8/28 - Chicago

Chicago skyline as we approach Monroe Harbor

Navy Pier

We left the dock at Crescent Shores Marina at 6:50 a.m. for an 85 mile trip across Lake Michigan to the "Windy City". The forecast was for heavy rain of 1 - 2 inches, and northeast winds of 10 - 13mph with wave heights of 1-2 feet. This was not the greatest forecast, but the ones for the next few days were worse, calling for heavy winds and seas.

Captain George "put the pedal to the metal" as soon as we left the inlet and we headed out directly on a course for Chicago. Everything was great for the first two hours, but as we approached the center of the Lake, the sea heights increased and the wind was now coming on our port beam instead of behind us. Our deal was that he would operate the boat at 15 knots from the fly-bridge to get us across as quickly as possible, but if it started to rain, because of visibility he would come below and operate at the inside station at 10 knots. Well, he stayed up on top for the entire trip despite the rocky conditions, because it never rained! First-mate Pat, on the other hand, hung out (on) below monitoring moving furniture, glasses clanging, etc. Thankfully, conditions calmed down the closer we got to Chicago and we looked forward to reaching our destination.

We originally had planned to visit some other ports before arriving here on Monday and meeting Charlie and Helen, but in view of the weather report, we wanted to be sure that we would be here on time. Thus, we had to make last minute arrangements for the week-end. We headed for Monroe Harbor, which has a 1000 boat mooring field. As we rode around calling the marina office, a boat approached us, the employee took our lines, and attached them to a mooring ball. Unfortunately, this area was very exposed, and the rocking made us feel like we were in a washing machine.

George took the tender service in to see the dockmaster, and she agreed to move us to an inside wall right on Lakeshore Drive in the heart of the city and alongside the Chicago Yacht Club. We were so relieved to be here and tired from the day's activities, we decided to have a quiet dinner aboard with a movie, and we even remembered to change our watches and clocks back an hour to Central Standard Time.