Monthly Archives: August 2007

Finally!

I’ve been wanting to swim in the Charles since we moved here in 1997. For a few years, now, the water has been swimmable almost every day of the year, but swimming is still not allowed because no beaches have opened. No beaches have openend because the bottom of the river is still polluted. I’ve flirted with the idea of just jumping in, the heck with it, but I haven’t had the guts, and M has discouraged me.

Then came my new pal Ben Martens, the Swimmable Charles Coordinator at the Charles River Conservancy. I heard about his appointment around when he was hired in March, but I hesitated to mail him directly. I was kind of worried that he would be working on policy and getting beaches opened, and that he wouldn’t be able to actually encourage anyone to swim until a beach was opened. I thought that he’d say, “it is a part of my job to encourage _safe_ swimming in the river, and this is not possible yet. I’ll add you to my list to be notified when we do open a beach; this is projected to happen in spring 2010″.

Happily, I was wrong. I emailed him asking whether he could give me some tips and information on swimming in the river. Here’s what Ben said:

1- Currently it is illegal to swim in the Charles River because there are no
sanctioned locations to do so from. You are subject to a $50 fine if caught
swimming in the Charles. The recent swim that took place was sanctioned,
hence no fines. because all the swimming locations along the river were
closed down in 1955 there is no place for people to safely enter the water.
People do swim though, from boats, and from locations upstream. Fraternities
have also done swims across the river and i have never heard of anyone being
hit with a fine or even told to get out of the river, except on the 4th of
July.

2- although it is illegal (technically) If you are interested in jumping
into the river i would suggest you go upstream to do so because the river is
much more native there and there are some wonderful little sandy beaches and
places just long the bike path. Havey Beach, in West Roxbury is a place that
we are looking to start swimming. Also, i would check the boating standards
before jumping in because there are still pollution issues with the river on
certain days due to rain or algae.

3- I am working on trying to arrange a swim for maybe the late fall but i
don’t know if that is going to happen or not. we are going to try and have
the swim race again next year as well as (hopefully) more recreational swims
for those of us who cannot race a mile without drinking half the river.

Hooray! I feel now like there’s someone out there (and I suppose more than one someone!) who does not think this is crazy, as does everyone I’ve spoken to so far. I’m thinking that, as soon as I can get a pair of water shoes that provides more protection than my tevas, and actually get out there, that I’m going to take a swim from this little tiny beach at Elm Bank Reservation that I’ve always had my eye on. It’s at such a beautiful bend in the river, and I’ve been hoping to kayak there someday, but now I feel like I don’t need a boat to experience this place from the water.

Thanks, Ben! And I’ll be sure to send in my post about my swim to your swimming page at http://www.charlesriverconservancy.org/projects/swimming/index.html.