Sail the Charles River
Learn, race, volunteer, and explore the river with one of the nation's most active university sailing communities.
Pavilion Hours
Open 7 days a week · April 1 – November 15
| Monday | 3:00 pm – Sunset |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | Noon – Sunset |
| Wednesday | Noon – Sunset |
| Thursday | Noon – Sunset |
| Friday | Noon – Sunset |
| Saturday | Noon – Sunset |
| Sunday | Noon – Sunset |
Sunset times and daily open hours follow the table. Team practices run on a separate schedule.
How to get on the water
Create your account
MIT students and MIT Recreation members get Normal included, including Charles River racing. Others can compare paid racing cards before requesting a card.
Take a beginner class
Sign up for Learn to Sail or Intro for Experienced Sailors.
Get your rating and sail
Pass your skills test, receive your rating, and book boats anytime.
Learn to Sail
Every sailor starts with a required beginner class. Once you have your first rating, choose from a range of advanced courses.
Intro Sailing 101
First rating path on Tech Dinghies: rigging, tacking, gybing, crew-overboard prep, and Charles River traffic patterns with coach boats alongside.
Intro for Experienced Sailors
Accelerated checkout for sailors who already know points of sail but need a Charles River orientation, capsize recovery, and fleet rules of the road.
Learn to Sail — Weekend Intensive
Single-weekend immersion: morning chalk talks, afternoon drills, and a supervised short passage plan with debrief.
Intermediate Sailing — Boat Speed
Sail trim for power and height, crew choreography, roll tacks, and starting-line time-on-distance in a double-handed dinghy.
Intro to Racing
Starting sequences, laylines, basic rules scenarios (port/starboard, windward mark), and short-course drills in single-handed boats.
Windsurfing Fundamentals
Beach starts, harness line basics, steering on all points, and self-rescue on a stable board rig; small-group coaching in protected water.
Intermediate Racing — Tactics & Strategy
Shift tracking, fleet positioning, mark traps, and team debriefs using video and GPS tracks from practice races.
Pricing
Choose the card that matches what you want to sail.
Normal
Pavilion, classes, ratings, racing, Mashnee.
- MIT student
- Free
- MIT Recreation member
- Free
- Normal access to Pavilion sailing, classes, ratings, racing, and Mashnee.
- MIT students qualify automatically.
- MIT Recreation members qualify with an active membership.
Spring racing card
For regular Pavilion racing from April 1 through July 14.
- Non-MIT student
- $25
- Under 30
- $70
- 30+
- $100
- Regular Pavilion racing from April 1 through July 14.
- Race-related classes included.
- Renews with all cards on July 15.
Full-year racing card
Regular Pavilion racing for the full card year.
- Non-MIT student
- $40
- Under 30
- $125
- 30+
- $175
- Regular Pavilion racing for the full card year.
- Race-related classes included.
- Does not include Thursday team racing.
Thursday team racing
For Thursday team racing on the Charles River.
- Non-MIT student
- $25
- Under 30
- $70
- 30+
- $100
- Thursday team racing on the Charles River.
- No regular Pavilion racing.
Reserve the Pavilion
The Sailing Pavilion is available for selected MIT community events and waterfront gatherings.