The Boys in the Boat: Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

After the 1936 regatta, it began to sink in that West Coast crew programs were more than a match for their East Coast counterparts. Washington’s victory at the regatta established it as the best crew program in the country—even Ebright said so. In July 1, the team packed for Princeton, where it would be rowing in the Olympic time trials. For the first few days, the Washington team enjoyed Princeton’s elegant campus and posh environment; they had light workouts twice a day, but nothing more. However, Joe and his peers were well-aware of the importance of the time trials—if they failed here, they’d never make it to Berlin.

In their preliminary heat, the varsity Washington team faced Princeton and the New York Athletic Club, neither much of a contender. Washington won the race easily; however Cal had a much more difficult preliminary heat against Navy and Penn, winning by less than a boatlength. Cal ended up posting a faster time than Washington, causing the Washington team to doubt itself once again.

In the final Olympic trial, Cal faced Pennsylvania, Washington, and the New York Athletic Club. Washington started poorly, with Gordy and Jim McMillin losing hold of their oars. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania took the lead, followed by the Athletic Club and Cal. Washington kept a low stroke rate, but managed to pass the Athletic Club before the halfway mark. Holding a steady stroke count of thirty-four, Washington rowed with remarkable power, passing California, then Pennsylvania, and winning handily. Washington was going to Berlin. Ulbrickson was overjoyed: he’d managed to assemble the perfect team and coach them to victory with the perfect strategy.

In order to fund an excursion to the Olympics, Ulbrickson quickly learned, the team was going to have to pay its own way: the American Olympic Committee didn’t have funds for a team. Now, Washington needed to come up with five thousand dollars, or else Penn would go in Washington’s place. Furious, Ulbrickson decided not to tell his team about the funding crisis for fear of alarming them. However, he contacted Paul Coughlin from the Washington alumni association, who in turn spoke to the mayor of Seattle. Soon after, donations poured in, including a check for five thousand dollars from the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Washington had the funds to go to Berlin after all.

The varsity team trained on Long Island, at the New York Athletic Club. The club was a lavish place, complete with a billiards room and an oyster bar, and the team enjoyed training there in the weeks following its victory at Poughkeepsie. The team also enjoyed traveling out to Coney Island and Times Square in New York City. Several people recognized the team from photographs in the newspapers. Joe and his peers took a trip to the top of the recently completed Empire State Building. There, looking down at the city, he began to realize that he was now a representative of the American way of life—liberty, “mutual respect, humility, fair play.”

During the team’s training period on Long Island, Bobby Moch received a letter from his father; Bobby had written his father about visiting relatives in Switzerland. Now, Bobby’s father revealed to Bobby that his relatives—and, thus, Bobby himself—were Jewish. When Bobby learned the news, he burst into tears. Jews were a persecuted minority in America in the 1930s, but Bobby had been raised to believe that people should be judged by their abilities, not their race. Now, he realized that his father hadn’t wanted to live according to his own rule, and had instead treated his race like “a secret to be ashamed of.”

On July 9, the team took a trip out to Huckleberry Island, off the coast of Long Island. There, the team seemed utterly at ease. Four days later, they packed and prepared to sail for Berlin on the SS Manhattan, accompanied by Al Ulbrickson and George Pocock. Before leaving, the team attended an Olympic reception at the Lincoln Hotel, where they met other American Olympians, including the runner Jesse Owens. The next day, the team picked up its visas and Olympic credentials, and attended Loew’s State Theater. The next morning, they finally boarded the Manhattan and set sail. The team stood on the deck, waving flags at the thousands of fans who’d come to wish the Olympic team good luck. Joe looked down from the deck, trying to remember everything so that he’d be able to tell Joyce about it when he returned.