Under rather poor conditions, the Crimson Varsity lightweight crew retained possession of the Haines Cup as it defeated Cornell on the Charles River Saturday afternoon.

In an auspicious beginning for coach Larry Coolidge, Crimson crews won all except the first freshman race in the five-event regatta. By far the closest and most exciting race of the afternoon was the J.V. victory, won by a scant four feet.

The wind blew down the course throughout the regatta, kicking up rough, lumpy waves which made lining the crews up for the start difficult and cut the times low. Fastest time of the day was posted by the J.V.'s at 7:22 over the mile and five-sixteenths Henley distance. Last week the varsity twice rowed the course under 6.44.

In none of the races was Cornell able to come up with its highly touted sprint; in fact it was usually the Crimson that showed the greatest strength in the closing stretches of a race.

For the varsity, the race was a two and a half length romp as it led from the very beginning and steadily widened its advantage. After 30 strokes it already was a length in front of Cornell and M.I.T. Rowing a solid 31 strokes per minute, Tony Goodman's crew had open water on Cornell at the Mass. Ave. bridge when the Big Red started to make its move three-quarters of a mile from the finish. All it was able to do, however, was leave Tech further behind as the Crimson eight stayed ahead while keeping to its low stroke.

With 30 strokes to go, both boats pushed the cadence higher as the varsity, rowing very well together, pulled away. Winning time for the race was 7:29.7, with Cornell finishing in 7:39 and M.I.T. in 7:52.

One reason for the Crimson's relatively easy win was that Cornell had the same problem as Coolidge in choosing which boat was to row as varsity, but evidently chose wrong. The result was to make the junior varsity race a tight contest every foot of the way.

The Crimson took a lead on the start and very early built it up to half a length--about 30 feet--although the Big Red crew did not drop its stroke after the racing start for about a quarter of a mile. But with both boats rowing between 31 and 32 through the middle of the race, Cornell pulled even with the Crimson shell, stroked by Capt. Mark Hoffman.

It was not until there was less than a quarter of a mile left in the race that the J.V. increased its tempo as both boats drove forward neck and neck. The timing and bladework of the Crimson eight remained smooth as it raced across the finish line rowing a 30.

The Crimson freshmen's loss in the first race of the afternoon prevented the lightweights' continuing last years' record of sweeping five straight regattas without losing a race. The Cornell freshmen understroked the Crimson eight most of the way, winning by less than half a length in the very rough water. Cornell, Harvard and M.I.T. finished in 7:45, 7:46.2, and 8:01, respectively.