Tracking the weather...

At Chicago Sailing we spend a lot of time tracking the weather. Our captains are better weather guys than Tom Skilling sometimes! A lot of customers call the office inquiring about the weather prediction and winds.

Here's a quick run-down of the sites we use in our office.

The Chicago Tribune has a marine forecast. Click on weather on the right, scroll down until you find the Marine Forecast. Or just follow this link. The Tribune's radar is one of our favorites.

Another bookmark we use quite often is weather.com. Though, this season it has not been so useful for weather predictions. The radar is helpful and easy to use - though always keep an eye on those clouds. This area of Chicago has a number of storms pop up suddenly and travel over Chicago.

When it comes to tracking the wind, our staff is split between two different sites.

NOAA tracks winds off of the crib in Lake Michigan, follow this link for your own wind readings.

Sailflow pulls information from a number of different harbors. We prefer gathering readings off the Chicago Offshore point.

For those with newer phones, there are some apps out there for you!

On iPhones, there is an app for NOAA Weather Service. Set your location to Chicago and you have a mobile weather reading and radar. The next version promises wind readings.

Are there other iPhone apps you are using? I know there is a compass app that can be used, but haven't tried it myself.

Blackberry's app store includes Weather channel apps and Weather Underground for those of you on a crackberry.

The dock today is busy, despite many of our staff member's participation in the 101 st race to Mackinac Island. Best of luck to each of them - though some are competing against each other!


Look at that empty dock. Happy Sailing folks!

Economy or Weather, the boat industry makes the news.

The Chicago Tribune just ran an article on the boating industry in the Chicago area.

For boating, rough waters

The article raises some interesting questions regarding the economy and its effect on the local marine industry. Recently, we were included in a Crain's article regarding the unseasonably wet weather. They created a video portion, that can be watched online.

In the latest weather news, Tom Skillings reports we have seen just 35% of our regular sunlight this month.

On Dock B, we have a very busy July schedule and are hoping August proves to be much of the same. With your support, we are proving that nothing stops a sailor from getting out on the water.

In that spirit, meet the newest addition to our dock - Jag Ed. Recently purchased in Wisconsin and fixed in our shop, we now have two J/24's to offer our renters.


She went out on a test run yesterday with our staff and is ready and waiting for her next trip off the dock!

3rd of July

Yesterday was a beautiful day for Chicago Sailing. Our boats steadily came in and left the dock on charters and rentals throughout the day, as many people were introduced to Dock B.



Staff and customers operated like clock-work throughout the day.



Alex Molo introduced Rich Feffer's passengers to the T-10 as Rich pulled back into the dock.





Bumblebee was shined and ready for it's annual fireworks trip. Ellen Feinberg held her 4th annual fireworks charter!



The J/22's went in and out, taking advantage of the great weather while dodging the motorboats.



As we closed down for the evening, the J/22's were cleaned and ready for tomorrow. We could spot the tops of the fireworks downtown. Every boat with lights was off the dock and downtown for the fireworks, including the Sabre-38. A family in town from Iowa for the weekend, snatched that boat up for a special night on Lake Michigan!