# Not to be repetitive, but greeting from the Windy City



## w00dc4ip (May 2, 2010)

Hi All,
35 year old "sailor to be" from the west suburbs of Chicago here. Only manage to get out a few times a year locally with a friend that has a boat in Burnham, but enjoy sailing a lot and have been browsing boats for sale for the last 3 years. Only 2 reasons I haven't bit yet is my lack of free time to get out sailing and the price of slips at Chicago harbors. Prices on used boats seem to be getting better though, and Hammond Marina isn't that far when figuring traffic into Chicago and the crowded nature of downtown. Maybe later this year or next I'll be asking for local help getting launched. In the meantime, I'm available as crew on rare occasion if anyone has a need.


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## agarcia (Sep 6, 2011)

*sailing for time deprived in Chicago*

You may want to consider Olson Classic Yachts out of Monroe harbor. I currently participate in the program for a Ranger 29. It cost $1850 for a considerable block of credits and even includes free sailing times during weekdays. Also your credits don't expire. I could send you the info they sent to me if you are interested.


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## Cherp (Aug 3, 2011)

Welcome. Unfortunately boating can be a bit on the expensive side. However if you go small to start you will still have a lot of fun and keep the costs down. I started small many years ago and really enjoyed it. You don't need a forty footer to have a good sail. Starting small also helps you learn because the gear is more manageable and they are often twitchy, which helps to focus your attention and move swiftly on the learning curve. A twenty or twenty five footer is plenty big enough to start with.


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## Patient (Jan 7, 2009)

Hello from Chicago!

You should look around the Muskegon MI area for boat shopping, thats where a lot of people put up for the winter. A LOT of boats for sale there.

As for City side slips, put your name on the lottery list now and your kids MIGHT have a chance at a decent slip when they inherit your boat. I am exaggerating a bit of course, but that is really the case with the nicer spots. Slip fees per foot rival St Barts. Burnham is $105 a foot for a 35' slip for the season, plus %7 tax and other fees. Ouch.

For local winter check out, take a look at crowleys, some really good folks over there.

There are a couple time share type deals in the city as well, SailTime etc. Pricey but the boats are in good shape.

I am hoping that we do a SN meetup this year's Strictly Sail. Make sure to keep in touch when that time comes.

Matt in Chicago (Wicker Park)


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## w00dc4ip (May 2, 2010)

I'll definitely take any info on Olson or any other time-share systems in the Chicago area. Already looked at SailTime and Pinnacle, they seem pretty damn expensive for what they're offering. My ideal would be owning my own boat, but the slip fees in Chicago are just ridiculous, they'd essentially double the annual cost. Hell, I've seen a few 30-35 footers lately that are ready to go and would cost me less than the annual slip fee, assuming I could even get one. Considering Hammond seriously because they seem a bit more reasonable and it wouldn't be much farther for me to go there than it would be to go to Burnham. I'll definitely take a look around Muskegon as well. Have been looking at the boats at Corwleys on occasion, would probably store there for the winter if I ever got one.

Also, I'm definitely up for a meetup at SS next year.


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## agarcia (Sep 6, 2011)

I added all the files to this super basic website.

ocy-info | Wix.com


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## w00dc4ip (May 2, 2010)

Thanks agarcia, will be looking into OCY. Are you a member there?


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## LongTallSailor (Jun 17, 2011)

Hey w00dc4ip,

Another Chicagoan here looking to crew in exchange for sailing lessons. Was wondering if you could put me in touch with your buddy with the ship in Burnham Harbor. I've already got my copy of the Annapolis Book of Seamanship and would be willing to supply some suds at least once a week to a potential mentor-captain. I'm north of 30, a fast learner, and available weekday afternoons through the early evening and on weekends for at least the rest of the summer. Am also free Friday mornings in the foreseeable future. I live off of Grand and Halsted so Monroe and Burnham Harbor are the closest to me but I'm not picky. I'll definitely trek up to Montrose or down to Jackson Park. PM me with the info or have your buddy PM me if he's on this forum. Thanks.

Good luck on your sailing endeavors.


