Kristen Laine

Growing up Finnish-American taught Walpole, New Hampshire, painter Eric Aho to meet the extremes of winter in with extremes of imagination.

Legend has it that George Ernest Arlett, “the father of the Head of the Charles,” was born in an oar box on the working side of England’s storied rowing river town, Henley-on-Thames. He grew up in the early 20th century in a “boatman” family that ran a livery. A skilled professional sculler, “Ernie” Arlett was […]

Row past the Head of the Charles finish line and you’ll reach the place where freshwater once met saltwater at high tide, when the Charles still filled and emptied twice a day. Nearby, on a broad bend in the river, you’ll find the boathouse for Community Rowing Inc. (CRI), the country’s first and largest public […]

Every competitor at the Head of the Charles Rowing Regatta comes with a story. But none is quite like the story of the 1980 American women Olympians, whose chance to make history ended forever when the Olympic Games were boycotted in Moscow.

* * * “Bromfield, please paddle.” The amplified voice of the regatta official floated across the Charles River basin. Emily Erdos felt her heart jump in her chest but kept her words calm and even. “Paddle on two. One, two,” she said into the headset. She could […]

The haunting cry of the common loon is vanishing from many New England waters. Whether we hear it much longer depends on us. “Is it there? I can’t see anything.” I’m standing on a wooden dock with my husband on a chilly morning in early June, my bare feet plastered with wet grass from our […]