[avenger79]

ok big for me.

A co worker is a member of a sailing club here, he has asked me to go out on Lake Michigan (in the break water anyway) with him tonight on a club boat. should be fun. a 23 footer, full keel, if weather is cooperative we may sneak out passed the breakwater.

hoping to learn my way around out there a bit so I can take my boat out later.

 

[FourthCoast]

Enjoy your cruise!

I love sailing on Lake Michigan, I am sure you will too.

Check the weather and know the limitations of your boat and skills and it will be a blast.

I would guess you are probably looking at 2 foot waves in southern WI right now. If I go out in my 23 foot full-keel boat anything getting close to 3 feet is a challenge.

Unfortunately I don't have a breakwater to stay behind. I am sure that makes it possible to go out in much stronger winds. It is the open lake or a narrow river here.

Scott.

 

[capta]

Enjoy your cruise!
I love sailing on Lake Michigan.
Scott.

Wow, you must be talking about a different Lake Michigan than the one I spent time on some years back. Even on an 80 footer, with a professional crew, we could never get from Milwaukee to Chicago without getting our as*es kicked. Never! A cruise from Chicago to Muskegon was nearly as bad as some of the more unpleasant Gulfstream crossings I've done.
In the three months we were there, it seemed like there was actually only about three weeks of what I would consider summer weather. We couldn't wait to head south, even if it meant running into a hurricane! You Great Lakes sailors must be some tough SOB's.

 

[smackdaddy]

Be safe and have fun.

 

[Chas H]

ok big for me.

A co worker is a member of a sailing club here, he has asked me to go out on Lake Michigan (in the break water anyway) with him tonight on a club boat. should be fun. a 23 footer, full keel, if weather is cooperative we may sneak out passed the breakwater.

I'm guessing you are sailing Milwaukee. Lots of room to sail inside the breakwater. SW winds are forecast. The water in the lake might be as flat as in the harbor.

I am more concerned about fog on the lake than the size of the waves. Fog was sometimes thick last week with high dew points.
Have fun!
-CH

 

[avenger79]

was a great night. wind was very calm, that could have been better. lake was very flat with only ripples. it was interesting though for me as I haven't been out there on a smaller boat before. done a couple big boat rides where you just ride along.
took her out of the mooring field and than stayed in the break water. club didn't want us to go out further due to not wanting to come get us. LOL
it did confirm my thoughts that I could take my boat out there. wasn't sure if 19 foot would be enough but many smaller boats were moored out there and seeing where we could sail, it would work great.

Capta - we have many folks around here who go to door county, port washington, sheboygan, chicago etc from milwaukee. maybe you caught it on a bad week?

Chas - yep out of milwaukee. it has a beautiful area to sail in there even staying inside the walls.

 

[smackdaddy]

it did confirm my thoughts that I could take my boat out there. wasn't sure if 19 foot would be enough but many smaller boats were moored out there and seeing where we could sail, it would work great.

Great job av. Actually, what it confirms to me is that you can take virtually any boat you want to anywhere - as long as the conditions are within the limits of what you (and the boat) can handle.

Keep practicing and gradually pushing and those limits will continue to increase.

 

[capta]

Capta - we have many folks around here who go to door county, port washington, sheboygan, chicago etc from milwaukee. maybe you caught it on a bad week?

We were up there for the whole summer. Our corporate headquarters were in Milwaukee and most of our work was in Chicago, so we were back and forth quite a bit. None there seemed to think it was an unusual summer, so I took that to mean the lake was normally that tempestuous. Not having to deal with tide was a definite plus, though a rare thing for a salt water sailor like me.
Interesting note; the dockmaster at the Chicago Yacht Club learned a valuable lesson, at the expense of his job, that "first come, first serve" does not apply to 80+ foot corporate yachts when the CEO's of several of Chicago's (actually the nation's; think Sears, KMart, etc.) largest companies can't return to work, because there is no dock space at the scheduled return time of the vessel. Oops. Well, he was warned.

 

[avenger79]

Great job av. Actually, what it confirms to me is that you can take virtually any boat you want to anywhere - as long as the conditions are within the limits of what you (and the boat) can handle.

Keep practicing and gradually pushing and those limits will continue to increase.

Thanks Smack. yeah it is fun to "learn" more every time I go out. I think that is what I enjoy about sailing the most. it's not just get in and go. there is a learning curve and a definite challenge to it. And of course a "payoff" when it works out right.

 

[avenger79]

We were up there for the whole summer. Our corporate headquarters were in Milwaukee and most of our work was in Chicago, so we were back and forth quite a bit. None there seemed to think it was an unusual summer, so I took that to mean the lake was normally that tempestuous. Not having to deal with tide was a definite plus, though a rare thing for a salt water sailor like me.
Interesting note; the dockmaster at the Chicago Yacht Club learned a valuable lesson, at the expense of his job, that "first come, first serve" does not apply to 80+ foot corporate yachts when the CEO's of several of Chicago's (actually the nation's; think Sears, KMart, etc.) largest companies can't return to work, because there is no dock space at the scheduled return time of the vessel. Oops. Well, he was warned.

