This is the Cape Cod Mercury that I sail. It can technically seat four people, but more than two would be pretty crowded. Not to mention, if you're going to take three other friends, you don't have much room to shift weight to avoid capsizing. Although the boat is small, you can use up to three sails (the main sail, the jib sail, and the spinnaker); I only know how to sail with the main sail. CBI has larger and smaller boats, too, but those require more skill than I have currently. :)
You can also imagine from this photo and the one below how the dock is U-shaped: the dockhouse is in the middle part of the U (see the photo below, included again from a previous post) and boats are docked on both arms of the U. The edge of the dock closest to the river is for "active" loading, meaning that there are rarely more than four or five unused boats docked there, and boats that no one is using at the time are tied up in the slips inside the U. By my best guess, the dock holds 60 Mercurys. With all the larger and smaller boats that are docked, moored, or stored elsewhere, I think CBI has a fleet of approximately 150 boats. The dockhouse is basically the command center: CBI staff take your name and boat number down (the sails are numbered with giant text for easy identification) every time you go out, and you check in after bringing your boat back. Lifejackets and sails are all stored in a separate bay of the boathouse (not pictured) and you can just grab them on your own. Picnic tables sit between the boathouse and the slips; there is a grill, too, for frequent barbecues. CBI also has vending machines and a microwave if you're bringing your own lunch, lockers for keeping anything you don't want to lose when you potentially capsize, and showers for if you do happen to get dunked in the river.
The photo below also shows the flags above the dockhouse. The red flag is the one that indicates the wind conditions, and the one below with an arrow points in the windward direction (handy for knowing which way you should approach the dock when landing). There are also flags higher up above the boathouse (not pictured). The highest flag is the American flag, and when it comes down, the river is closed and you better bring your boat in, too. They also fly the wind condition flag above the boathouse, too, so that you can see it from almost any part of the basin.
The hot pink foam things on top of the masts are apparently new this year. They serve two purposes: 1) they make it easier for the dockhouse staff to identify which boats on the river are CBI boats, and 2) they keep capsized boats from "turtling" and turning completely upside down. The Charles River is apparently not very deep, and when these boats turtle, the masts get stuck in the mud at the bottom.
This is just a pretty picture taken while I was walking along the Esplanade. The bridge in the photo is the Longfellow Bridge, and it serves as one boundary of the sailing basin.
And this photo, also posted previously, sort of shows the other bridge all the way at the other end of the basin (just to the right of the leftmost tree trunk in the photo) that serves as the other boundary of the sailing basin. That bridge is called the Harvard Bridge, and it goes to MIT--don't ask, no one understands. (It's also the bridge I bumped into with Manlio, from a previous post.) Anyway, the entire basin is about 1.5 miles between bridges and 1 mile wide. Besides CBI, the MIT sailing club also uses the basin, as well as a private yacht club, and kayaks, tourist Duck Boats, and river cruise tours frequently pass through. It's a busy place!
When I go kayaking, I can either paddle around the basin with all the sailboats and everyone else, or I can take a spin through the lagoons along the Esplanade. They are shaded and calm and meandering, with plenty of geese and turtles and dragonflies! This photo shows the view of one stretch of lagoon from a footbridge. There are four or five footbridges leading from one path along the Esplanade to another. It's a nice place to walk and sit and boat-watch.
So this is it--my very favorite place in Boston! This is where I have been spending every weekend day that I can, and I'm hoping to start coming once a week after work, too. Let me know when you're in Boston and I'll take you out with me--sailing (and potentially capsizing) or kayaking (and getting wet from the splashes), your choice!
P.S. I went sailing today - green flag - and didn't have a single catastrophe.
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