Even the most cynical and objective observer of this year's crew, however, has to like what he sees. It is the last year of that low sophomore turnout and two of the three seniors out are veterans of last year's varsity. In addition there are a number of juniors back, members of both last year's varsity and the undefeated J.V. Best of all, last year's freshman crew won going away in every race, including the Thames Challenge Cup at Henley, England, and nearly all of those frosh are back. In fact, it appears that, on paper anyway, this year's oarsmen are the best group in quite a few years and that much talent, along with Parker's ability, has to make the Crimson the crew to beat in the East.

Don't tell that to Northeastern, though. Last Spring's Sprint winners have five varsity men back and don't want to hear anything about Harvard "dynasties." The Huskies will probably be the toughest crew Harvard faces but every race will be difficult.

As far as the individual boatings go, the returning lettermen, co-captains Gene LeBarre and Bill Mahoney, and juniors Steve Carr and Dave Fellows, are at the top of the list. After that it's anybody's guess.

On the port side juniors Woody Canady, Peter Lowe and Jim Owen look like strong contenders along with sophomores Dick Cashin and Al Shealy.

Juniors Steve Row and Rick Smith are contenders on the starboard side as well as sophomores Ron Shaw and Ed Woodhouse. Coxswain David Weinberg should handle the steering for the Crimson for the second year in a row.

The next few weeks will decide the boatings for this season. Parker has already started seat racing in earnest. In a seat race two boats race any given distance and then pull to allow two oarsmen to switch across. Then the crews race over the same distance and any difference in margin indicates who made the boat go faster.

It's a grueling time of year for the oarsmen--not only do they lay seven months of training on the line but they must spend Spring vacation here as well, working out twice a day.