By Dan Murphy
When Charlie Zechel steps down from his role as executive director of Community Boating, Inc., in July, it will mark the end of an era for the nation’s oldest public sailing nonprofit, which he has served for more than a quarter of a century.
Charlie Zechel, the long-serving executive director of Community Boating, Inc., who will step down from that role in July.
Zechel, a New Hampshire native who calls Rhode Island home, had worked in several sailing programs, including some in Newport, R.I., before joining Community Boating, Inc. (CBI) as its adult program director in December of 1997. Less than five years later, he was named the executive director of the largely volunteer-driven organization based on the Charles River Esplanade.
Community Boating’s origins date back to the mid-1930s, when a Boston man, Joe Lee, Jr., remembered as a wealthy Brahmin sailing enthusiast, began teaching disadvantaged kids from around the West End to build and operate makeshift sailboats. Lee’s philanthropic efforts, however, evidently weren’t embraced by all of the city’s elite at the time.
In 1946, several of Lee’s former protégés had returned home to Boston after serving in World War II, and inspired by his example, they incorporated Community Boating to teach sailing to underprivileged youth on the Charles River.
The fledgling organization set up shop in a boathouse on the Esplanade built in 1941 by the Metropolitan District Commission (the forerunner of the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation).
Today, ‘SAILING HERE FOR ALL’ is emblazoned on a wooden sign that hangs near the boathouse’s front door, and it’s an adage that perfectly captures the welcoming environment Community Boating has created over the years.
Community Boating made a major stride in its goal of achieving all-inclusivity in 2007, when the organization partnered with DCR to launch the Universal Access Program, which allows individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities to enjoy sailing on the Charles.
Around 2004, Zechel attended a sailing conference in San Diego, Calif., which included a presentation on accessible sailing.
While listening to participants, some of whom were competitive sailors, speaking firsthand on the topic of accessible sailing, Zechel said he was emotionally overwhelmed – a feeling that was only amplified when he met and spoke with them afterwards.
“And that was a light bulb. Eureka coming, your light bulb coming on,” Zechel recalled during a recent virtual call. “Community Boating is the best facility [around for an accessible sailing program]. You could not have designed it better in terms of being the right type of environment for people who have disabilities and need special assistance to go sailing.”
For around two years, Zechel worked together with the late Dianne J. ‘Gigi’ Ranno of DCR, who herself was confined to a wheelchair, to develop the program.
“The DCR found support financially that first year to help us modify boats and buy the safety launch and all the infrastructure,” said Zechel, who added that Ranno sometimes acted as the test pilot for the modified boats in progress.
Today, the Universal Access Program serves around 250 individuals, with many of them participating on a weekly basis.
“The Universal Access Program has been very meaningful for me to see it grow,” said Zechel. “But it’s been very meaningful for the staff because they really get as much out of it, in many ways, as the participants.”
The program also includes a contingent of blind sailors, some of whom have gone onto great success.
“One of our current board members is a three-time world champion in blind racing, and that’s pretty extraordinary in in any kind of book,” Zechel noted.
Zechel also successfully advocated the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for more than $5 million to finance a complete replacement of the organization’s pier and dock facilities.
A large portion of the dock had deteriorated and fallen into the water back in 2003, said Zechel, who then enlisted the help of the then-State Rep. Marty Walz to remedy the situation.
Besides teaching him how to successfully advocate and lobby at the state government level, Zechel credits Walz for earmarking monies in a 2008 environmental bond bill to upgrade Community Boating’s facilities.
David Solomon of the Solomon Fund also “launched preliminary conceptual design work with the DCR,” added Zechel. “His support got the process off the launch pad.”
Around 2010, then-Gov. Deval Patrick toured the Community Boating facilities, saw its compromised conditions for himself, and made the financial commitment to finish the project.
“David Mugar and the Esplanade Association each supported the project with grants to the DCR,” added Zechel.
Community Boating also expanded its scope about a decade ago with the launch of its youth STEM (i.e. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) program, which now includes classes on microscopy and an exploration of the Charles River ecosystem.
This program was launched in response to recurring incidents when Department of Public Health responded to a potential cyanobacteria bloom somewhere on the river. Depending on the findings, it could shut down Community Boating’s sailing programs on the Charles for anywhere from a couple of days to several weeks.
Rather than just sitting idly by during these down times, Zechel instead enlisted the help of Dr. Gary du Moulin, a now-retired microbiologist and then a Community Boating board member, to take a deep dive into the microbiology of the Charles.
