"They came back because they were in such incredible condition," J.V. cox Alexandra Dixon recalls. From that shaky start, Harvard's only undefeated crew for 1979 just continued the uphill climb. As J.V. six seat and team captain Jeff Cooley says, "It seems like J.V. lightweight crews at Harvard are destined to win."

This was a boat with character. From nine-year rowing veteran Cooley to novice cox Dixon to second-year-model-of-dedication-stroke Corty Gates, this eight was a special blend.

It was a diverse group, but it found a unity. Cooley notes, "I think the captain's role in uniting the boat is not as great as the sport's role itself. Whoever it is that's rowing is working towards the same goal--winning. No matter what the background, it's a very, very common bond."

That bond, and the improved rowing it produced, surfaced rapidly--fast enough so that by May 6, the J.V. eight stormed into Derby, Conn., and came away with the only victory Harvard could post over Yale that day.

"We had an incredible warm-up--everyone was concentrating real well. You could just feel the power and the control in the boat," Dixon remembers.

Subsequently, the boat that called itself "Beautiful Cox," supposedly a tribute to its female coxswain, cruised through the Sprints, holding off a Navy challenge, and came away with the Cornell Trophy for the 13th year in a row.

This was a boat that had faced the pressure of a winning tradition each time it hit the water. But it hurdled the obstacles.

"This was a boat that had a lot of problems to begin with," Dixon says. "Aside from the technical questions, there were questions of just personal chemistry within the boat."

Peter Raymond's mixture, it turned out, worked perfectly. And as for the pressure--well, every Harvard crew bears the weight of a great Harvard tradition. But Cooley may have best captured the spirit that motivated at least this J.V. boat to win, when he said, "I personally didn't feel the pressure, probably because I didn't think we were going to lose."

Over-confident? Perhaps. But in the end, his feeling was dead right.