business backgrounder | industry
Racing Ahead
Everett-based Pocock Racing Shells is an iconic, elite rowing equipment
manufacturer with deep roots and a long and famed history.
Bobbi Cussins
Started in 1911, Pocock Racing Shells is best known for the boat built by founder George Pocock that
helped the University of Washington rowing team win a gold medal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. To this
day, the company is recognized as one of the world’s top manufacturers of elite rowing equipment.
at a glance
George Pocock founded Pocock
Racing Shells in 1911.
George Pocock built the boat the
University of Washington men’s
rowing team used to win the
1936 Olympics in Berlin, which
is chronicled in the best-selling
book, “The Boys in the Boat.”
Unlike their North American
competition, Pocock is the
only company to use wet layup
An unlikely nine-member University of Washington rowing team made up of sons of farmers,
loggers and dock workers — and one member cast aside by his family and left to fend for
himself as a youngster — took the racing sport by storm at the 1936 Olympics hosted in Berlin,
Germany. The rowing team beat the Germans, who were the foregone winners, to bring home
the gold medal for America.
Chronicled in the best-selling book, “The Boys in the Boat,” the win is a testament to the
athletes’ strength, endurance and will t