Head of the Charles



Rowers in front of the Newell Boat House

 Location coordinates:
42°22'11"N,
71°07'23"W
Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts

A little more than ten years ago I began what could be described as an obsession with the city of Boston. My first trip to The Hub (one of Boston's nicknames) was a three-hour stopover during a southern New England excursion Chrys and I made in 1987. My second visit was a fairly stressful business junket there in 1996. But these brief early trips planted the seed, and from late 1999 on we have traveled to Boston several times each year, and even lived there in 2008/2009 prior to our move to Minnesota. I've now spent so much time in Boston that I will always consider the city my second home. While living there during the fall of 2008 we were looking for things to do during a visit by our daughter Rachel. Chrys noted the Head of the Charles Rowing Regatta was scheduled that weekend and was to be held on the Charles River near the Harvard campus. As that was close to home, and thinking that activity would represent a perfect New England experience, we decided to check it out. We ended up having such a great time that we now have made the regatta an annual tradition, even though we have never participated in organized rowing ourselves. This past weekend marked our third Head of the Charles Regatta.

Rowing teams from all over the world participate in the event on the Charles River, which delineates Cambridge on the north bank and Boston on the south bank. Individual and team participants come from high school and collegiate crew teams as well as private rowing clubs. Competitors range in age from youth to athletes in their 80s. The bulk of the action takes place in and around the John W. Weeks bridge, a footbridge which links Harvard's main campus in Cambridge with the Harvard Business School and athletic facilities which lie on the Boston side of the river. It is a festive atmosphere with booths selling crew-themed apparel and food along the river banks where spectators cheer on their favorites. The setting can't be beat: rowers skimming over the river against a backdrop of Cambridge's colonial-era architecture, fall-colored trees, tasty "fair food", and crisp autumn air.

The sights off the water are often as interesting as those on the water. Groups of dapper English rowers decked out in their very British navy rowing blazers mix with American college groups in their team sweatshirts. Well-dressed Ivy League alumni cheer their school teams alongside average Joe spectators like me with no particular team affiliation. This year one of the more interesting non-rowing sights was the imaginative way one particular bicyclist found to secure his or her bike high above the crowds. I wonder how he or she was able to hold that bike aloft while securing it to the tree??



Competing rowers against the Boston skyline

 The Head of the Charles Regatta is just one of the events that keep me traveling back to Boston on a regular basis. I'm always happy when I'm there, and I'll likely write about many more of my favorite Boston "latitudes" in posts to come.