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!

The Pride Parade

Yesterday turned into a fantastic Parade Day! Chicago Sailing participated for the first time, along with nearly 250 other groups.



So far we've spotted these photos on Flickr from other people of the float in action. We were too busy handing out brochures to take our own pictures!

One for the Team

Last weekend one of our captains took out a Bachelor party on a charter. We encourage all of our guests to make an event of their sails, and this group was intent on having a good time.

Apparently they wanted to add some music to their adventure. Unfortunately for our captain they did not bring out a large selection of tunes.

For 2 hours they played the same song over and over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOvaCV6uQp8

Summertime in the City

Summer is finally here! As our 90 degree high can attest to.

A quick couple of photos from the dock this evening.



And on the other side, quite a few big boats are missing.



Don't you wish you had gotten out here too?

Heading back to grilling now!

Is it Sun Spots?

At this point, we have all noticed the unseasonable weather Chicago is experiencing. Yesterday our high was 12 degrees lower than the average temperature. The lake is higher than it has been in years. Over the winter Lake Michigan almost froze over, or so I've been told.

Recently we heard rumors that this was going to be the summer that Chicago didn't get a summer. Crain's Chicago is even doing a story on businesses being affected by the weather!

The going theory on this weird weather is Sun Spots. Being sailor's, all we know is that any pocket of good weather we get - we're hitting the water!

Hope to see you during the next spot of sunny weather.

The Sailor's Forum has returned!

Sailing is a social sport. We love watching new and old friends reconnect on B Dock while sailing. That's why it became so important for us to relaunch the Sailor's Forum.

Take a tour of the topics we have created already. Let us know if there are topics you would like to see. Some of these topics were created in direct response to some of your survey responses.