To the untrained eye, tomorrow's Head of the Charles regatta will look like a bunch of numbered boats sailing down the river while rowers grunt and coxswains scream obscenities.

Well, here's the first tip: the coxswains screaming obscentities are the ones on the college boats. They care deeply about winning.

But this weekend there will be over 4000 different boats on the Charles taking part in Cambridge's annual fall ritual. And while Harvard and Radcliffe's top boats will be killing themselves to be the first down the river, others will not be quite as gung-ho.

With apologies to Vince Lombardi, winning won't be everything tomorrow.

Most rowers--like the other 250,000 people expected to descend on the Greater Boston area--will be there simply to have fun.

"The Head of the Charles is a lot of fun," Radcliffe Crew Co-Captain Meg Brooks says. "It's fun for everybody, especially because so many people are there to cheer you along."

Ah, fun. But don't be fooled. Remember that Brooks rows on a college boat. Her very next sentence is:

"We're going out there to win. There's a highly competitive atmosphere between the schools."

Obviously, there are two sides to this whole Head thing. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the women's Championship Eight race:

Radcliffe's top boat will start down the three-mile course 10 seconds after Boston University--last year's national champion--and 10 seconds before arch-rival Princeton.

You'd better believe these boats will take the race seriously.

Oddly enough, none of these three boats is likely to win the race. Three national teams--including the Canadian team, which won the gold medal in Barcelona--will also compete in the Championship Eight category.

You'd better believe these boats will take the race quite seriously.

Also competing will be the "1980 Rowing Club," made up of former 1980 Olympians. O'Leary is rowing on this boat, as is Radcliffe Novice Coach Holly Hatton and Harvard Coach Harry Parker's wife, Kathy Keeler.

You'd better believe this boat is just on the water for fun.