That number steadily dwindled to its present size, though. "We've been working out at Weld boathouse since it opened this year, at 6:15 in the morning, five days a week. The rowers who've stuck with us are pretty serious. It takes a lot of persistence to get up every morning and work out."

Although serious, the B-School crew realizes it isn't a threat to younger competition. Obermeyer commented, "Due to the time pressures of graduate school and the lack of coaching, we realize that we can't be competitive with college rowing teams. But we try to reach as high a level as possible."

And Obermeyer claims they aren't bothered by the lack of prize money. "When we row, we don't think of money."

Rude and Smooth

Probably the most famous boat in the Head is the crew known as the "Rude and Smooth," made up of members of Harvard's 1974 and 1975 varsity heavyweight crews.

An extremely talented group (five of the boat's members have been on U.S. national teams), the Rude and Smooth is the subject of a chapter in David Halberstam's recent book, The Amateurs.

How did the boat get its name? Crew member Tiff Wood '75 explains, "We got it from a Sports Illustrated article that was written about us in 1974, while we were racing in Seattle.

"Around that time, two sayings were really big: we said 'How rude is that' to describe something we thought was bad, and we said 'How smooth is that' if we wanted to say the opposite. The reporter hung around us long enough to pick up our language.

"He provided us with our first exposure to the media. We weren't used to it, and we had no idea how we were supposed to respond. We went out of our way to gross him out.

"We basically burped and farted our way to stardom.

"Al Shealy, a member of the crew, told the reporter his ambition was to hang naked from a plane circling the Space Needle restaurant in Seattle. I was given the nickname 'Moon Man.'" And Wood isn't an astronomer.

The strategy paid off. They made an impression on the Sports Illustrated reporter, who gave the article the title "The Rude and the Smooth."

It was an appropriate epithet, because despite the crew's rude antics, they rowed smoothly enough to defeat the Washington Huskies, who had been considered Harvard's toughest opponent.

Thus a name was born. Although the crew retains that handle, its members don't live up to their off-color reputations anymore, according to Wood. "We've all calmed down and gotten jobs," he says.

"Rude and Smooth" is a fair description of how the boat has performed in recent years. It won its division in 1979, '80 and '81, but ran into a bridge two years ago.