The oldest public sailing organization in the U.S., Community Boating, Inc., will celebrate its 80th birthday beginning Saturday, June 20, with a 24-hour Sail-a-thon on the Charles River to support CBI’s continuing mission of providing equitable access to sailing for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.
For the Sail-a-thon, participants assigned to a specific boat will sail around the Charles River for a full 24 hours beginning at 10 a.m. on June 20, completing as many laps as possible in this time to raise funds to support CBI’s youth and adaptive programs.
“You choose your boat, put your team together, and keep your boat going on the river for 24 hours,” said Kate Ferris Richardson, CBI’s executive director, during a recent video call.
Team members can swap out with others in their group over the course of the event, taking the shifts that best correspond with their own schedules and personal preferences.
“So, if you’re a night owl, you can take the 3 a.m. shift,” explained Ferris Richardson.
Each team develops its own strategy for substituting out members as the clock essentially stops for every minute their boats are out of the water.
With a goal of raising $100,000 for CBI, there is a minimum benchmark of $500 per team. But once each team has met its minimum goal, they can unlock three categories of “perks.”
As a “comfort perk,” given to them for exceeding their minimum by $1,000, a team could have their boat delivered to them on the water, or they could instead opt have hot coffee delivered to them on the water, said Ferris Richardson.
For the second category, called “strategy perks,” which are rewarded for exceeding their minimum by $2,000, team members might receive prime parking.
Among the third category, so-called “speed go-fast perks,” which are given to teams that exceed their limit by $3,000, is ‘bottom cleaning” – a treatment that entails cleaning the algae from the bottom of a boat to enable it to move faster.
Participants can only select one perk from each of the three levels, however.
“You’re going to want your team to have all of those [levels of] perks,” added Ferris Richardson.
For people who aren’t participating in Sail-a-thon but would still like to show their support, CBI be sponsoring a ticketed Summer Kickoff Party & Sail-a-thon Celebration on Saturday, June 20, from 6:30-9:30 p.m.
“I think our dock parties are pretty well known at this point in the Beacon Hill area,” said Ferris Richardson.
The event will feature a bar offering local beer, wine, and hard seltzer (two drink tickets are included with admission price); food available for purchase; music; lawn games and activities; raffles; and a door prize of a CBI annual membership for one attendee.
Visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/summer-kickoff-party-celebrating-80-years-tickets-1990568937276?aff=oddtdtcreator to purchase tickets for the event.
CBI takes root on the Charles
CBI’s origins date back to the mid-1930s, when a semi-organized group of West End kids began sailing on the Charles River.
A boathouse was constructed on the Charles River for the sailing program in 1941, with funds dedicated by Mrs. Helen Storrow, a prominent Boston philanthropist who also provided a $1 million towards making improvements to what would later become known as the Esplanade.
(Mrs. Storrow had apparently already taken a keen interest in the ‘Community Boating Club,’ which was established by her nephew, Joseph Lee, Jr., in 1937 to provide sailing opportunities for West End youth on the Charles.)
The building was formally dedicated on June 28, 1941, by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with a $1 per year rent paid to the state’s erstwhile MDC (Metropolitan District Commission), which then had jurisdiction over the land. (A second story was later added to the boathouse in the 1980s.)
CBI was incorporated in 1946, with the mission of preserving public access to the Charles River, and with its motto of ‘Sailing for All,’ it became an official 501(c)3 nonprofit in 1949.
“Community Boating has made sure access to boating on the Charles has remained public for 80 years,” said Ferris Richardson. “I think one of the things that’s really important [in thinking] about Community Boating, in its 80th anniversary, it’s 80 years of access, and that hasn’t changed.”
CBI’s Youth Program for ages 10-17, which has a sliding-scale cost of $1 to $450, offers a variety of classes over 10 weeks from June 15 through Aug. 21, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, along with kids-only boathouse access on summer weekdays. (Kids must be able to swim 50 yards to participate in the program.)
Also, CBI’s Summer Junior Program for ages 10–17 offers beginner sailing, as well as paddling, racing, STEM, and leadership opportunities. Beginners are welcome, and need-based sliding-scale membership options are available.
CBI’s Adult Program annual fee includes access from April 1 through Nov. 1, plus off-season offerings. (If you join in June of 2026, your membership is good until June of 2027.) This program is open to people ages 18 and older; the annual fee includes all lessons and equipment.
With opportunities to sail, paddle, windsurf, race, volunteer, and enjoy outdoor activity at many different levels, the program gives people room to participate in the way that best fits them.
“You don’t need to know how to sail, we have it all,” said Ferris Richardson. “Walk into the boathouse, and we have you covered.”
But for those already experienced on the water, Ferris Richardson added: “If you’re already a sailor, you can rent a sailboat for a day. Just convince us you know what you’re doing.”
In 2025, CBI had 4,145 youth boat sign-outs, as well as 935 youth program participants, with 39 percent of youth receiving sliding-scale support. CBI also had 459 Adaptive Sailing and Therapeutic Sailing appointment last year through its partnership with DCR’s Universal Access program, along with 21,218 adult program boat sign-outs and
1,998 adult volunteer hours.
“Sailing is a really cool activity where it is recreational, or it could be a sport, if you want it to be,” said Ferris Richardson. “You can’t age out of it, like you can age out of football or soccer.”
Although CBI’s programming is fee-based, Ferris Richardson is eager to point out its dock is open to the public.
“CBI offers more than just sailboats,” she said. “For the community, the dock is public. We’re in the Esplanade; we’re part of the public park. The program is what you’re paying to have access to, but come and enjoy the deck. It’s part of the community.”
CBI celebrates anniversary and looks to future
As the organization marks its milestone anniversary this year, CBI is launching its 80th Anniversary Campaign – an 18-month effort which aims to raise $1 million for the organization’s future.
“We’re looking to the next 80 years,” said Ferris Richardson. “We’re looking to the next generation. We’re stewards of the boathouse; we’re stewards of the Community Boating program. What’s really important is what we’re going to leave behind when it’s time to pass it along.”
The campaign focuses on three areas of CBI’s continuing impact, including the Youth Summer Program; its Universal Access program, which offers sailing opportunities to individuals with disabilities; and CBI’s Safety and Fleet Readiness system of equipment, training, and operational oversight to ensure safety and consistency (e.g. maintaining and replacing boats, training instructors, and sustaining the infrastructure required for on-water programming).
Visit https://portal.community-boating.org/donate?initiativeName=80th+Anniversary+Campaign to contribute to and learn more about CBI’s 80th Anniversary Campaign.
Year One of Sail-a-thon
While Ferris Richarson would love to see Sail-a-thon become an annual tradition on the Charles, her main focus now is ensuring the first event goes smoothly.
“We would love for this to become an annual thing, but it’s our first year,” she said. “We are definitely looking at building it and learning from Year One, so as much as we love for it to be annual thing, we’re focusing on this year right now.”
To register for, donate to, or learn more about CBI’s Sail-a-thon, visit: https://go.rallyup.com/sailathon
Visit community-boating.org to learn more about Community Boating, Inc.