The Crimson lightweight crew made it 26 wins in a row Saturday morning on the Charles with a convincing five-length victory over Columbia in its season debut.

"The body of the race was the most encouraging thing, as far as I was concerned," captain Andy Narva said yesterday.

"It was solid--unrushed--just like we were saving wood. We moved on them constantly through the course and never let up," he explained.

Led From the Start

Harvard led all the way from the start, picking up three seats on the Lions after the first 20 strokes and constantly lengthening the margin against a stiff head wind.

Rowing continuously at a 32, the Crimson pulled out to a two-length lead at the 1000-meter mark, made it nearly four lengths by 1500 meters and, with a mini-sprint of 20 strokes at a 35, added another length at the finish.

The win was doubly enjoyable for the Crimson oarsmen. Their margin of victory over Columbia narrowly exceeded that of Princeton over the hapless Lions a week earlier, and served final notice that, once again, Harvard's lights are the power in the East.

Six man Ricky Grogan said that the professional style of the boat, which has two oarsmen who were rowing in their first intercollegiate race Saturday, encouraged him greatly.

"We really showed some class out there," he exulted immediately after the race. "We have only three varsity returnees in the boat but you wouldn't have known it-that race may have been the key to the season."

The varsity's triumph over Columbia completed a sweep for Harvard, as both the J.V. and freshman lights ran away with their races.

Columbia did not field a boat for the J.V. race but the Coast Guard showed up, only to be trounced by a 16-second margin. The Crimson third varsity boat entered the J.V. race also and rowed to a second-place finish a length in front of the Cadets.

Harvard's freshman lights similarly over-powered their opponents. In another race never in doubt, the freshmen moved continuously on the Lions, finishing in 6:31 with a four-length margin.

Harvard has two races, at Dartmouth and Navy, before facing eternal nemesis Princeton on Lake Carnegie in New Jersey.

Navy and Dartmouth will both be tough, especially the Big Green, because the ice melted early in Hanover this year for the first time in quite a while. Penn won't meet the Crimson until the Eastern Sprints, and the Quakers are nearly always good.

Tigers a Threat

But already the Tigers shape up as the most powerful threat to Harvard's dominance and so naturally after Saturday's victory the Crimson crew questioned Columbia closely about Princeton's capabilities.

"Columbia was most impressed by Princeton's mechanical precision," veteran Crimson seven man George Host said yesterday.

"They said the Tigers were very, very strong and good. But I think they were trying to be deliberately discouraging--it was all very amusing," he added.