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## agarcia (Sep 6, 2011)

Yes I currently have a partial share of the Ranger 29.


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## w00dc4ip (May 2, 2010)

Hi agarcia,
Took a look at Incredible yesterday. Just figuring out now if I'll be jumping for the rest of this season, or waiting until next. Thanks for the information.

LongTall,
Just heard today that the boat out of Burnham is on the hard for the remainder of the season. Seems someone crashed into her while she was sitting in her slip and did some pretty serious damage. Not sure if she'll be ready for next season or not, but the rest of this year is gone. More reason for me to jump on OCY, if I do I'll shoot you a message.


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## LongTallSailor (Jun 17, 2011)

W00dc4ip,
Does / Will OCY pro-rate the rest of the summer?


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## sparrowe (Nov 29, 2010)

w00dc4ip said:


> I'll definitely take any info on Olson or any other time-share systems in the Chicago area. Already looked at SailTime and Pinnacle, they seem pretty damn expensive for what they're offering.


Is time-share expensive? I was a Pinnacle customer on a Jeanneau 40 out of Belmont Harbor during the 2011 season. Let's do the arithmetic:

Owning a Boat: A slip in a Belmont Harbor for a 40 footer is pushing $5000 when tax is included. That's if you are a Chicago resident - for suburbanites, there is a 25% surcharge. You have to put fuel in the boat from time to time, and they charge for that. In November, the boat has to go to Crowleys and be hauled out for the winter. Then back in the water in May, tuned up for the Spring. And there is maintenance and routine repair, insurance, license fees, taxes, and who knows what else. I'm guessing it all adds up to something in the neighborhood of $10K per year - and that's not even considering the purchase of the boat itself, let alone new sails, etc.

Time-Share: $8550 for the season (the same Jeanneau 40 I leased), plus a refundable damage deposit and a membership fee. That gets you 36 sailing opportunities (9:00 am - 5:00 pm or 5:00 pm - 9:00 am); 14 weekend and 22 weekday. They maintain the boat, top up the water, and pump out the holding tank. Once we were out an noticed a 4" tear in the foresail - we put it down in the log and the next time we showed up there was a new sail.

All you do is show up and sail.

Clearly, if you are retired and have nothing interesting to do except sail, six times sailing each month isn't going to seem like much. But if you only have time to sail once or twice per week, this is a fine option - and it costs less than what you would pay as an boat owner. If you can live with a (mere?) 37 footer, it is even less expensive.

[not affiliated with Pinnacle, just a satisfied client]


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## LongTallSailor (Jun 17, 2011)

Can the timeshare be further sub-divided? Could maybe four or five novices and one seasoned seaman acting as mentor share the cost and coordinate their combined boat time ?


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## sparrowe (Nov 29, 2010)

LongTallSailor said:


> Can the timeshare be further sub-divided? Could maybe four or five novices and one seasoned seaman acting as mentor share the cost and coordinate their combined boat time ?


I assume the answer is yes - Pinnacle encourages captains to register their 'crew' - in my case, that was my spouse. But most of the other captain-crew pairs were buddies from work, father-son, etc. I suppose you could extend this to a larger crew. The one catch is that the captain has to be on the boat. Maybe that would be your seasoned sailor acting as mentor. Whether you can have two captains on one share is a question I'm sure Gary Feracota would be happy to answer.

Having friends lined up to sail with you is a great idea. We had hoped to do most of our sailing with friends; turns out, not everyone jumped at the opportunity to go out on the lake. The few that were enthusiastic sometimes had scheduling conflicts. So, we did a fair bit of sailing with just the two of us. It was enjoyable and we learned a lot; however, it is usually more fun with four people on the boat than two.

By the way, Pinnacle provides a lot of support for relatively novice sailors. In fact, they insist that you 'pass' a basic sailing test. If you are new, they offer a series of five learning sessions on the water (at a modest cost) to get you up to speed. We did that - it was similar to ASA 101, but with greater emphasis on docking, as well as on Chicago specific concerns (don't try to sail up the River, etc.). We bought a couple extra sessions with an instructor; it was worth every penny in terms of our confidence in handling the boat.


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