The Boys in the Boat

[Shaun @ Tru6]

A really nice feel good movie that only asks you to relax and enjoy it and witness a proud moment in our history. If you have ever rowed or are close to someone who has, it is a must see. If you are a rower, bring a box of Kleenex, theaters have high pollen counts right about now.

When I was 22 or 23 and was coaching rowing after college, I said my retirement would be restoring Porsches and coaching crew. So I'm half retired now. Would love to get back into it this summer, all depends on hiring more techs.

There is no other sport that even comes close to rowing. Or maybe running hurdles while weight-lifting while dancing Swan Lake and a chorus line while running a marathon will become a thing. That would be close. Five hundred meters into a race, your brain is telling you over and over and over that you shouldn't be doing this, the pain is too great, pure agony for the longest minutes of your life but the bond you've built with your mates is stronger and you put more into every stroke for them, **** your brain.

One of the things I loved about rowing is there really aren't superstars. The boat either rows as one in perfect unison, oars in and out of the water, bodies up and down the tracks all at the same time, while working your whole body as hard as you can, or they aren't. A boat is only as good as its worst member. And that builds teamwork like nothing else.

When boats are set, whether a 4 or an 8, good boats, great boats create a bond that is unique. If you ever achieve swing, when everyone is in such perfect time the boat lifts out of the water and feels faster than the work your bodies are putting into it, in fact it can feel effortless. The first time it happened to my lightweight 4, we took 3 or 4 strokes into swing, felt it, freaked out because it was so overwhelming and the boat came to sudden stop. Our coach loved it. It was a high that lasted the entire day and all you want to do from that day forward is catch swing by the tail again and master it.

Some of the best years of my life were from rowing and coaching crew.

Anyway, good movie.







It's this kind of movie.

[Ralph3.]

Having just read the book for a second time I found that the film strayed quite a bit from the actual story. Joe Rantz started rowing at UW in 1933 not 1936, the JV boat didn't go straight to the Olympics in one season, Mr Rantz didn't live in a abandoned car in Hooverville etc, etc.

The actual story is so remarkable, the movie doesn't do it justice. If you liked the movie, you will love the book.

George Pocok is quite interresting in his own right, there is a great book about his life also.

[MAS956]

I enjoyed the book.

[Flatbutt1]

I tried rowing once. I thought I was in good shape and I was but not in good ROWING shape. Thought my chest was gonna explode.

[greglepore]

I'm not a rower, despite spending half my life in Philly, but the book was one of the most affecting I've read in a long, long time. Hard to imagine that life and that time...

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Ralph3.

Having just read the book for a second time I found that the film strayed quite a bit from the actual story. Joe Rantz started rowing at UW in 1933 not 1936, the JV boat didn't go straight to the Olympics in one season, Mr Rantz didn't live in a abandoned car in Hooverville etc, etc.

The actual story is so remarkable, the movie doesn't do it justice. If you liked the movie, you will love the book.

George Pocok is quite interresting in his own right, there is a great book about his life also.

Thanks for letting me know how good the book is, just ordered. I knew the movie couldn't be true to life. Having coached, it would be impossible for a novice boat to win nearly any race let alone go to the Olympics.

That said, my women's open 4 did go to Poughkeepsie one year which is a division 1 and 2 race. Brandeis Crew was an unfunded club sport division 3 three school, coaches did so for free. The 4 only had 2 "open" women, the other two were lightweights. In fact both of them were mistakenly told to go to the coxswain meeting before the race.

Like the Boys in the Boat, they raced their hearts out, and rowed beautifully, and took 13th nationally in an old Vespoli. One of the proudest moments in my life.

I loved coaching women, they are all about technique and learning how to row. Men just want to pull hard.

We still had 1960s wooden Pococks for novice crew when I left. Beautiful but extremely heavy boats compared to the modern glass and carbon fiber boats of the 80s. I can't imagine what boat technology is like today.

[herr_oberst]

Prediction: Rowing machine sales will be up.

[Tobra]

Rowing is as bad as cycling for making it hard to find clothes that fit

[Yorkie]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Rowing is as bad as cycling for making it hard to find clothes that fit

What does that mean?

[Crowbob]

I think he means the muscles used create ill-fitting clothes.

[Tobra]

Exactly, pants don't fit right