The season opening for the Radcliffe crew teams on the Charles this Saturday was extraordinary in several respects. That's because the biggest obstacle the Black and White oarswomen confronted wasn't their opposition but, instead, poor water conditions and racing in the darkness of the ensuing night.

In fact, all crews won their races by decisive margins, with the exception of the second novice crew. In their victories, the oarswomen contended with whitecaps and swells which reached a foot and a half at times and strong winds which changed direction throughout the length of the river.

The varsity and JV eights, originally scheduled to race at 11:30 and 11:15 a.m., respectively, were forced to wait out the afternoon because of poor water conditions. The varsity heavyweights raced in almost complete darkness at 6:50 p.m. For coxswain Mary Boland, this meant steering without any visible markers.

Despite the lack of experience in racing at such a late hour and the more than six hour wait, the varsity heavyweights were able to maintain their adrenaline levels while outclassing their Charles River compatriots MIT and Northeastern.

After taking a lead within the first few hundred meters of the race, they lengthened their advantage steadily throughout the 2000-meter course, accumulating an 18-second lead over second-place MIT at the finish.

Similarly, the JV eight moved past the University of New Hampshire, Northeastern, and MIT early in the race, and stretched its lead to seven seconds.

Co-Captain Joyce Gallagher was satisfied with the performance of her crew, which had been chosen after spring break seat-racing only 10 days earlier. Gallagher felt that the team proved it could work together well, putting in a good start and finish and consistently lengthening its lead throughout the race.

Gallagher stated that the varsity crew concentrated very well, and added that, personally speaking, the crew "has been more ready and trained than ever before, especially for the first race of the season."

The real test for the heavyweights, though, will come against Eastern Sprint Champions Princeton and Cornell next weekend in Ithaca, N.Y. Although the Princeton crew remains formidable with four returning varsity members, the Radcliffe crew also has five rowers and a coxswain returning.

In varsity lightweight action, this year's prioritized lightweight combination four beat second-place Simmons College by four and a half seconds. In the same race, the second lightweight four placed third, ahead of two UNH boats.

The lightweight four race at 9:30 a.m. was moved into the "powerhouse stretch,"--a less distinctly marked and shorter course between the BU and Weeks bridges--because of poor water conditions on the regular racecourse. The regular 2000-meter racecourse is in the basin of the river, and lies 1000 meters downriver from the Mass Ave. Bridge, and ends at the Hyatt.

Though racing in the powerhouse stretch is not unusual, the lightweight fours race was in the opposite direction of the racecourse, facing downstream. These odd features made the race "feel more like a practice," said stroke Lindsay Burns.

Members of the first lightweight varsity four felt that they didn't meet their potential. Coxswain Kathe Aschenbrenner attributed the less-than-smooth performance to the fact that the boat had only been together "for two practices, and the styles hadn't meshed yet."

The lightweight varsity eight trounced Simmons and MIT by a margin of 14 seconds.

The merger between Radcliffe's heavyweight and lightweight teams has resulted in two lightweights--Christina Erikson and Julia Holland--rowing in what was formerly the JV heavyweight boat.

No lightweights have even bad the opportunity to seat-race for the varsity heavyweight eight. The subsequently larger number of rowers competing for the JV boats because of the squads' unification has led to a faster JV "openweight" boat, said JV boat member Liza Paschal.

Lightweight Co-Captain Clara Bui feels that the merger will lead to a greater potential for Radcliffe regatta sweeps. She expains that the lightweight eight competition is so thin that the Radcliffe team will probably beat any lightweight eight, despite the fact that the fastest lightweights are in the first lightweight four and JV openweight boats.

In addition, the added lightweight competition for the varsity and JV openweight boats theoretically increases their speed, which, Bui adds, "is exactly what we're looking for."

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

The first and third novice boats beat Northeastern, MIT and UNH in separate races, which were also postponed until after 6 p.m. The second novice boat, the only unsuccessful Radcliffe crew, came in second behind Northeastern by six seconds.