ANNUAL REGATTA ON THAMES

The annual boat races with Yale will be rowed at New London on Friday, June 20. The race between the University eights will be rowed down-stream at 3.30 o'clock, or, if weather conditions demand postponement, up-stream at 6.30. The University fours will row up-stream from the railroad bridge to the Navy Yard at 9.15 A. M. the Freshman race following immediately over the same course. If postponement for the races is necessary they will be rowed if possible after the University eights race, other wise on Saturday morning. On Thursday afternoon the Freshman fours will race one mile, and the graduate eights will row a half-mile.

W. A. Meikleham of Columbia will act as referee, and F. V. Chappell of Yale as chairman of the Regatta Committee.

Development of University Crew.

This year the University crew lost heavily by graduation, Newton, Metcalf, Strong, Eager and Balch leaving places to be filled. There were, however, a number of "H" men who had rowed in the winning university four against Yale, as well as promising material from the Freshman eight. When practice began in the fall, Pirnie was put in at stroke; Morgan, Trumbull, Stratton filling in places left vacant. Although the crew seemed to be going very well, yet it was unable to overcome a slight handicap in the final fall race and was beaten by the second crew.

In the spring practice a number of changes were tried out in preparation for the triangular race with Princeton and Pennsylvania and the following order was finally decided upon: Stroke, Pirnie; 7, Morgan; 6, Harwood; 5, Mills; 4, Goodale; 3, MacVicar; 2, Trumbull; bow, Reynolds; cox., Capt. Abeles. In this race the eight was beaten by Princeton by a length and several weaknesses were exposed. Pirnie was displaced as stroke by Harwood, Mills was displaced by L. Curtis, Morgan was out of condition and his place was taken by H. Meyer. MacVicar moved from 3 to 4 to fill the seat left by Harwood, and Murray went in at 3. In this order the crew went up to Ithaca where it was easily defeated by a fine Cornell crew. The showing was better, however, than in the triangular race. When the crew recommenced rowing after this race Chandler was put at stroke and Harwood moved back to four. Morgan returned to the boat at 3, Stratton went in at 7 and MacVicar again changed allies going to 5. This order has been maintained since, and barring accidents will be that seen in the race against Yale.

Progress Made at Red Top.

Since coming to Red Top the crew has made the tremendous progress that is characteristic of Wray's crews on reaching the Thames. Before coming here the men had neither catch nor finish but now they have both. Wray has laid most of his emphasis on a very hard finish and a quick spring away of the hands and body which gives the boat speed on the recovery which is slower. He has also insisted on a firmer catch. The result has been that the men have gained the individual form to produce a fast crew and all that was needed was that they should get together. This was shown on Saturday when the crew rowed together perfectly and covered the four miles under fair conditions in 20 minutes, 14 seconds. This time shows that the crew is capable of good speed.

Yale Crew Has Made Strides.

This year as last the Yale crew has not had any races from which any definite deductions can be made. For the first part of the season the crew coach was W. A. Harriman but in May Messrs. Gold and Kirby came over from England and took charge. Harriman is a young man and rather inexperienced for such a responsible position. He succeeded, however, in grounding the men in the fundamentals of the stroke he had imported, although in many of the more minor details he was not so successful. The whole matter was taken in hand by the English coaches and as they themselves say the Yale crew rows a stroke that very closely approximates that rowed at the English universities. Yale has had two time rows since reaching Gales Ferry, the latter being done in 21 minutes, 17 seconds.

Comparison of Crews.

Both crews this year are under the weight average of several years past. The Yale crew is the best one on the Thames in the present college generation, but it is inexperienced, and has the precedent of a long string of Harvard victories to break. Harvard on the other hand was a decidedly inferior crew in the early part of the season as was indicated by the two defeats it suffered as above stated. However the eight has made immense strides since coming to Red Top. There has been this year considerable newspaper comment stating that Yale had a better crew than Harvard and that she would be expected to win. Those in the Harvard quarters who have followed the crews closely in the three weeks on the Thames see no real justification for this confidence. The figures of the two time rows may be significant, Harvard's time being over a minute faster than Yale, although the latter had at least equally fast conditions. The fact that Yale's row was a week before Harvard's must be taken into consideration.

The Freshman eight is a fast one as it showed by defeating the Cornell Freshmen. Since coming to Red Top consistent improvement has been made. The Yale Freshmen have not been in competition this year but they appear to have a good crew.

The University four has been shifted about a good deal up to the last week and did not show much speed. The last few days have shown a great improvement however. The Freshman four is one of the best in several years.