SURPRISE! The Harvard heavyweight crew outrowed Brown Saturday in Providence to capture the Stein Trophy for the 14th consecutive year.

Real surprise--the Crimson varsity did not take the race without difficulty. At 1500 meters Harvard led by a comfortable length and a half. Then, near-disaster struck.

Two-man Gordie Gardiner caught his blade on the rough water churned by a strong tail-wind. The collision jarred Gardiner's oar out of his hand and the entire boat stopped rowing while the bowman, Paul Templeton, handed Gardiner's oar back to him. By the time Harvard got their shell back up to top gear, Brown had sliced the lead to one-quarter of a length. That was as close as the Bruins got. What George Aitken called "some of the best rowing we've done," 40 strokes perminute, stretched the lead quickly to one-half of a length, then to almost a full one by the finish line. Harvard's new winning streak stands at two.

Aitken expressed surprise last night at the quality of the Bruin crew. "It was one of the few races in which we've pulled out in front by about half a length of open water and the other crew hasn't packed it in," he said.

Harvard had outdistanced Brown by two lengths in the San Diego Crew Classic on April 1, about the margin they would have had Saturday were it not for the crab. This does not mean that Harvard has not improved since then, for as Aitken emphasized, Brown was faster in Providence than they were in California. Gardiner also pointed out that rough conditions in general tend to cut down victory margins.

Harvard may well need any speed they've added since San Diego when they face Princeton and MIT on the Charles nest weekend. The Tigers came within 2.5 seconds of the San Diego Classic champions, Penn, this weekend in a slow dual meet.