Flyby Tries: Kayaking on the Charles

Cambridge has been blessing us with beautiful weather lately, and I don’t know whether to be happy or feel an eerie foreboding of the surely inevitable bone-withering, soul-sucking winter. Nonetheless, I endeavored to take advantage of the pleasant remnants of the summer by kayaking on the Charles! I admit, this was partially motivated by my curiosities watching Head of the Charles and wondering what it is like to be a rower.

It was truly a beautiful day, with a sparkling sun and some breeze. My two friends and I were originally planning on riding a three-person canoe, but we were warned that it would be dangerous due to high winds that day. Disappointing because I had fully planned on being a passenger princess. Alas, I rowed.

But first, we ran into a student working at the kayak place who apparently took Math 21a, which my friend is a CA for. The 21a network runs deep! I say this as a past victim student. Three days a week of psets was not for the weak, but it makes for great trauma bonding.

We started in the area of the river near the SEC, and then rowed downstream towards John Weeks bridge. I don’t claim to be an athletically inclined person, but that day I discovered one of my fatal flaws. I was crashing us into the shoreline, into other kayakers, and almost into a passing boat, to the chagrin or terror of my friend on the same kayak as me. Luckily, he had better athletic intuition than I did, so we lived to tell the tale.

Pure joy on our faces! By Hayeon "Rachel" Ok

The trick to kayaking is to lift the paddle higher than you think you need to, and gliding it through the water deeper than you think you need to. I was not aware of this fact! So it was only halfway through the whole experience, after my skirt had become completely soaked that I realized that none of my other friends were having the same struggles.

The consequences of the wrong rowing technique. By Hayeon "Rachel" Ok

The good thing is that I’ve become quite accustomed to having river water splashing at my face now, so alleged flesh eating bacteria does not scare me anymore. If you see someone partaking in a certain Harvard tradition involving swimming in the Charles, it may or may not be me. I am invincible now.

The experience ended with karaoke in the middle of the river, which I hope no one had the unfortunate experience of hearing. Floating in the middle of quasi-wilderness just gives you bursts of (probably false) confidence that you are incognito to the world. Good stress relief.

Overall, I would rate the experience as “would do it again.” To all my rowers out there, y’all are doing great. I’m happy to have touched some dirty river water and to have sung my heart out while floating downstream, ahead of this gruesome fall semester.