Category: Uncategorized

Did our first long distance sail this weekend.  Waukegan to Chicago and back.

 

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.

After getting the call from Jan that the boat was about an hour from arriving, I left work and made it to the boat yard about 15 minutes before they arrived. The weather cooperated with sunny skies and 50 degree temps. Not bad for the end of February!

Unloading the boat from the trailer and setting it on the cradle went like clockwork.  I was very impressed with the guys at Larsen.  They were very efficient.  I guess they have done this a few times!

With the boat safely on the cradle and in its assigned location at the yard I went back to work  I did not have a chance to get on the boat and take a look around.

My brother and I did a lot of investigating.  There are several places from, Hammond, IN to Racine, WI where we could keep the boat.  We visited them all and decided on Waukegan, IL.  The Waukegan Harbor Marina is nice, the travel time from home to the Marina is exactly an hour, the slip price is good and the Larsen Marine boat yard is right next door.

We still needed to find a way to haul the boat from Maryland to Waukegan and I placed an ad on UShip.com initially in October 2011.  Didn’t get any bids.  I relisted in early February 2012 and received 2 bids and accepted one of them from Sea Wise Inc.  The husband and wife team, Ed and Jan, at Sea Wise made the entire process of getting the boat from Maryland to Waukegan a painless experience.  Jan communicated constantly on the current status of the process and when Ed and the boat were in transit, she kept me up to date on their location over the 2 days it took to get to Waukegan.  I asked her to let me know when they were about an hour from arriving at the Larsen Marine boat yard.  She did and I was able to be there when Ed and the boat arrived.

Dad calls and says he is done sailing.  Done, done.  He has not been able to go out sailing for a couple of seasons and if my brother and I want his Contest 29 sailboat, we can have it…well of course we want it! Thanks Dad!

Growing up in Maryland, my family (dad, uncle, grandfather, siblings) were sailors on the Chesapeake Bay, a beautiful body of water with over 5,000 miles of shoreline and many fun places to visit when sailing.  My Uncle and grandfather had a 35 foot sailboat that they owned for personal use and also chartered.  My dad had a 25 foot that we was solely for personal use.  Our summers were spent sailing almost every weekend and then we took longer trips when Dad would take his vacation days.  I enjoyed that a lot.

As occurs to all of us, as we grow up and get older, “life happens”.  Parents’ divorce, remarriages, step-familys etc.  I moved from Maryland to Illinois in 1975 during my freshman year in high school with my mom, brother and step-dad.  Then high school, college, my own marriage and children.

The first few years after moving to Illinois, my brother and I would spend a good part of our summers visiting our dad in Maryland and still sailed a lot.  After about 1978 though, with the start of my adult life, trips back to Maryland became fewer and sailing during those trips rarely happened.

Dad of course continued to sail and even got a bigger boat in 1992, a Contest 29 built by Conyplex B.V., a Dutch company.  S.V. Dutch Treat