The Harvard varsity heavyweight crew returned to the Charles River Saturday in the same form that made the 1983 varsity oarsmen national champions.

Senior Andy Sudduth--back where he was two years ago--stroked the first eight (now 2-2) to a 10-second victory over floundering Northeastern, capping a day of Huskies rolling over and playing dead.

"For about 30 or 40 strokes it was fun," Sudduth said. "Then it got pretty boring."

The debut of Harvard's third stroke of the season provided the day's only excitement, and the only real question was how large the Crimson's margin of victory would be.

Despite Northeastern's attempts to avert the inevitable, however, that margin was measured in feet of open water.

The Crimson now tunes up for next Sunday's Eastern Sprints, where the varsity will aim to avenge losses to Brown and Navy and the J.V. will try to remain unbeaten.

"We are definitely planning on staying undefeated," said sophomore Claude Sirlin, whose boat downed the Huskies by 19 seconds Saturday.

"It was close for the first three or four strokes, and that was all," he explained.

The first freshmen--rowing in a configuration that may last until next weekend--remained undefeated as well, with a 25-second victory. "We're ready to go," six-man Kevin Cameron predicted.

THE NOTEBOOK: The Crimson lightweights traveled to Worcester for practice early yesterday, scouting the Lake Quinsigamond racecourse.

on the Charles River

2000 meters

Heavyweight Eights

VARSITY 1. HARVARD (bow, Neil Oleson 2, Dan Grout; 3, Arthur Hollingsworth; 4, Georage Hunnewell; 5, Rich Kennelly; 6, Curt Pieckenhagen; 7, Andrew Hawley; stroke, Andrew Sudduth; coxswain, David Corey) 6:09.0.2. Northeastern 6:19.0.

SECOND VARSITY 1. HARVARD (bow Austin Moore; 2, Michael Scott; 3, Ted Doolittle; 4, Tom Gill; 5, Claude Sirlin; 6, George Phipps; 7, Gordon Gwynne-Timothy, stroke, Max Drake; coxswain, Devin Mahony) 6:18.0.2. Northeastern 6:3.0.

THIRD VARSITY 1. HARVARD (bow Chris Richards, 2; Craig Boyan; 3, Steve Huefner; 4, Alex Litvack; 5, Jamie Hanson; 6, Chris McDougall; 7, Steve Potter; stroke, Dean Robinson; coxswain, Ed Castrol 6:34 2. Northeastern.

FIRST FRESHMEN 1. HARVARD (bow Duncan Robbins; 2, Eric Ayrault; 3, Struan Coleman; 4, Steve Wayne; 5, Tom Mills 6, Kevin Cameron; 7, Rick Tibbetts; stroke Mark Schoeifel; coxswain, Jim Crick) 6:22.0 2 Northeastern 6:47.0