Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 28-12-2013, 07:47   #1
Registered User
 
Ketchgould's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Apostle Islands, Lake Superior; St. Paul
Boat: Rhodes, Chesapeake, 32
Posts: 155
Anchor, mooring, marina Chicago

Curious about where and how to keep a 32' sloop in Chicago; namely costs.

Would love to be in a great walking neighborhood for at least a month in the summer.

Thanks
Ketchgould is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-12-2013, 09:01   #2
Registered User
 
rognvald's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Now based on Florida's West coast
Boat: Pearson 34-II
Posts: 2,541
Images: 5
Re: Anchor, mooring, marina Chicago

Ketchgould,
You won't find Chicago a bargain for a transient berth for a month. Here's a link to help: www.chicagoharbors.info/ Good luck and good sailing.
__________________
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathrustra
rognvald is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2014, 07:13   #3
Registered User

Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Chicago
Boat: Carver 4207, Fountain 38sc, Whaler 24 Outrage
Posts: 10
Re: Anchor, mooring, marina Chicago

Transient is very expensive in the Chicago Harbor system. You may have better luck along the river.
TFTI is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2014, 16:21   #4
Registered User
 
Ketchgould's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Apostle Islands, Lake Superior; St. Paul
Boat: Rhodes, Chesapeake, 32
Posts: 155
Re: Anchor, mooring, marina Chicago

Are there any protected anchorages or places with good holding ground where folks anchor out for a few nights?

Thankd
Ketchgould is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2014, 17:04   #5
Registered User
 
jstevens's Avatar

Join Date: May 2006
Location: On board Sarah, currently lying in Jacksonville, FL
Boat: Pearson, 424, 42', Sarah
Posts: 674
Images: 4
Re: Anchor, mooring, marina Chicago

Ketchgould,
I grew up in Evanston, just north of Chicago on Lake Michigan. That was long before I bought my first boat, but I do go back every year to join my brothers for a Cubs game. So although I've never kept a boat in Chicago I have observed the Chicago water front from a boat owner's viewpoint.
There are basically no anchorages anywhere on the Illinois lake front. You'll have to go to Wisconsin or Michigan to find a place to anchor.
If you want to stop in Chicago for a brief period you might find an open slip for 32' sailboat. My educated, but not reliable, guess is the best time to attempt to reserve a slip would be in July just after the Mackinac race fleet departs. Normally all of the slips and moorings in the Chicago harbors have a long backlog of applicants, but at least for a brief period in July a lot of the normal berth holders are away.

I haven't investigated marinas on the Chicago River, but I remember reading that navigating the bridges in Chicago is not that easy. Many of the boat owners who keep their boats in Chicago move them into the river for winter storage. The descriptions I've read are similar to those who have moved their boats through the Danish canals to Copenhagen, but not as pleasant.
So if you want to visit Chicago by boat you will have difficulty and it will be expensive. However I hope you succeed and report back to us on the result. IMO Chicago has the most beautiful waterfront of any major city in the USA (and that includes SF, SD and NYC). Also the waterfront is almost totally public access. So if you can get a berth you will have walking access to a lot of public parks and good public transportation to downtown, the museums, and yes, Wrigley Field. Don't bother going south to that other baseball park, whose name escapes me.

John
jstevens is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2014, 17:19   #6
Marine Service Provider

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Working in St Augustine
Boat: Woods Vardo 34 Cat
Posts: 3,865
Re: Anchor, mooring, marina Chicago

You can anchor north of navy pier for a few nights. Plenty of boats there overnight most weekends. You could also possibly anchor down in the Calumet harbor some places.

My boat was once impounded while anchored in a bight in the river, but the haul out and storage for 3 weeks at the police's choose yard was less than those 3 weeks of dockage would have been! Only downside was boatyard power washed most the ablative bottom paint off!
__________________
@mojomarine1
Boatguy30 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-01-2014, 17:33   #7
Registered User
 
jstevens's Avatar

Join Date: May 2006
Location: On board Sarah, currently lying in Jacksonville, FL
Boat: Pearson, 424, 42', Sarah
Posts: 674
Images: 4
Re: Anchor, mooring, marina Chicago

"You could also possibly anchor down in the Calumet harbor some places."

Things must have changed a lot in the last 50 years (of course they do). In the 60's I had a summer job at the Republic Steel plant on the Calumet River. Not a place I would want to anchor even for the night.
Then again most of those steel plants are out of business.

An off-topic remembrance of steel mills and the Illinois lake front. Back in the 50s the mills in S. Chicago and Gary, Ind were allowed to dump the slag into the lake. When the molten slag hit the water it solidified encapsulating air in the metal. The result was floating rocks, which we had to deal with when swimming in lake. Back then you didn't just dive blindly into the water. Well, you didn't do it more than once.

John
jstevens is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-01-2014, 07:37   #8
Registered User
 
rognvald's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Now based on Florida's West coast
Boat: Pearson 34-II
Posts: 2,541
Images: 5
Re: Anchor, mooring, marina Chicago

Ketchgould,
You will have no problem finding a transient berth in Chicago since the the construction of the new 31st Street Harbor (which is not at full capacity) and the long lasting effects of the recession on the other marinas in which its effects are still pervasive in our debt ridden State. The Coast Guard does not like boaters to anchor overnight within the breakwaters at Navy pier since there is much recreational and commercial traffic. They have never said you cannot anchor there(I have spoken to them personally) but they discourage it. If your planning to sail your boat, a berth upriver is not a good choice since you will have to traverse the many bridges to get to the lake which is time consuming and may not be worth the inconvenience. And, trying to find an anchorage in the Calumet River would be quite interesting as it is a muddy, filthy, polluted river that borders some very bad areas. I don't know if it anchoring is permitted. You have one choice: take a transient slip in one of the Chicago marinas. Good luck and good sailing.
__________________
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathrustra
rognvald is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2014, 12:49   #9
Registered User

Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Rockford, IL
Boat: Endeavour 43
Posts: 19
Re: Anchor, mooring, marina Chicago

Chicago is going to be expensive for dock space, as well as everything else. You could significantly lower your costs by going north to Kenosha where there is a Metra train station near the marina that can get you to and from Chicago.

Farther north is Racine, a great little town to walk around in with a lot of festivals near the water. If you go that route you might check with Gaslight Pointe if you want an easy two block walk to downtown. Others are Pugh and Reef Pointe.
__________________
SV Pearl Lee - 1981 Endeavour 43
www.AssWhaffleYachtClub.net
svPearlLee is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2014, 19:39   #10
Registered User
 
Ketchgould's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Apostle Islands, Lake Superior; St. Paul
Boat: Rhodes, Chesapeake, 32
Posts: 155
Re: Anchor, mooring, marina Chicago

Thanks!
Ketchgould is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
anchor, mooring

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 10:14.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.