re-
gatta.
Wray has only three veterans Of me
1913 crew in the shell, but the holes left
by the absence OF last years veterans
have been we'll hlled. and the calm con-
Hdence OF the Crimson followers shows
that Harvard does not fear iale's record
breaking performances in practice.
The Harvard eight will row the race as
IL has rowed it's last half dozen races on
the Thames. IL will set the pace from
the start, and will make IL so hot That
Yale will either have TO crack or row the
Crimson down.
Harvards record In its preliminary
races is not much better than Yale's. SO