Dream Sail

I woke up groggy, a little hungover, cold, and disoriented on the boat … intentionally. I’ve wanted to spend a night on in for a while. Next time, I’ll have fewer beers beforehand. The sun was rising and coloring the sky pink which was reflected by the smooth harbor water. Too smooth, actually. There was no wind to speak of. Flags drooped; nothing fluttered.

Justin called at 8 to say he had breakfast for us, but the tender service wasn’t yet running. I contemplated picking him up, but logic got the better of me and I abandoned that hope.

Fog clouds rolled into downtown and my first thought was that something terrible had happened. The fog was thick like smoke and more centralized that I’ve ever seen. It engulfed the Prudential Tower by the time Justin arrived.

The wind had picked up slightly and we decided to head out. After a near bounce off one of our neighbors, we found our way to the channel and lazily made our way out of the harbor.

“Are there any other sailboats out there?” Justin asked comparing our faith in the wind and weather to other’s.

“I think I see some,” I said, even though I did not.

The wind started to pick up as we distanced ourselves from the downtown wind shadow.  We raised the main and jib and made our way due east towards one of Chicago’s old water intake sheds.

As we approached, we fell off the wind slightly to avoid collision but still pass close enough to get a good look.  We discussed the pros and cons of commandeering this false island and eventually decided to pass.

Past our goal and obstacle, we tacked and headed home.  Back near Monroe we dropped the sails and motored in.  It was a one tack journey that had taken us farther offshore than we had ever been with Waterloo.