VARSITY EIGHT WILL GET FIRST TEST THIS SATURDAY ON CHARLES

In spite of the temporary loss of Chaco, Varsity stroke, the outcome of the Compton Cup regatta with M.I.T. next Saturday is viewed by Nowell Boat House habitues with optimism, Chaco, due to a cold, was unable to set the beat yesterday and Roger Cutler, second string timer, took over the job. Cutler will swing the Varsity oar again today until Chaco's recovery, anticipated by the doctor on Wednesday, puts him back at stroke in the second boat. In the Jayvees yesterday Kernan went forward to pull the number two sweep and Roosevelt returned to his post at six.

The races Saturday will open this year's intercollegiate rowing season on the Charles and will provide the first real test of the Crimson navy. Much hard work with many time trials has gone far to advance the 1936 shell over its immediate predecessor, but it still remains to be seen whether or not Harvard's first eight will have regained some of the sprint racing punch it lacked so markedly last spring.

Boat Changed Little

In an effort to develop a finished crew, Whiteside has left his first boat alone rather than experimenting with many different changes. For three weeks practically no shifts have been made and this has resulted in a greater feeling of confidence in the ground-work of the eight than prevailed at this time last year.

Although the time trials have been frequent, results have been kept a secret, even from the men who made the time. Charlie Whiteside has let no one in on the comparative records in many cases because he felt that the actual times were misleading as a basis for judging the crew's progress, either as regards other college eights, or as a week by week survey of the crew itself; conditions of wind, water, and tide being sufficiently different to throw out of line the elapsed time as recorded by the stop watch.

Twelve Crews to Race

Twelve crews will splash away from the starting line Saturday; Tech will enter an eight in the Varsity, Jayvee, Varsity Fifty, and Freshman classes and the Tiger will also take the water in all four. Except for the fifties, all races will be over the 1 3/4 mile course. The first race will be between te Yearlng boats and is scheduled to begin at 3.30 o'clock. Following them come the Varsity fifties at 4:30 o'clock and a half an hour later the Jayvees. The big race of the afternoon will climax as well as close the regatta at 5.30 o'clock when the Varsity heavyweights go the mile and three-quarters.