16 March 2026

By Göran R Buckhorn

Since September last year, I have been communicating with Wolfgang Goede, a German science journalist and author from Munich, who was interested in The Greatest Rowing Stories Ever Told, the rowing anthology I edited. Wolfgang tried to get hold of a copy of the book, but it seemed tariffs and other postal nonsense put a stop to the shipping over the pond at that time.

Of course, I wanted to help him as he was going to approach the eminent German Rudersport to ask if the magazine might be interested in a review of the book. The fourth largest reader group of HTBS is from Germany so I believe there could be an interest among Rudersport’s readers to read a review of The Greatest…

Eventually, we managed to solve the issue with Wolfgang receiving a draft of my manuscript. However, then our exchange – I almost would like to call it the task or project – had grown, so not only was Wolfgang going to write a review of the anthology but also a piece about HTBS and my rowing book collection.

After this decision, taken in December 2025, I received a heap of questions from Wolfgang; I’m sure that I didn’t reciprocate his intelligent questions with intelligent answers, but maybe they will look better in German‽ Watch this space later this spring!

Wolfgang also initiated a translation of Tim Koch’s HTBS article about the River & Rowing Museum’s closing in September last year (22 Sep. 2025) for Rudersport’s March issue.

Wolfgang also wrote a brief review (see on top) of the book that was published in his club, Münchner Ruder-Club von 1880 e.V’s, magazine Riemen & Skull. And what a beautiful publication! Take a look and practice your German here.

Vielen dank, Wolfgang.