About CRAB
The Charles River Alliance of Boaters (CRAB) is a coalition of individuals and organizations that use the Charles River from Watertown Square to the Charles River Dam. Our mission is to encourage safe and accessible boating by the entire community on the Lower Basin of the Charles.
CRAB organizations are your access to organized boating on the Charles River.
They are public and private, non-profit, for-profit and school based, and offer a wide range of boating experiences for all boating interests from sightseeing to Olympic training. Whether your interest is with an oar, paddle, sail, motor, or even helping to keep the river clean, CRAB organizations can provide what you need.
In bringing together power boaters, sailors, rowers, paddlers, and others, we can work together to keep the Charles River a healthy resource for the enjoyment of boaters and park users alike.
A cornerstone of our effort is the development of better avenues of communication between and among this diverse community of users.
While here, don't limit yourself to just your favorite activity. Take a few moments to learn about what other people are doing on the Charles.
This web site is intended to be a resource for all the users of the river, including people that are just thinking of getting on the water.
There is a separate page for each of the major groups of users: rowers, sailors, paddlers (canoeists, kayakers, paddleboarders, and dragon boaters), power boaters, fishermen, sightseeing providers, and stewards of the river. On each of these pages, there are links for useful information, including traffic patterns and other safety information. Also on each page are links to organizations that provide recreational and competitive opportunities.
To the right of every page are useful links for that activity. Here, there are links to our blog, our calendar, our contact list, as well as our activity advisories.
With 13 rowing clubs, 4 sailing pavilions, 4 yacht clubs, and several other stakeholders on the river, we don't meet off the water very often.
Most of our communication happens via email to representatives of each river organization.
CRAB emails weekly notices about activities on the river as well as other occasional notices and requests.
CRAB has two separate email list-servers, a private one for club representatives and a public one for river users and the general public.
If you'd like to join the public list-server and get these emails directly, please subscribe.
CRAB will not share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.
While we try to communicate by email as much as possible, hardcopy mail can be sent to CRAB, 20 Nonantum Road, Brighton, MA 02135.
To contact CRAB directly, please email
.
To post an event on the CRAB calendar, create it on your calendar
and then add
as a guest or invite.
Comments and questions regarding the web site should be directed to
.
Agendas and Minutes of CRAB meetings can be found here.
Officers of CRAB
: President
Carl's involvement with CRAB started while he was the president of the Massachusetts Bay Sailing League for a dozen years,
building it from 8 high school sailing teams at Community Boating to more than 30 schools at venues from Natick to Gloucester and Duxbury.
He was the Project Coordinator and driving force to generate the new depth chart of the Lower Basin of the Charles River, the first detailed chart in more than 100 years.
In addition, he has been the webmaster for CRAB for several years, creating much of the content of our website.
Carl was the vice-president of CRAB for 2021.
: Vice-President
Kane is the Director of Special Projects & Relationships at Community Rowing and represents CRAB on the I-90 Task Force.
Kane has been rowing and/or coaching on the Charles since the early 1990s.
Through his work with CRI, he regularly interacts with the DCR and many of the varied boating organizations that use the Charles.
: Secretary
If anyone is interested in becoming the CRAB Secretar, please let us know.
: Treasurer
Bob learned to scull at CRI and then joined Cambridge Boat Club, where he is a frequent rower and occasional involuntary swimmer.
He and his wife also enjoy kayaking on the Charles River together.
Bob loves his time on the river, and wants to help make it safer for everyone
: Trustee
Ralph is a retired engineer, past Commodore, longtime Secretary and currently Outside Interests chairman of Watertown Yacht Club.
He has been boating on the River since the 1940’s and remembers swimming at Magazine Beach.
A CRAB member since its founding, he is a true believer in its "raison d’etre"
: Trustee
Kate has been a river user since Spring of 2003, when she returned to MA and joined Riverside Boat Club having learned to row at the University of Texas, Austin as a grad student.
Kate has served as a Trustee for Riverside and raced the first Head of the Kevin.
Though professional and volunteer activities Kate has an understanding of the nuances of intersections of the governing bodies involved with the oversight of the Charles
and is interested in assisting CRAB in that capacity.
: Trustee
Mark is a longtime paddler who enjoys kayaks, paddleboards, surfskis, and outrigger canoes.
He has worked at Paddleboston: Charles River Canoe and Kayak since the early 90's and has seen the tremendous growth in the use of the Charles River since then.
He looks forward to working on continuing to improve communication among all river users. Mark also serves on the Board of Directors of the Mystic River Watershed Association.
: President Emeritus
Aleks Zosuls has been boating on and occasionally falling into the Charles river for 25 years.
He joined CRAB out of gratitude for use of the river and the surrounding parkland.
His mission has been to safely promote and maintain access to the river for all modes of boats and users and more recently swimming.
Alex had been president since 2012 and is a member of the Riverside Boat Club.