First Weekend of Fun! 2008

Well the season started off with a bang!
The foggy air didn't put a damper on our spirits.


Here is Tim, Leo, Trish and Rick ready for their first lesson.



Bob is showing his eager students how to put on a jib.


Sanjay's class is safety conscious and on top of their game


Stephanie is hard at work with our new night watch owl.

Brian is teaching proper flaking to Karen.

We are really looking forward to a great season.

Chicago Sailing Dock protector

This morning when we arrived to the dock we had the pleasure of being greeted by some geese... they were more than happy to pose for a shot and no doubt will be around the docks and harbor for the next few weeks.
Watch out for them though as they can be quite vocal and often might take after you if they feel threatened.

First day of classes today

Here we have the first of our Basic 101 classes heading out to the lake for their maiden voyage. We are happy to report that all had a great class, learned lots and will be returning back tomorrow morning for the second class.

In this shot the class is about to raise the mainsail inside the harbor to ensure a safe passage out to the lake. Note that with the mainsail being raised inside the harbor the boat will have two forms of propulsion ensuring a safe passage even in the event of the engine failing.

Houseboat getting a makeover

Early this season we are working on getting our trusty houseboat/ office a good makeover. We are in the process of painting her and have also put new carpet down inside. Here we see Richie getting ready to paint the first of the coats of paint.

Welcome to Sailing ’08. We are as eager as you to put this winter behind us

The interesting thing about Chicago Weather is how dramatically it can change. We can go from cold and wet to hot and dry in an instant. Rarely do we experience a traditional spring with gradually increasing temperatures. So, it is with this in mind, that we start the season early. It gives sailors a chance to tune themselves up before the great weather dominates. This past weekend has given us a taste of what to expect. And while the weather has thwarted our efforts to have all boats ready for the season, we have plenty available.

Season beginning

Here we have the first shot of Belmont Harbor from our dock. As you can see here its still quite empty. As each day passes though we will see it fill up.

Work Continues at Chicago Sailing

Here are a couple of shots of Donnie and Charlie working hard to sort out a skied halyard. This is a real pain to sort out and a timely reminder to all involved as to why it is very... very.... VERY important to never.... never.... NEVER let a halyard out of your hand unless it is secured to something.
What sometimes happens is that the weight of the halyard will pull the end of the halyard up to the top of the mast or even worse out of the mast altogether (with the help of those onboard) and either the mast has to be taken down or if we have to send someone up the mast to feed a wire down through the mast and then lead a new halyard through. Here you see that we have used the main halyard on our J30 Bonzai to haul Charlie up the mast in a 'Bosun's chair' and 'heeled' the J24 over towards the J30's mast so as to be able to reach the top of the J24's mast. This method saves us having to get a crane to take down the mast on the J24 and about an additional 2 ours work!!


This is a time consuming and sometimes very frustrating task (ask Charlie or Donnie) and can be avoided by sailors making sure to 'make off' or secure halyards at all times and also NEVER pulling a line or halyard that you are unsure where it is coming from.

All in all this took us about 2 hours from start to finish.