Chicago!!

Stats:

St. Joseph to Chicago!!  7:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.  63.3 nautical miles

Statue sporting a new pair of jocky underwear.

The weather forecast looked fantastic!  One to three foot waves, ten knot winds.  Perfect for a lake crossing.  We cast off at 7:30 and made our way out of the channel.  We noticed as we left that someone had decided that statue beside our boat needed some modesty.  Who could have done such a thing?!

Heading out to cross Lake Michigan.

Three of us were crossing today:  Perfect Balance, Andiamo and ourselves.  Perfect Balance was going in a different direction, Andiamo runs faster than we do, so it didn’t take long for the three boats to spread out on their own routes.  Once we got out on the Lake and away from shore the wind picked up and it wasn’t as smooth as we had hoped.  We pressed on.  It got worse.  All three of us commiserated over the VHF that the witch of Lake Bichigan decided to throw one more nasty curve ball.  We bounced around with the waves coming a little more on the beam than we liked but Gran Vida handled it without a hiccup. We've gotten good at riding those waves and preparing the cabin, protecting anything that might take a tumble.

At one point, Jeff was downstairs and I was at the helm.  I was concentrating on the heading we were taking and the waves, working to take them as smoothly as possible and still keep the boat on course.  I looked up at the horizon.  I looked side to side.  I looked behind.  NO LAND.  Anywhere.  Pretty cool!  That's another check off my bucket list.

Out of sight of land!  A first on this trip.

Eventually it calmed right down and the last two thirds of the crossing was magnificent.  We saw a small shape in the distance.  Jeff, who has better eyesight than me, thought it might be a skyscraper.  We watched for several hours as the skyline of Chicago started to take shape.

We easily found our way into the marina and our slip.  We’re right in the thick of things, right downtown, beside the walkway providing a steady stream of walkers, cyclists etc. for our people-watching pleasure. We spent the afternoon walking around the waterfront and Navy Pier, trying to get our bearings.  We connected with Rachel and Barty (my niece and her husband – she was here setting up her display for the International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art at Navy Pier) and had a nice visit.

Later, we struck up a conversation with fellow loopers, Danny and Susan from Potest Fieri and spent the evening with them on their lovely Nordic Tug. 

Guts bubbling with excitement as Chicago loomed ever larger during our approach.

Gran Vida in her slip in De Sauble Marina. We were right on the boardwalk, the perfect place for people watching

And then off to explore: