Sweet Home Chicago

Sail #6 (if you can call it that) of our sailing extravaganza:
New Buffalo, MI to Chicago, IL

This was the final leg of our first ever sailing vacation adventure. After a wonderful 3rd of July game and drinking day that was capped off by fireworks we were sad for our trip to be over. However, we were looking forward to a nice relaxing sail back home. Unfortunately, as always, we had a bit of excitement while in the marina before we were able to enjoy our relaxing sail.

New Buffalo Municipal Marina

We had no issues getting out of our slip however we had to head further into the marina to fill up on gas.  As we were turning down the canal we were cut off by another boat who wasn't paying attention to what we were doing. As the first boat pulled up we noticed there were only a couple of fuel docks and the boat once again not paying any attention to anything else parked right in the middle of both docks and left us with no room to pull in. So, for 10 or 15 minutes we had to motor and circle in place to wait for this other boat to leave. In hind sight it was a great learning experience since we don't push ourselves or Further as hard as we can until we have to. This moment we had to really test her steering, which we learned is really good and we can maneuver her in very tight spaces. It also gave Brady an opportunity to get more comfortable with our motor as well.

NO wind

As soon as our gas tank was filled we headed out onto the open water. We had a little wind when we first started but we were able to put up the sails and enjoy the ride. However, after about a half an hour all the wind died on us. There was no wind coming from any direction so we had to turn on the motor hoping at some point the wind would come back. Unfortunately, our last sail of the trip turned into a motor. We did not stumble on ANY slight gust or change of wind on the lake for the rest of the 8.5 hours back to Montrose Harbor! The lake was beautiful, and it was unlike anything we have ever seen before. The water was SO still it looked as though we were floating on a huge piece of ice. The only ripples we saw that day were the ones we were making. It was VERY eery. Thankfully there were no flies out so the only things we had to deal with was the sun and sound of the motor. As much as we LOVED our trip, we were all very, very excited to be back at home relaxing, enjoying our couch enjoying some good ol' AC!

Enjoying the ride!

Home sweet home!