Boating in Boston

We have rented canoes and kayaks from Boating in Boston at the Hopkinton State Park on multiple occasions. The staff here is for the most part friendly, informative and helpful. The equipment is clean and well cared for. There are also sail boats & paddle boards available, lessons, and awesome sounding camps for kids. The best part however is the lake and natural surroundings. Minutes from Hopkinton & Southborough town centers, Rts 9, 495 & 90 you are able to leave the hectic world behind and be surrounded by glorious nature. Having a bad day, take you lunch on or at least beside the water. Bring your kids and introduce them to fun without wifi and electronics! Pack a picnic and have a fresh date. We are so luck to have a lovely park so nearby.
Note: You need a drivers license or photo ID in order to rent. The weather is fabulous, get out there and enjoy it-​snow fall record? What snow?

Was lookin for an activity to do near Hopkinton state park. I found this boat rental within da park and it was so worth it. You get to rent any where from a kayak, canoe, paddle board or paddle boats. It was fun rowing the boats while it was exhausting but fun! If your around the area you should definetly makes this an activity to go to

We were out at Hopkinton State Park for a summer bbq picnic so we had already paid the $ 5 to park in the park (ha!). To locate Boating in Boston, we drove down the main drag of the park and turned in at Birch Street, then we continued on till we spotted the boats. There’s a small lot right by there, another lot before them by the beach, and after that it is quite a walk upwards to the next lot on the opposite side of the dirt road.
Tip: don’t park on the grass — you might get a ticket when you’re not looking. Paying $ 25 for what otherwise would have been free parking isn’t quite worth it.
They had a tent set up for registering on one side with a driver’s license (though they didn’t take ours, they just scanned them), and for paying on the other side. With only one staffer handling things on either side, the lines moved rather slowly. Waivers are required to be completed for each participant, but only one license is needed per group. We came and left at good times when the lines weren’t atrocious, but we could see how things might get frustrating at times.
Once we passed the divider by the water we were fitted with life jackets, grabbed our two headed paddles (one per person), then headed on to the multiperson (straight ahead) or single person launch (to the right) where we were set in a boat and given a push. Yes, no lesson on how to handle the paddle, no nothing. But fortunately both my cohort (who took the back seat and the lead in directing our ship) and I had been around on one of these things before. But if you haven’t, you might want to say something to this affect before you are sent off on your own in a boat with a paddle.
We kayaked around the two little forested islands and back again. With no motor boats in the water it was a relatively calm and stress free time out in the water.
Though we came with a voucher that would have covered a one-​hour single kayak ($ 15/​hour), two-​person kayak ($ 20/​hour), canoe ($ 25/​hour for 2 – 3 people), or stand-​up paddleboard ($ 20/​hour) rental, we found that a two-​person kayak rental was charged $ 1.25 in tax while the single kayak was not.
Expect to get wet, so if you can, wear clothing that dries fast or consider bringing a change of clothing.

My review is based solely on the service and check out process at the Hopkinton location. I spent half the amount of time I was in the water standing in line to check out because of the highly disorganized manager that was running things. Very disappointing way to end our day

Went there yesterday with my husband and daughter. Kind of disorganized. We got there at 5:30pm, and they closed at 7:00pm. Told us we needed to be back by 6:30, which was OK, we only wanted to go out for about an hour. After we paid and rounded the corner, there was a HUGE crowd of people waiting for boats and lifejackets. My husband asked how long the wait was, and they told us 30 minutes! We got our money back, wasn’t worth the money to go out for only a half hour. Need to get their act together.

I’ve been to Hopkinton State Park many times and I am actually shocked at some of the bad reviews on here. I’ve formed relationships with some staff members and have had an excellent experience every time. I enjoy kayaking the most, but I want to try the paddle boarding soon. The staff is friendly, helpful, and definitely not a bunch of «teenage girls» as some posts on here claim. They are lifeguard certified and many are college graduates. You sign a waiver ahead of time too, and I recommend doing what you are comfortable with as well as trying new things if you are a comfortable swimmer (I believe the waiver says you need to be able to tread water for a certain amount of time and swim a certain distance). I will continue spending a lot of time there this summer– especially by the boathouse renting different things. Love this place & the staff! :)

This is located inside of Hopkinton State Park. I’ve been here once to rent a kayak, by the hour, with my boyfriend. The staff was friendly and helpful and the experience was really enjoyable and relaxing. We rented it by the hour, at a rate that I thought was reasonable (I think it was around $ 20 or $ 30 but it was last year so it could have changed). If you go here from Memorial Day to Labor Day, there is a $ 5 fee to get into Hopkinton State Park but there is tons of parking. When you enter the park, bear right and Outdoor Recreation will be on your right by the water.

Gah! The service at Outdoor Rec sucked. They virtually ignored us and/​or were incapable of basic tasks. We waited there for 10 minutes to sign the waivers. Then another 30 or so to get someone to help us get our gear and kayaks. Some young guy was spending that entire time helping a family get a canoe but the other 4 employees just ignored us. I got completely fed up and grabbed the gear myself and chose the kayaks for my wife and I. When someone finally came by to see if we needed help, I asked if they had spray skirts and they didn’t know and would’ve had to ask. The kayaks they’ve got are pretty basic, even the expedition kayaks. We got a tsunami and a carolina, which are geared for the beginner kayaker both around 14 ft and were fairly new and it good condition. Hopkinton State Park is pretty nice but the water areas were pretty small. We kayaked all the different sections of the park and got back within an hour. There is another section of water when you go under the bridge (right of the boat rental when kayaking outward from it). The day we kayaked was overcast and they still seemed to have some decent business. The rates for an expedition kayak were $ 20 an hour which would’ve seemed steep but there’s so little to explore it won’t take too long to get through and come back. But again the service was god awful. Wouldn’t go back to this location.

With Groupon & BuyWithMe in hand, I came here on 2 occasions, one to learn how to sail! Two — to go kayaking!
This location has plenty of parking, but beware, you may have to pay for parking to enter Hopkinton State Park, which they don’t have posted on their website, but it’s only $ 5/​car which isn’t bad at all for a day of fun!
The staff at Outdoor Recreation was nothing but friendly and helpful! They do take your license when renting a kayak, so don’t forget to get it back at the end of the day!
Kevin, my instructor, was extremely great during our sailing lesson. Going through our safety lecture, some vocabulary, and the overview of the day. We canoed over to our sail boat, learned how to set everything up and went through some of the actions. Each of us took several turns at how to sail the boat, how to tact, how to run, and so forth. It was seriously an amazing day on the water. If I could afford to, I would love to sign up for a 4-​week course, but alas this is not my time to do so. But perhaps in the near future.
Upon return to Outdoor Recreation a few weeks later, it was nothing but a great time. The staff got us squared away in no time. Got our life vests on and into our kayaks quickly and safely. Spent about 2.5 hours on the water and around the lake, enjoyed the sun and fun!
Would definitely love to come back again. Perhaps next time, I’ll have saved enough money to have purchased my own gear. But until I have my own kayak and PFD, I’ll definitely be using Outdoor Recreation again for whenever I want to hit the water and relax on the lake.