Ancient Masons and Modern SUP-ers
Under Charles Bridge
Charles Bridge, built in the 14th century, protected by three Gothic-style towers, and decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues, is one of the most beautiful stone bridges in the world!
SUPing underneath this breathtaking medieval monument was certainly the crux of my day. For a while, I felt like I was paddling on a busy highway in Toronto. The tourist boats seemed to be coming at me from all directions. Some of them were small but others could seat around 200 passengers. Because of the weir just a short distance up the river, many boats had to turn around, but some continued straight up to the locks. Being the only self-propelled watercraft on the river at the time, I felt like I could use a boat traffic controller who would separate me from other vessels. Apparently, I was maneuvering through “uncontrolled airspace,” where I just simply had to fit into traffic, watch for the wake, and enjoy the ride.
Luckily, most of the boats moved fairly slowly, allowing their passengers to marvel at the bridge and to have enough time to take pictures of the beautiful city of Prague. A few boats passed so close by me that I could almost have stolen a beer from their dining tables. For a flash of time, I felt like a huge celebrity. Some passengers dropped their utensils, or interrupted their engagement woes, and rushed to the deck to take a picture of me passing by. Some offered bites of their dinner, others wanted my board and offered their wives in return. It was fun; I had lots of laughs with total strangers.
Occasionally, I was able to stop, sit down on my SUP, and take a few pictures of my own. To escape from this enjoyable madness, I chose one of the less traveled arches through the bridge and headed there. I could see hundreds of cameras pointed at me, most likely hoping for a splash. To my pleasant surprise, nobody tried to spit on me from the bridge as I was passing underneath. As the centuries-old stone blocks arched above my head, I inhaled the medieval atmosphere. The hustle and bustle ceased to exist for a while, and I admired the precise work of ancient masons.
Over the centuries, I figured, hundreds of millions of people crossed this bridge by foot but only a few individuals, so far, paddled underneath it on an inflatable SUP. And therefore I say – action!