I have heard it is more difficult to go to Chi than it is to come from Chi to Milwaukee. I have no idea why that would be.

funny how people decide to make a stand and end up making a huge sacrifice instead. there's that old saying...."know your place in life" while it may seem elitist, it certainly gets proven to be true in some instances.

 

[Barquito]

The winds are from the SW more often over Lake Michigan. There are probably more days that going from Chicago to Milwaukee would be easier (I think about a 24-30 hour run). I will be heading up the shore on the Wisconsin side from Milwaukee in about a week. Hope to avoid anything nasty.

 

[appick]

Wow, you must be talking about a different Lake Michigan than the one I spent time on some years back. Even on an 80 footer, with a professional crew, we could never get from Milwaukee to Chicago without getting our as*es kicked. Never! A cruise from Chicago to Muskegon was nearly as bad as some of the more unpleasant Gulfstream crossings I've done.
In the three months we were there, it seemed like there was actually only about three weeks of what I would consider summer weather. We couldn't wait to head south, even if it meant running into a hurricane! You Great Lakes sailors must be some tough SOB's.

That or we are all just a little touched in the head!

We cross several times a summer in our '61 Columbia 29 MkI, it actually spent the first 50 years of its life in Milwaukee! We've been out in some rough going 10-12ft in 50-55knt gusts to 60, all while the NOAA forecast was still calling for the pleasent 15-20 gust to 25knt and 3-5ft waves it had in the morning! Curse you NOAA forecast, I'll never trust you again!

It was a wild ride but the boat did great. Us on the other hand, well my wife thought she was gonna die. Plus side is I can say I probably broke a speed record for the Columbia 29 MKI! I saw 12.3 on the knot meter I seriously doubt the accuracy but... average was speed was 9.1knt. What was I saying about touched in the head?

Well how was the sailing the other night? What type of boat were you on?

 

[avenger79]

That or we are all just a little touched in the head!

We cross several times a summer in our '61 Columbia 29 MkI, it actually spent the first 50 years of its life in Milwaukee! We've been out in some rough going 10-12ft in 50-55knt gusts to 60, all while the NOAA forecast was still calling for the pleasent 15-20 gust to 25knt and 3-5ft waves it had in the morning! Curse you NOAA forecast, I'll never trust you again!

It was a wild ride but the boat did great. Us on the other hand, well my wife thought she was gonna die. Plus side is I can say I probably broke a speed record for the Columbia 29 MKI! I saw 12.3 on the knot meter I seriously doubt the accuracy but... average was speed was 9.1knt. What was I saying about touched in the head?

Well how was the sailing the other night? What type of boat were you on?

sounds like an experience ... don't think I'd get the wife back out after that. LOL

we do live in a place where a walk in freezer could work as a heat source in the winter. LOL

the sailing was awesome. great experince. we were sailing on an ensign 23 with the milwaukee sailing center. tough old boat.

interesting that you have a Columbia 29 as there is one here for sale. I have it marked as a nice looking boat that I may want to go check out. believe it is a 69

 

[Mark1948]

I smell a wrongful discharge litigation coming. Wealth does not give someone the row. Assume the same boat was on a port tack and crossing the path of a smaller boat owned buy joe average, should JA give way? Yacht Club could have sent out a tender to unload passengers while crew waited, I am assuming a paid crew.

 

[capta]

I smell a wrongful discharge litigation coming. Wealth does not give someone the row. Assume the same boat was on a port tack and crossing the path of a smaller boat owned buy joe average, should JA give way? Yacht Club could have sent out a tender to unload passengers while crew waited, I am assuming a paid crew.

Well, you're going to need a really LONG nose, since this happened in the 80's. But given you were in charge, just how would you have gotten a bunch of out of shape, past middle age, fat cat executives who'd been drinking top shelf liquor for the last 3 hours, into a tender (assuming one was even available) from the deck of an 80' motorsailor? A slide? Wealth definitely does give those who have it, a great deal of power and sway, in the boating world, in case you haven't noticed. You may not like it, but just try getting one of those gargantuan motor yachts to move so you can get fuel, if they are at the dock for no other reason than because they choose to be. Good luck. As I said, I wasn't responsible for the guy's termination (I never said a word), and I did warn him, but he chose to his course and his employers obviously did not appreciate it.
By the way, I really do not think that the ColRegs were written to cover this sort of situation, but if you please, you can keep thinking in those terms. Please, apples and oranges, once again.