Sea Kayak Trips Bulletin Board

Urban Kayaking in Boston

Posted By: Jack Sanderson
Date: Monday, 1 November 1999, at 6:22 p.m.

Sunday 10/31/99

So I was all set for Halloween Sunday. The North Shore Paddlers Network (Boston area group) was scheduled for a trip out to Georges Island in Boston harbor. The Harbor Islands are quite beautiful and range from rustic camping to historic. Georges Island (5-6 miles out in the harbor) is the sight of fort Warren, a Civil War fort built to protect Boston and to house captured confederate solders. With winter coming on fast it was a chance to get in one last ocean paddle and to meet some kayakers from the club.

I got the ok from my significant other to be out all day as long as I made it back to take the kids out trick or treating. More importantly the weather for Sunday called for sunny skies and unusually warm weather of 70 degrees. To top it all off it was the end of daylight savings time so I could sleep in an extra hour. What more could I ask for?

When I showed up at City Point Beach I knew my dream trip was not to be. There were 15 to 20 kayakers standing around and not one boat off the roof rack. Despite the warm weather there was a nasty 10-15 knot cross breeze and lots of white caps. The waves weren’t that big but you could tell we would be fighting weather cocking all the way. The trip leader was a young guy who you could tell did not want to be responsible for keeping 20 people together and safe in a late season paddle so he called the trip off.

After getting this jazzed up there was no way I could pack up and go home so I decide on plan B. I jump back in the car and drive down to the Charles River. There is a parking lot with a good put in 5 miles from where the Charles dumps into Boston harbor. Pulling up right after me was Steve (I have a mental block on your last name) and his wife Cookie. Steve built "his and her" Guillemots Expedition Singles that he totes around on his VW camper and has come to some of these NSPN events. I had talked to him briefly at the City point beach and it looks like he had the same idea as me.

The Charles is probably better known for rowing and big university crew teams than for kayaking but for sheer fall color beauty in an urban setting it is hard to beat. The river winds around with the miles marked by boat houses of various crews (Northeastern, Harvard, Radcliff, Boston University, MIT etc.) The head of the Charles Regatta was last weekend and draws 200-300K spectators to watch the best in the world row their hearts out. Luckily that was last weekend and the river looks relatively empty. I get in and decide to head towards Boston to see the sights. Steve and Cookie decide to head up stream as they had paddled that way before so we part ways.

The wind which had been howling in the harbor is relatively calm on the river and I make good time. The good thing about the Charles is that it is so twisty that no matter which way the wind is blowing against or with you around the next corner it will change. The trees along the river were in full Autumn color and the skyline of Cambridge and Boston were in full glory. As you travel along you pass Harvard and MIT on your left and BU on your right. You pass under several bridges some of which are architectural beauties and some very ugly saved only by the grafitti of crew teams.

I crossed over from side to side several times taking as straight a line as possible. At one point I was paddling close to the left bank when a 4 woman crew rowed by, the first I had seen this morning. The reverie of this beautiful sight of the powerful team rowing in perfect unison and making the shell go very fast was broken as they went by and yelled some nasty comment to me about being on the wrong side of the river. I felt like a school kid getting caught running in the hall ways and couldn’t for the life of me figure out how my kayak was in their way. I decided to stay on the right side the rest of the way hoping not to break any unwritten rules.

As you get to the Downtown area the river widens out to the basin. This is a popular place to rent small sail boats and there must have been over 100 of them tacking around like mad. Half of them seemed to be in a race around a course and the rest were sailing randomly about It was amazing to me that there wasn’t a collision every 5 minutes but there seemed to be some method to the madness. In a way it looked like a flock of overgrown swans or white flamingos as all the boats are white with white sails.

I paddled up to the Esplanade which has a park and a band shell where many outdoor concerts are held. Hauling my Guillemot out of the water I picked out a nice section of grass, eat my lunch, and whatched the world go buy. There were walkers, joggers, rollerbladers, in ever size and shape out enjoying the warm weather. While I normally like to be away from people when I go out kayaking there was something amazing about all that energy in a urban setting that was quite beautiful.

I put back in a headed back along the same route as I came. It was interesting to gauge my speed with that of the people on the jogging path along the river. Bikers and rollerbladers blew past me fast runners got me to increase my speed until I realize it was no use. I could basically keep up with slow joggers or people running with baby carriages and left the walker behind. I had won and lost several mini races with people who didn’t know they were racing me in order to keep up my pace.

I was back at my car at 2:30 after a thoroughly enjoyable day. Did it live up to the Georges Island trip? No way! But I had no regrets about the day and not having to hump against that wind all day.

Jack Sanderson

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