Hants County Exhibition Windsor, Nova Scotia Go to the Photoalbum to see pictures from the competition in Nova Scotia The following e-mail was sent to us by Barry Brown of Wolfville ,  Nova Scotia. He watched us pull in both competitions (TWIF Rules and Nova Scotia Rules). Hi - just wanted to let you know we enjoyed watching the pulls at the exhibition. You have an awesome team everyone in the stands was commenting on the leg development  we didn't think our men had much of a chance especially after Martock went out in 13 seconds.  My two brothers both pulled in the eighties and my Dad and his 4 brothers pulled on championship teams in the 50's. After watching your team in the early pull the consensus was that Falmouth absolutely had to take the set and hold it if there was any chance.  As long as your men stayed bowed over the line we thought the strain on them would be overwhelming. Falmouth had a good looking lineup laid back on the rope nice and held the set. I was surprised when I saw the Falmouth front line slip some rope.   Bluewater made a terrific surge but Falmoth countered and slipped some more rope.  We all thought if Falmouth could take the set and hold for five minutes then go into the backlock there might be a chance.  The coach,  Junior Patterson, saw that his men had some confidence and  immediately decided to roll into the backlock. If Bluewater had given a little rope earlier and laid back low on the line we were sure they could have broken the backlock down in less than a minute but their line was looking ragged - the strain from the earlier pulls was taking its toll. The crowd was yelling march, march and once Falmouth starts a march it takes a heck of a team to stop them. Once Bluewater started coming across the line you just new the anchor was going to touch that wall.  It was a dramatic match and one that surprised a lot of people.   We had seen it once before when a team from the U.S. came up and pulled Falmouth. Once Falmouth hit the backlock the U.S. team burst at the seams.  Falmouth actually went back on the hands and pulled them across with little trouble.  It would be great to see Bluewater back again next year although we do prefer the Nova Scotia rules.  Some of the best pulls start with the scratch men boot to boot the winner of the set is often decided by how good the scratch man is. Many people think it takes a big man to pull tug of war but this couldn't be further from the truth.  All of my family pulled heavy and weighed around 165 lbs.   A heavy man usually doesn't have the hands to hold his weight on the rope. My brother used to train in his basement. He had a regulation  length of rope bolted to the wall about 2 feet above the floor with a mattress underneath.  He would put his feet on the wall and hold himself horizontally off the floor over the mattress. He could stay on that rope for 15 minutes. A lot of big men couldn't last a minute. I have seen two teams put 15 minutes with no rope given. At the end of the pull many of the men passed out from the strain. It is a great sport that few understand but a few minutes into a good pull even a casual passerby will get drawn into the excitement. Thanks for giving us a thrill at the ex and good luck at the world championships - make us proud Bluewater.  Barry Brown, Wolfville ,  Nova Scotia. Bluewater's mail to Barry Would you mind if I publish your letter on our web site. We like to come back next year and have an other chance to pull. Next time we will have all our light guys and be able to pull with 10 men. As you mentioned in your mail the weight of a puller doesn't matter much but missing one pair of legs makes a big difference. I'm sure with 10 on 10 we would have won the pull. Looking forward to hearing from you and hopefully we can come back next year or the year after. Matt Metzger Barry's reply Hi Matt -  great to hear from you. Sure you can publish the email. I think you would win too but the consensus down here is that you can't lose the set to a team like Falmouth and if you do you have to regroup and wait for a chance to break them down on the backlock. I have seen Falmouth in full 15 minute pulls where they rolled in and out of the backlock 3 times.  Some of your men probably think the backlock doesn't make a big difference not so.   Take two ropes and attach them to a barn wall. The first rope has a man who will walk the rope up the wall and hold his weight on the hands. The second has a man with a suede jacket on who will go into the backlock position and hold his weight off the wall. Who comes down first?  Easy.  The guy on the hands won't last long pure power. The man on the rope in the backlock is using the friction of the jacket and the position to hold his weight and rest his hands. How long will he stay there maybe 15 minutes. Time for the other guy to have a coffee and check his email. There definitely needs to be another pull because now Martock thinks they can beat your team using N.S. rules and you took them out in 13 seconds. Next time I hope there will be some media involved. There was no mention of the match at all in the media here and that is a real shame. If I don't see something this week I will email the sports people in the provincial paper and "advise" them of their error of omission. Basically there needs to be someone at the pull to videotape the match then put an article together and submit it to the paper that's how things get run here - no work for the editors/staff.  Anyway please let me know how things go in S.A. I will check back on your website often also.  :) Thank you Barry! We are very impressed on the involvement of the audience into the pulls. We liked coming to Nova Scotia and we like to thank everyone for their great hospitality. See you all again Matt  Back to Newsletter Index