Ten members of the Harvard men's heavyweight crew and coach Harry Parker will visit Egypt from December 20 through December 28 to compete in the eighth annual Nile International Regatta, Parker said yesterday. Harvard and the University of Washington will be the only American crews entered in the race, he added.

Harvard has appeared in the Regatta, formerly called the Nile Rowing Festival, five times, Parker said, and has won three of the contests.

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism cooperates with the Egyptian Rowing Federation in sponsoring the Regatta, which consists of two races, Parker said. The first race will occur on December 23 at El-Aksur, the ancient Egyptian capital located 450 miles up river from Cairo. The second race will occur on December 27 at Cairo.

The Egyptian government will pay for the crew's expenses in Egypt, and for transportation between London and Cairo, Parker said.

Along with Washington, six other crews will compete this year, Parker said, including two Egyptian police crews, a Belgian crew, an Irish crew, the University of Vancouver crew, and a crew from England.

Parker said that racing on the Nile is "pretty tricky."