Freshmen Dream of Their Day of Fun

Most of the boatmen at Newell boathouse these days are dreaming of the roar of the crowd which will line the banks of the Charles River for the Head of the Charles this Sunday.

The dreams of the majority of freshmen who have just joined the Harvard crew program as novice rowers will not be realized for another month. On November 19, these freshmen will engage in their first intercollegiate racing--the Tail of the Charles.

"It's a fun race for freshmen who have never raced before," said sophomore Bill Dillon, who competed in last year's race. "It's really the same race as the Head, but with less fan support."

The Tail of the Charles will be run on the morning of The Game this year, November 19, starting from MIT and running approximately two-and-a-quarter miles to Newell Boathouse. The competitors in the race include the Charles River schools--Harvard, Northeastern, Boston University, MIT and Tufts--but sometimes include guest competitors, such as Tulane last year.

"The race is primarily designed for compete. Then about 45 freshman eight-man boats run the second race against the clock.

Harvard and MIT are the only schools which send lightweights to the Tail, which has been run for approximately the last 10 years.

Novices Just Want to Have Fun

For the varsity rowers in the crew program, the Tail of the Charles is simply the end of the fall rowing season and the beginning of preparation for the main competition in the spring leading up to the National Championship Regatta in June.

However, the Tail of the Charles represents the beginning of national competition for some of the most important people in the Crimson rowing program--the novices.

Most of the lightweight varsity rowers who won the Eastern League Sprints Championship last May had never rowed before coming to Harvard. Junior Peter Sharis, who joined the program as a novice in 1986, rowed in every race on the varsity heavyweight crew last year.

"What the coaches do here is create the idea that, 'Yes, rowing is fun and a great way to spend time,'" said Mark Coyne, Harvard's varsity lightweight coxswain last year. "This includes a series of challenges designed to get you deeper into the program and to eventually get you freshmen who haven't raced yet," Harvard freshman heavyweight Coach Fred Brochelt said. "But it is also the culmination of our fall season on the water."

The Tail of the Charles includes two races, which are both run single-file--the same format as the Head of the Charles. The first race is for varsity four-man boats, in which about 30 crews are expected to hooked."

One of the keys to getting the Harvard freshmen hooked on rowing is the dream of competing in the Tail of the Charles. The same aura and crowd which surrounds the Head may not exist on November 19, but in the dreams of those freshmen who have never raced before, there will be 250,000 people watching them, too.

What about giving the freshmen an opportunity to compete more than just once in the fall?

"Anything is more enjoyable when you can perform it well," Borchelt said. "To rush the freshmen into racing at an early stage could be more discouraging than positive. It's better off waiting until they have developed certain skills and training before putting them in competitive situations. The Tail of the Charles is just about the right time to start."

This Sunday's races on the Charles River, like every year, will be a holiday for rowers, students and fans from all over New England, and even for some coming to Cambridge from all over the country.

For a small group of boatmen who first began braving the demanding and precise waters of an intercollegiate crew program this fall, their holiday will come at the Tail of the Charles.