And he came to understand how those almost mystical....

“ And he came to understand how those almost mystical bonds of trust and affection, if nurtured correctly, might lift a crew above the ordinary sphere, transport it to a place where nine boys somehow became one thing - a thing that could not quite be defined, a thing that was so in tune with the water and the earth and the sky above that, as they rowed, effort was replaced by ecstasy. It was a rare thing, a sacred thing, a thing devoutly to be hoped for.p 48 ”

Daniel James Brown

From : The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics