When Tom Bolles sends his Varsity eight to the starting line against Princeton and M.I.T. at 5:30 o'clock this afternoon, the Charles River, usually quiet enough on Saturdays, will be churned up by a racing Crimson crew for the first and last time this season. Preliminaries to the main event will be in the form of 150-pound, Freshman, and Jayvee races against the same three opponents at 4, 4:30, and 5 o'clock respectively.

Finish at Tech

The race, which will consume in the neighborhood of nine minutes-give or take a few seconds-will start from a position just upstream from the West Boston (or Subway) Bridge and procede thence in a generally southwesterly direction for a mile and three quarters, until a point opposite the Tech Boathouse is reached.

On last season's record alone, the Scarlet and Grey Engineers have a decided edge in today's regatta. Jim McMillan's varsity beat the Crimson three times in '46 and was called "the second best crew in the country" by no less a person than Tom Bolles at the close of the season. The Engineers' time trials have reportedly been extremely successful thus far. Princeton is the only one of the three to have raced already this year, having opened its campaign a week ago by beating Penn across the line by a trifle more than a length. The Tigers have five and the Engineers six returning lettermen in their varsity boats.

Many New Men

Bolles' big eight has but two men from last year's victorious Yale race-Paul Knaplund at seven, and Mike Scully, at bow. Two more, Frank Strong and Jud Gale have never before rowed in competition at Harvard. Captain Bob Stone and Stu Clark, at four and two, have returned to the Bolles fold with only service on the 1942 Freshman crew behind them. Stroke Frank Cunningham's only Charles River tour of duty was with the 150's before the war. Dick Emmet rowed with the war-time informals.

But Bolles is something of a legend.

Bolles Silent

His crews have lost only six races since he arrived in Cambridge in 1937. And he has been looking pleased, although he has announced no time trial results.

Excluding Al Petite, the cox, the Crimson averages six pounds heavier than either of its two opponents. The Varsity averages 187 pounds, while Princeton and Tech oarsmen weigh, on the average only 181.

The boatings:

The Varsity: Stroke, Cunningham; seven, Knaplund; six, Strong; five, Emmet; four, Stone (Capt.); three, Gals; two, Clark; bow, Scully; coxswain, Petite.

Jayvee: Stroke, Filley; seven, Cahnler; six, Felt; five, Ober; four, Hanson; three, Coffin; two, Stuart; bow, Cox; coxswain, King.

Freshmen: Stroke, Homans; seven, Rimmer; six, Osborne; five, Reynolds; four, Lodge; three, Taggart; two, Hutchinson; bow, Dwight; coxswain, Leavitt.

Varsity 150's-Stroke, Hall, H.; seven, Dowd; six, Holt; five, Clark; four, Harrington; three, Hall, G.; two, Hall, A.; bow, Erhard; coxswain, Lipton