Pocock a constant in UW rowing success

Washington is celebrating the 100th season of its spectacularly successful rowing program this year — highlighted by tomorrow morning's Windermere Cup races through the Montlake Cut.

Yet for all those Olympic champions, national champions and rowing Hall of Famers who have worn the "W," there is a one common dominator. It's the Pocock, the shell produced by the local boat-builder that has been racing and winning as long as UW has. Pocock is connected to UW as closely as Nike is to Oregon, Gatorade to Florida.

"The Pocock shells are probably the most technically advanced boats in the world," said Bob Ernst, UW men's rowing coach. The UW eight will be racing a brand new Pocock, as will their opponents in tomorrow's featured race, against the Polish national team and Northeastern University.

Windermere Cup info. What: Windermere Cup races When: Tomorrow morning Where: Montlake Cut Schedule 10:20 a.m., Mixed Coed 4 (40-plus) 10:22 a.m., Mixed 8 (40-plus) 10:24 a.m., Women's 8 (40-plus) 10:26 a.m., Men's 8 (50-plus) 10:28 a.m., Women's 8 (50-plus) 10:33 a.m., Men's Varsity 4 10:35 a.m., Women's Varsity 4 10:39 a.m., Women's Open 8 10:43 a.m., Men's Open 8 10:48 a.m., Men's Junior 8 10:45 a.m., Women's Junior 8 10:48 a.m., Men's Junior 8 10:50 a.m., Women's Novice 8 10:54 a.m., Men's Frosh 8 10:56 a.m., Women's Cascade Cup 11:06 a.m., Men's Cascade Cup 11:15 a.m., Windermere Challenge Cup, Canada vs. United States. 11:25 a.m., Women's Windermere Cup, UW vs. Belarus, Notre Dame. 11:35 a.m., Men's Windermere Cup, UW vs. Poland, Northeastern. Notes: The Canadian national team is the defending world champion. The United States finished third. ... The UW men have four rowers returning from their third-place crew in the nationals a year ago, Dusan Nikolic, Marko Petrovic, John Lorton and Sam Burns. Coxswain Ryans Marks also returned. ... The UW men have won the Cup 11 of the past 12 years. The UW women have won four in a row and 10 of the past 11.

"Yes, of course, they (Pococks) are known all over," said Ryszard Stadniuk, the president of the Polish Rowing Association. "You must be very good technically. Sometimes crews look not so nice, but it is very fast. You don't lose any power."

Three new Pocock shells were delivered to the campus just this week, and all three teams have been practicing in them for the first time. They will race in them as part of the Men's Windermere Cup at 11:35 a.m.

There will be a couple of other intriguing matchups. The UW women's eight, the defending national champions, will take on Notre Dame and the Belarus national team, which finished fifth at the World Championships last year in Seville, Spain, in the Women's Windermere Cup. The other featured race among 18 races this morning will pit the U.S. national eight, third at the Worlds, against the Canadian national team, which captured the country's first world title at Seville. Seven rowers from each team that competed at the Worlds will be represented.

The Huskies purchased their first Pocock boat in 1912. But the company began making them in England late in the 19th century. Brothers George and Dick Pocock moved the business from England to Vancouver, B.C., to the UW campus until the mid-1940s, then to Lake Union and recently to a large operation in Everett.

Bill Titus and his son John purchased the company in the late 1980s. They have taken the technology further, using carbon-fiber materials and working with Boeing engineers on design, weight and performance.

The company provided the UW women's eight with a boat four years ago, and the world has noticed. UW won the national championship two years ago with the only Pocock in the field, then last year won again with a Pocock. The Huskies are currently ranked No. 2 in the nation but beat No. 1-ranked Cal last week.

"You talk about the centennial, (but) we're still racing and rowing in equipment made here in Seattle," said Jan Harville, the UW women's coach. "That's a tribute to them, staying with things and doing what it takes to make better equipment.

"We've tested them all winter against the others. They were as fast if not faster than any boat."

In testing through all kinds of conditions — different crews, fatigue, wind shifts, weight distributions, water conditions — the Pocock was slightly but consistently faster. But could the women win the 2001 national title in it against powers such as Brown and Cal that were racing in proven quality boats as Resolute or the German-made Empacher?

"When I first got in it, it wasn't comfortable," said Carrie Stasiak, a UW senior rower from St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

Harville said her team felt the same way before the 2001 national-championship races. They didn't want to move on to another boat when their regular boat, an Empacher, had a top track record.

"They were concerned about what Brown and Cal were going to think. They would line up against Brown" Harville said. "And I told them, 'Think about it this way: They know that we've had both boats all year. But we're sitting on the line with a Pocock, and we've done all the testing. What are they going to think?' "

The Huskies went out and beat Brown. Then they won again last year in even more dramatic circumstances. Their Pocock was damaged beyond repair by high winds on the way to the nationals in Indianapolis. Ernst scrambled and borrowed one from the University of Iowa and dropped it off in Indianapolis. The UW women trained on it for four days. John Titus delivered another one the day before the race, by way of the WSU team trailer. The women, without ever having sat in it, won the national title again.

"We were the only ones there with one (in 2001) and people were like, 'Whoa.' We weren't totally sold on it and winning nationals proved to us what it could do," Stasiak said. "Now we go to regattas and so many Pococks are there.

"Coach Harville always says, 'It's the horses, not the chariot,' but this is a great shell."

Bob Sherwin: 206-464-8286 or bsherwin@seattletimes.com