CREW

For the past 15 years, Dartmouth's oarsmen have spent their spring vacation in Connecticut or Rhode Island, waiting for the ice-bound Connecticut River to open. This year, Coach Pete Gardner accepted an invitation to take the crew to Alabama and the results were well worth the many miles of transporting the shells to spacious Lake Martin.

"Even though we've been hampered by turbulence in the Connecticut during the past week," Gardner said on the eve of the heavyweight eight's debut against Rutgers, "we appear to be far ahead of recent Dartmouth crews at this stage in our training."

The Alabama training period was tremendous. "The lake is so large we could always find flat water," said Gardner. "We accomplished everything I had hoped for."

The Green oarsmen did much for Dartmouth during their trip besides improving their rowing techniques. The tenday session, with generous assistance from several Dartmouth alumni in the Montgomery area, included an array of special events for the oarsmen. Capping the training period was a race with the University of Alabama's new crew. The Indians scored a two-length victory in the televised race with the Alabama eight.