In a scene reminiscent of the Spanish Armada, 30 boats from 10 New England colleges clogged the Charles last Saturday for the Tail of the Charles, the first race of the year for novice women's crew teams and the first race ever for 60 aspiring rowers.

Radcliffe sent seven boats into the fray, none of which escaped without mishap--one boat hit a buoy at the start, one scraped a bridge on the way, while one steered clear of everything on the course, even the finish line. But in the end, the first boat finished third, closely tailing BU and Smith College throughout the two-and-a-half mile race.

Kristine Larson, bow seat on the first boat, was the first of the Crimson to cross the finish line. "Considering that we discovered a broken oarlock five minutes before the race and seats started coming off their slides five minutes after the race started, we rowed a good race," she said.

Nothing that Radcliffe novice teams placed first and second in last year's contest, coach Dan Copeland said, "Things seemed to go against us more than usual this year, but we rowed well under the circumstances." He added that he was pleased with the first boat's time of 1:56.

The festivities began at 10 a.m., when all 30 boats flocked towards the MIT boathouse and coxswains frantically tried to find the buoy marking the starting line. The shells began the race, staggered 10 seconds apart.

"I didn't realize when we were supposed to start rowing," said Chris Doyle who stroked the fourth boat to 11th place. "One minute we were positioning the boat, and the next minute we were going full power," she added.