The Harvard varsity lightweight crew opened its season Saturday afternoon with a disappointing third-place finish in the San Diego Crew Classic.

Yale and San Diego Diego destroyed the Crimson's one-seat lead in the SDSU IN 4:18.74, and Harvard in 4:19.14.

"It was an incredibly close race," said senior Captain Paul Natterson.

"Yale outsprinted us, basically."

The truncated course--shorted from 2000 meters because of a sewage spill in the bay--left the body of the race, and left the Crimson oarsmen anxious for a rematch.

"We're looking forward to rowing a 2000-meter race," Natterson said. "We feel that at HYP's [the Harvard-Yale-Princeton competition in late April] we'll be very strong."

Already very strong was the performance of Harvard's lightweight four, composed of what stroke James Sheldon called "the best elements of the weight four, composed of what stroke James Sheldon called "the best elements of the j. v. so far."

The four handily took its 7 a.m. heat and topped Long Beach State by more than four seconds in the afternoon fine. "We rowed hard but we won fairly easily. Sheldon said of the seven-crew, open competition.

The Harvard lightweights open their Eastern season next Saturday at Dartmouth against the Big Green and MIT. The Crimson heavyweights will compete on the Charles, hosting Brown.