“He held my hand when I said I wanted us to be able to do regular testing of the water in locations so that over time, we can develop useful data, and that will be the building block for understanding what’s going on in the river,” said Zechel.
Dr. Gary du Moulin also helped Community Boating obtain microscopes, among other equipment, for the program, added Zechel.
Zechel and Dr. Gary du Moulin received training from a University of New Hampshire researcher, who provided them with the necessary guidance to develop and implement Community Boating’s STEM program, which today includes the Junior Program’s environmental science class and cyanobacteria research.
Also under Zechel’s leadership, Community Boating launched its leadership development program for the instructors-in-training, allowing junior members to learn how to launch boats, shadow classes, plan events, and teach novice sailors.
Zechel was honored at the 2025 U.S. Sailing Leadership Forum this February in Coronado, Calif., with the top award – the Martin A. Luray Award (‘The Marty’) – for his work in developing CBI’s Universal Access Program, its youth STEM program, and leadership development courses.
Community Boating itself was also recognized at the forum with the Creative Innovations in Programming Award for its microscopy class on the Charles.
Nick Miller, chair of Community Boating’s board of directors, thinks in another 10 years, the organization will reflect on Zechel’s lengthy tenure “as the time that CBI grew from adolescence to vibrant adulthood.”
In an email, Miller wrote: “[Zechel} nurtured collaboration with our indispensable partners, the Commonwealth DCR and the Esplanade Association. He developed new relationships with Boston-area schools, businesses, non-profits, and communities, always considering accessibility and affordability.
“He built a strong, talented, and enthusiastic leadership team. He guided Community Boating to evolve from a small, informal community sailing organization that served a few hundred people a year to a well-staffed, smoothly run community sailing organization that serves over 6,000 adults and children a year – an industry leader in terms of community outreach, programming, and operations.
“While CBI will evolve with the times, our new leadership will be building on that tremendous foundation,” wrote Miller.
Miller also lauded Zechel for his natural ability “to communicate a strong sense of ‘the joy of sailing’ – the sheer fun of it – even to folks who have never sailed.”
As for the future of Community Boating, Zechel is confident he’s leaving the organization in capable hands.
“My personal feelings are that we’re the organization’s in a really good place, and that this is a great transition time for me,” he said. “We have a very talented staff. We have a wonderful, dedicated volunteer board of directors, and we have a lot of people, a lot of smart people, thinking about the future.”
Community Boating has also become a model for programs of its kind worldwide as Zehel proudly noted.
“It is literally a role model around the world for community sailing programs,” he said. “Every year that I’ve been executive director, I’ve always had someone reach out to me. Sometimes they’re from the United States, but they’re also from Europe, from Asia, from South America. And a lot of people come in, and they want to come and just see this because they’ve heard about Boston’s Community Boating, and they’re thinking about, how could they do this at home? And so that’s obviously flattering in a lot of ways.”
Zechel pointed out how many similar organizations have followed in the footsteps of Community Boating.
“Now, almost every city that’s got a harbor or a meaningful river has got a community sailing program,” he said. “Some of them are called ‘Community Boating.’ We didn’t trademark the name, and quite a lot of them use ‘Sailing for All’ as their kind of mission idea. I know when I started there were some organizations, but today there are many organizations, and in some way, almost every one of them has a little bit of DNA that comes back to Boston’s Community Boating, and that is a point of pride for us.”
Community Boating is now part of a large community of like-minded organizations as Zechel sees it.
“It fits into our mission of we create our community locally, on the dock in Boston, but we are really very much a member of a bigger community that is, like, right across the country,” he said. “And that’s, that’s a neat feeling, that’s a really nice thing to reflect on.”
Looking ahead, Zechel believes Community Boating must continue its commitment to creating a welcoming environment for everyone interested in sailing on the Charles.
“We also have to take care of the DCRs mission,” he added. “We have to be a place that everyone that walks down the Esplanade sees our front door and wants to go in and see what this is all about.
“Come on in,” he said.
On a personal note, Zechel is now waiting for the next chapter of his life after Community Boating to commence.
“I have delegated responsibilities for devising appropriate retirement activities to various grandchildren,” said Zechel, adding that he might also seek out some volunteer opportunities with organizations closer to home.
And besides sailing and working on his boat, as well as keeping up with the ongoing maintenance of his older home, Zechel said he’s also been strongly advised he needs to get a puppy. He plans on indulging in some other new hobbies as well – namely playing the piano and painting.
“I would love to dabble in puppies, painting, and piano,” said Zechel.