Did our first long distance sail this weekend. Waukegan to Chicago and back.
My son-law’s brother, Andy, and I Left Waukegan at 11:20 in the morning on Friday and arrived at Belmont Harbor in Chicago at 7:45pm. The wind was coming directly from the direction in which we wanted to sail, so we had to do a lot of tacking. The trip was taking a bit longer than I wanted, due to the tacking, so I ended up using the engine for a few hours to speed things up a bit. We were able to sail again the last few hours.
 |
| Andy at the helm approaching Chicago |
Belmont harbor’s docks are nice, the scenery was great, but the public toilet facilities are disgusting and parking is an issue. Sure glad we choose Waukegan Harbor as our home.
 |
| Belmont Harbor |
On Saturday, my wife, 2 daughters, a niece and my niece’s boyfriend and I sailed down the Chicago lake front enjoying the beautiful skyline. We had a crew change in the evening when everyone, but one of my daughters left for home and my brother came onboard. The three of us had a very pleasant evening sail and got to see a pretty sunset and a rainbow over Navy Pier.
 |
| Chicago Lighthouse |
 |
| Sailing past Navy Pier |
 |
| Chicago Skyline |
 |
| Rainbow over Navy Pier |
 |
| Sun setting in the west |
We returned to Belmont harbor for the stay Saturday night.
 |
| Belmont Harbor Saturday night |
On Sunday, my brother and I headed back to Waukegan. We left at 11:00 am. The winds were much more favorable so the trip was shorter. With the winds at our back and following seas it was very relaxing. We got back to Waukegan at 6:00pm
 |
| Leaving Chicago and heading back to Waukegan |
Along the way we did a couple projects.
I added labels to the switches for the new electric flush toilet.
 |
| Switch labels for the electric flush toilet |
My brother bought a couple “pool noodles” and installed them on the stern rail by the stern seats for comfort.
 |
| Making the stern seats more comfy |
We installed line organizers that we had bought at the Strictly Sail boat show back in February.
 |
First 3 line organizers installed on the port side |
And my brother hooked up a “Bluetooth” system to the boat’s stereo radio so he could “jam tunes” from his phone. The stereo is an older one with AM/FM radio and a cassette player. He put together a system that connects his phone via Bluetooth to the cassette. “Rock and roll baby”!
 |
| Line organizer installation complete and Bluetooth system install taking place |
All in all it was a great way to spend a long weekend.
