Varsity Fifties Eight Will Row in Henley Regatta

Bert Haines' smart and powerful 150-lb. crew which topped the Elis in a thrilling race last Saturday will take part in the one-hundredth rowing of the Royal Henley Regatta in England on July 1 and 2 in competition for the Thames Challenge Cup, it was learned last night.

Simultaneously the Yale Athletic Association announced that the Eli boat will journey to Britain to participate in the same event. Only other entry from the United States is a Kent School eight which is making its sixth trip across the Atlantic since 1927.

Haines Goes As Rigger

Because regatta rules prohibit professional coaches from accompanying oarsmen in the yearly classic, Bert Haines will have to go along as a rigger, while Robert F. Herrick '90 takes over the mentor position.

Only twice in the past has a Harvard boat ventured overseas to take part in the traditional Henley. The first time was in 1914 when Herrick coached a jayvee eight, stroked by Leverett Saltonstall '14, which captured the cup by winning over Leander, Winnipeg and the Union Boat Club of Boston. In 1931 the Third Varsity entered the competition but were not successful.

The lightweight swingers will be paying their own way with the aid of an unnamed graduate and will set sail on June 15. The Athletic Committee which will not officially approve the venture until its June 5 session, hopes to arrange it so that Captain George Meyer's boat will take the crossing on the same boat with the Eli Fifties.

Open their season on April 30, the Varsity 150-pounders made an impressive debut by coming from behind to beat the M. L. T. lightweights in 7:15 time on the Charles over the mile and five-sixteenths Henley distance.

At Princeton in the Joe Wright regatta they learned a bitter lesson when they lost to the Bulldog boatsmen in the finals after having won by a length over the same crew in the qualifying heats.

But last week the Elis fell into the trap that was waiting for them on the Charles River when the Crimson eight took them by a third of a length in 7:05.4. Princeton trailed two lengths behind as they had done on Lake Carnegle in the Wright races.

Bert Haines has rounded out his raw Sophomore material in significantly short order this year and believes he has one of the best lightweight boats ever to emerge from Newell. The Blue oarsmen on the other hand are mostly experienced Juniors who experts believe, have already reached their peak this season.