To say that the boat that will represent the varsity heavy crew in its opening race this afternoon is something of an experiment would be a classic understatement. After some three months of experimenting, Crimson coach Harvey Love has come up with a combination that will surprise many people.

At the beginning of last fall, Love had his entire first boat back from last year and rumor had it that this would be one of the best Harvard crews in modern years. How this turns out remains to be seen, but the fact is that the varsity boat that will race B.U., M.I.T., and Syracuse this afternoon consists of three sophomores, two ex-J.V. oarsmen, and only three veterans of last year's eight.

"Of course I had returning veterans," Love commented, "but then again, so do the Red Sox. I doubt if they will win the pennant." He pointed out that unlike the past two years, all three classes are represented almost equally in the number and to a certain extent, in the quality of crewmen. "This is a more normal setup," Love went on, "and the result was that the new men pushed some of the veterans down."

The varsity will probably be favorites for this afternoon's race, which gets under way at 6 p.m., because, as Love says, "This is just a cross we have to bear in this race." Syracuse should furnish the toughest competition, as six of its I.R.A. winning eight from last year will be rowing today and both M.I.T. and B.U. at 5 pm.

Senior Fritz Schwartz is Love's choice to stroke the varsity, a choice made only four days ago. Schwartz's bladework cannot be called the best, but he has, as Love calls it, "the indefinable quality of making the boat go." Last year's varsity stroke, Carlo Zezza, is currently on the third boat.

Behind Schwartz, at No. 7, is John Eager, who rowed 5 on the J.V.'s last year. Charlie Atkinson retains his position on the varsity at 6, as does Ted McCagg at 5. Two sophomores from last year's starting frehman crew, Jim Leonard and Peter Tulloch, will row at No. 4 and 3 positions. Tom Nuzum, another sophomore, whom Love tried ut at stroke earlier in this year, will row 2, and captain Jack Lapsley will round out the boat at bow. Bob McLaughlin will be the cox.

One happy result of all Love's shifting is that he now has a potentially very powerful J.V. boat. The J.V.'s have been giving the newly formed varsity boat close races in practice and it is not altogether inconceivable that they could take over for the varsity boat if things do not go well today. For these reasons, the Crimson J.V.'s must also rule as favorites this afternoon when they race the same colleges as the varsity meets a half an hour earlier.

One-fifty coach Joe Brown had the same situation as did Love, but met it in a different way. He will start the same boat as he did last year, with one exception: sophomore Mark Hoffman at stroke.

The J.V. lights and freshmen will row today against Dartmouth and M.I.T., the freshmen starting at 3:30 p.m., the J.V.'s at 4 p.m., and the varsity a half an hour later.