PRINCETON, N.J.--Despite howling winds and battering whitecaps, the women's varsity crew scored a stunning upset over Princeton and Cornell this weekend.

Ahead by six seats at the beginning of the race, the Black and White held on to its lead, outpacing the highly ranked and heavily favored Tigers by four seats at the finish.

The Black and White had luck on its side as a Tiger rower accidentally jumped her seat at the beginning of the race and the Princeton boat came to a virtual halt. "Princeton thought that the race should have been stopped because of its equipment failure, so they stopped rowing. But when the timers said `keep rowing' they had a lot of ground to make up on us and so they started all over again." Margie McHugh, the varsity captain, said yesterday.

"This is one of the biggest upsets, on the East Crew this year," McHugh said, adding, "It was an amazing race, and we really didn't expect to win."

With winds gusting up to 25 miles per hour, the less experienced women's JV and novice crews were unable to match the varsity's success. The JV eight placed third, a boat's length behind Cornell and several lengths behind Princeton. "We were racing in a screaming tailwind and we just weren't used to it," Kate Butler, the JV stroke, said, adding, "We're pretty inexperienced, and we just got rattled."

The first novice race was stopped in the middle because of a Princeton equipment failure and was never restarted. In the second, Cornell finished first, with the Black and White placing a close second. Princeton was disqualified from the second race for steering into the Cornell boat. "It was a pretty disappointing day for us," Dan Copeland, the novice coach, said, adding that, "the conditions were really impossible."