Head of the Charles: Course Committee

October 21, 2007 – Michael Todd, one of three Course Committee chairmen for the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA, unloads anchors from his boat at the Weld Boathouse, home of the Harvard-Radcliffe crew teams, to the helping hand of Bill Sichel, a safety crew volunteer. The anchors held buoys in place, which marked the course for the rowers. The course boundaries are of utmost importance because they help to direct crewmembers away from danger zones such as bridges and shallow water. Todd is in charge of making sure the buoys do not drift during the course of the event, which is subject to occur due to rising water.

October 21, 2007 – Ellie Reinhartt, 17, of York, ME, pulls a green boundary buoy from the Charles River in Boston, MA, at the completion of the Head of the Charles Regatta. Several other course development volunteers, including Ruth and Katherine Sweeny, of Reading, MA, and one of three course committee chairmen, Tim Wood, coach of the Belmont Hill crew team, join Reinhartt in the boat. Together the team is responsible for pulling all of the 350 course boundary buoys; the job takes over an hour to complete. According to Michael Todd (not pictured), another course committee chairmen, it takes three hours to set the course.

October 21, 2007 – Michael Todd, one of three Course Committee chairmen for the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA, ties together blue buoys with Betsy Walkerman, who came from Vermont to volunteer, at the Harold W. Pierce Boathouse. Todd is in charge of setting up the course boundaries with buoys and taking it apart. Blue buoys are placed at the end of the course, just after the finish line, creating a path rowers must follow after completing the race. All crews must past beyond them before turning back down the river to avoid congestion.

October 21, 2007 – Michael Todd, one of three Course Committee chairmen for the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA, grabs a rope to tie it into a sea gasket, a sailors knot that prevents tangling, as Travis Ebel, a course volunteer, grabs a crate full of buoy anchors, bringing them to the Harold W. Pierce Boathouse for year-round storage. The anchors are hand-made of PVC and concrete and weigh 20 pounds.

October 21, 2007 – As the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA, comes to a close, George Bird, a member of the Course Committee, who is part of a group of volunteers in charge of setting up and pulling apart the course, repairs a light on his boat after docking for the night at the Harold W. Pierce Boathouse.