Harvard's varsity lightweight crew lays its unbeaten record on the line today on the Charles, meeting Columbia and the Coast Guard in its season debut.

It's hard to make a prediction about this lightweight crew. First, the oarsmen are, for the most part, new to the varsity boat; second, coach John Higginson is fresh this season, trying to fill the rather large shoes of departed Steve Gladstone.

Finally, the Crimson freshmen were not a brilliant lot last year. They lost to Princeton during the regular season and at the Sprints, and were generally not a great pool of talent for the varsity.

But, after all the negative factors have been considered, there's still reason for confidence.

The most encouraging thing is that Higginson knows what he's doing. He put together quite a string of victories at Nobles and has favorably impressed the oarsmen at Harvard. The latter is particularly important; the crew lost a coach who had won every race for five straight years, and they eyed the replacement carefully.

Higginson has weathered the test, won the confidence of the crew, and says he is ready for the season.

The oarsmen, while not as brilliant as the crews of the last few years, have the talent and conditioning to go all the way again. Today's race may very well be the key.

Columbia and the Coast Guard are not all that tough and a big win over them would be invaluable to the oarsmens' confidence. They will need that confidence in the upcoming rugged part of their schedule--Dartmouth, Navy and, most of all, Princeton.

Princeton took the Head of the Charles this year and, while the Head is not a conclusive indicator, the Tigers showed they were a fine crew with just as much potential as Harvard to have a perfect season.

For now the race to worry about is Columbia and the Coast Guard and the Crimson wants to avoid looking ahead.

"We have five chances to row as hard as we can," said captain Andy Narva yesterday, "and this race is the most important simply because it's right now."

Narva, a returnee from last year's varsity, will row at two in the straight-rigged eight, immediately in front of bow man Peter Huntsman. Tim Hackard will be at three, Roger Bohn at four and Rick Grogan at six in the line-up. Linc Lyman will stroke the Crimson and George Host will row at seven for the second year in a row.