Yale Edges M. Lightweights

The Harvard men's lightweight crew team traveled to sunny San Diego, Ca., for spring break and blew out UC-Santa Barbara by 23 seconds in the San Diego Crew Classic.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, Yale took its spring break vacation in San Diego, too.

And the Elis' vacation package included more than just plane tickets, hotel reservations and a promise of sun. Yale edged the defending-champion Crimson in the regatta finals to pick up the Commodore Cup as a souvenir.

The Elis crossed the line in 6:21.2, edging the second-place Crimson (6:22.6) by 1.4 seconds. The final race quickly became a two-boat duel as the Ivy duo washed out the competition, with Santa Barbara (6:45) the next closest finisher.

"It was a disappointing result," Captain Eric Davis said, "but it was a pretty well-fought race."

The Elis gained two seats on the start, speeding at 45 strokes per minute to Harvard's 40. But the Crimson pulled even 300 meters into the race and edged out to a two-seat lead by the 500 meter mark.

The race was neck-and-neck until the two boats hit the unprotected midway stretch, where wind and choppy waters gave the Harvard eight trouble.

"[Yale] handled [the rough conditions] better than we did," Davis said. "They were able to handle it, and keep up to 38 [strokes per minute], while we stayed at 34 or 36."

The Elis' smooth adjustment netted them a four-seat advantage, which they managed to hold onto through the final sprint.

Uncomfortable

"We need to spend more time rowing together getting comfortable with higher racing cadences, like 35 strokes a minute or 36," said sophomore Ted Marple, who noted that Yale had two weeks of practice in Florida to prepare for the race.

The Crimson first-boat combination--coxswain Andy Cameron, stroke David Obdura, seven-seat Greg Belmont, Davis, five-seat John Leete, four-seat Gerald Cardinale, Marple, two-seat Farzad Mostashari and bow John Velyvis--featured only three racers off last year's varsity eight, and had spent little time practicing as a unit.

"The morning race was the first 2000-meter piece the boat had rowed together this season," Belmont said. "It felt good. We didn't have much competition."

In its qualifying heat earlier in the day, Harvard sailed across the line a length ahead of its nearest competitor to earn a spot in the finals.

'Til We Meet Again

The Crimson defeated Yale in every meeting last season, and outraced the Elis in November's Head of the Charles competition.

"This is not the last word," Mostashari said.

The Crimson gets another shot at Yale when the two crews meet April 29th at Princeton, N.J., for HYP's.

In the meantime, the lightweights take to the water Saturday to race Pennsylvania and Cornell in Philadelphia.