Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-04
DIFFERENT COACHES GIVE
 oPINIoNs ON REoATTAs.
Many of Them In Favor of centInu-
 ance of PouehEeepSIe Race.

 be settled through a discussion which has been begun by the foremost Amer ican universities
 Incidentally, it will be recalled that a new Intercollegiate Rowing associa- tion to which Yale, Harvard Cornell, l belong, has been formed. United action will probably be agreed pon before | long. Opinions of several leading row ing coaches on the matter have been 1 given in the Yale Daily News" Guy Nickalls the Yale coach, said that he favored giving up any such re- gatta as that held at Peoughl1eepsie, | and substituting one in which dual races figured the champions to be set | tied by cumulative heats.
 Coach Vail of Wisconsin suggests having Eastern and Western races and | giving the West a chance at the big regattas. Coach Ten Eyck of Syracuse | insists that the Poughkeepsie course is satisfactory. Nickalls said:-
 AS regards the best method of de- | ciding the championship of America, if ! the people are agreed it is absolutely | necessary, why not accomplish this by a series of dual meets? In this way, | think, you would gain a greater inter | est in the sport from outside sources" I MT. Nickalls prefers twenty -minte | race to shorter distance contests. It 1 gives better opportunities for oarsnan- i ship, and is less exhausting than a | shorter contest at a higher pace. Coach James A. Ten Eyck, of Syra- | cuse, has found the Poughkeepsie Re 1 gattas satisfactory in every way and wishes them continued. He claims that the championship crew at Poughkeep- sic Is usually the championship eight | of the country.
 | Coach H. E. Vail of Wisconsin, also | considers the races on the Hudson a success, but states that greater inter | est in rowing would be aroused in the | West by having the championship races 1 rOwed nearer some of the Western uni | versailles.
 Coach NickalIs. wrote:-
 1 Tn my opinion there is no com | parisOn between a race such as is held !! annually at POughkeepsie and one such l as is held annually at New London. At | the POughkeepSie Regatta very many | crews compete; spectators are a long way from the actual contestants, and when so many crews are competing it is very difficult to focus ones attention on either any single crew or individual oarsman. The dual race, in my opin- ion. is infinitely better. It is very diff cult it seems in this country, to get any course with crews rowing five, six or seven abreast which is equally fair for all crews concerned. Either some boats are in the tide more than others, or other boats are in more shallow ! water than the rest. l understand
 from people who know the POugh- keepSie course that it is a notOriously
 unfair course and it is much easier
 to get a narrow course fair to both crews like that at New London, than
 it is on an exceptionally wide course Then, again, the situation of the two
 rivers differ so. At New London one
 gets breezes fresh from the sea and
 the surroundings are generally de-
 lightful. At POughkeepsie, on the
 other hand, boat housing facilities are
 of the worst possible description and
 the only healthy place to live is some
 miles away from the river.
 AS regards the best methods of de
 ciding the championship of America, ii
 the people are agreed it is absolutely
 necessary, why not accomplish this by
 a series of dual meets? In this way
 I think you would gain a greater in
 terest in the sport from outside
 sources. The public would take a faI
 greater interest in seeing Q series o1
 good dual races than they would ir
 seeing all the races punched into one
 big event.
 As regards length of race, that car
 easily be mutually decided upon. Per-
 sonaIly, l am in favor of a race thai | takes about twenty minutes to row
 That is to say about four miles with . . moderate tide or four and One-quartel miles with a quick tide. I think tha' , this not only gives a better display oi ! real oarSmanShip but that it is no
 such a tax on the system as a short quick race. In rowing, he same as il
 other sports, it is the pace that kills The course at New London ha: ; many advantages over Poughkeepsi' besides those mentioned, as it has . railway on each side of the course.
 am perfectly sure that there must b'
 in this country ever better course
 than either New London or Pough
 keepsie.
 Of course, these are only my per sOnal opinions and l shall not be at al
 surprised if the people accustomed t ! row at POughkeepsie differ from me. ; Coach Ten Eycks statement follows 'Inasmuch as the intercollegiate re ? gatta, which is held on the Hudson a
 Poughkeepsie annually, has been sucl ] a decided success since it's inaugura 2 | ton, I can see no good reason why Z should be discontinued
 B "The course, while not as fair as E dead water course would be. answer
 the purpose very well.
 z "The distance, taking the tide int g consideration, also the provision fo A spectators. is not bit too long. E As far as the rowing championshi f is concerned, the winning crew a Poughkeepsie, as a general thing
 comes pretty near being the best cre7
 on the water for that season at least 7 Coach Vail said:-
 z AS coach of the Wisconsin crew ss as an experienced Oarsman, and as ls lover of he sport, I am greatly ir 7t tereSted Tn the promotion Of the goo B welfare of rowing.
 Under prevalent conditions, tt B Western interests of rowing are SC \ riously handicapped in the stimulatio F of interest because of the fact that r E regatta of the POughkeepsie type $ held in the West. 1 believe that tf 72 POughkeepsie course is ideal except fC
 it's location. hold that a course some
 what more western should be chose
 so that the rowing interests of tl B whole country might be represente e ss Under present conditions, the mar s difficulties encountered in sendir
 crews great disances, as for instant I. from the Pacific coast to the Hudso 14 makes the representation of Weste1 F sections an impracticable matter Z '1 believe in two classes of regatta st l-O) 1ntersectional and (2) sections < The intersectional regatta could
 held somewhere nearer the center ss the various sections, while the set Ll ttonal reSattas would necessarily @ held within the various sections. TT E crews rowing in the intersection !s regatta would be the representativ,
 of the various sections. This section
 representation would cut down e.
 pense to a minimum and still stimula. " interest throughout the whole countr te Your present Poughkeepsie reea tt