Harvard's crews are back on the water again after a first try ended when the Charles River froze over last Thursday.

This will be the latest start of spring work-outs since 1940; and the heavyweights are facing a season which begins one week earlier than usual.

Ice sheets covering the river normally break up during the first week of March, but it was well into the third week of this month before the Crimson shells could tentatively venture out onto the water. Then the re-freeze came.

"Any benefit we may have had from being outside before has been lost because of the freeze-up: It's tantamount to starting all over again," says Parker.

The crew tried again last Monday, but only limited workouts were possible. "We had to spend all our time dodging ice." says Parker.

The delay is especially frustrating because of the heavy-weights additional race--April 15, with Northeastern.

Northeastern began a serious effort in rowing only a few years ago, but the Huskies made a strong showing in their debut at the Eastern Sprints last May.

The lightweights will be racing Columbia here that Saturday.

New Shell

Parker has ordered a new boat "of modified design" for the varsity this year. The shell, which is scheduled to arrive in Cambridge early in April, will be "noticeably shorter," probably about 50 feet long.

The traditional Pocock shell is 61 feet long and the Stampfli shell which the varsity now uses is 58 feet. The hope is that the new English shell will offer less water resistance and go faster.

According to Parker, there is a possibility that his crew will be too heavy to row in it, and the lightweights might wind up using it.