Chinese Version
2021-04-25, Sunday

Though the weather forecast predicted it would rain for the entire day on Sunday, on Sunday afternoon, the rain stopped.

In the evening, my daughter and I went to the Charles River to watch Alex sailing. It was breezy along the Charles River, and there were people walking with or without children and running along the sidewalk. The ripples on the river looked very gentle and I saw one or two other sailboats on the river.

Alex used a black catboat which is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast set well forward on the bow of the boat. While walking along the riverside, we saw his black catboat sailing on the river. In the evening clouds and in distance, the black catboat, on the overcast Charles River, attracted my attention.

Watching the single black sail standing tall on the bobbing up and down boat, the sail was much bigger than the boat, and the boat was much bigger than Alex, so I imagined that it needed high concentration, quick reflexes, and intensive physical labor in order to control the tall sail in the wind on the moving boat. When thinking of the combined actions, I was tired on behalf of Alex.

As the black catboat sailed west toward the Harvard Bridge, the setting sun suddenly came out of the overcast sky. The light of the sunset just slanted through the bridge arches, and brightened the bridge arches with a golden yellow color. The suddenly changing of colors reminded me of the popular scene of “golden light through the arches of the 17-Arch-Bridge in the Summer Palace in Beijing”.

Later, I saw three photography enthusiasts standing by a tripod with a camera. Two of them were wearing checkered coats, and one of them was wearing a black coat.

I asked curiously, “Are you recording?”

“No, I am waiting to take photos.”

I asked, “is this a good place to take photos?”

“Of course, this is one of the famous landscapes on the Charles River. I came from Cape Cod for this.” (It takes more than 70 miles to drive from Cape Cod to Boston.)

Following the crowd, I took pictures of Alex and his black catboat on the Charles River at the scenic spot.

After Alex finished his sailing, we were walking to the parking lot together, and Alex told us how his catboat could not directly approach, but had to zig-zag to the dock, according to the direction of the wind.

It’s interesting for laymen to listen to the explanation of experts after watching a unfamiliar sport.

Little Episodes

1. Alex’s black catboat sailing toward the Harvard Bridge.

2. The scene of golden light through the arches of the Harvard Bridge and the turning catboat.

3. Alex’s black catboat on Charles River. A friend said: “Could be a postcard.”

4. In the evening on the Charles River, the moon was playing hide and seek in the sunset colored clouds.