What color is an angel?

Gentle readers, the intrepid crew of Changing Latitudes is back for a four day adventure to the Air and Water Show in Chicago. The Air and Water Show is the largest free show of its type in the world.

On May 15 at 8:00 AM I began dialing and redialing like a rabid Jimmy Buffett fan calling Ticket-Master to get front row concert tickets. However in this instance I was dialing to get a coveted transient slip assignment at DuSable Harbor in Chicago for the dates of the Air and Water Show. After approximately 45 minutes of persistence I won Willie Wonka’s golden ticket and got on the list for a transient slip. May 15 is the first day the marina accepts transient slip reservations each year.

We departed Waukegan Harbor on Friday at 1:00 PM for our 32 mile cruise to Chicago. The morning had been spent putting the dodger ( canvas windshield ) on my sailboat Blue Heaven which is in the sales show room at Larsen Marine. After 8 months and not one offer the broker suggested I put the dodger on to improve her appearance. The offers should start rolling in now.

We cruised at our economical speed of 8 knots and arrived in DuSable Harbor at 5:00 PM. We had a slip assignment on the east end of B Dock in slip B20. We tied up, plugged in and checked in with the marina. We noticed that not only had the marina imposed a three night minimum for the Air and Water Show weekend they raised the daily rate and added a new $20 per day charge for electricity. The three night slip fee in Chicago is $453. That makes anchoring out look very attractive, except there is no place to anchor out in Chicago.

On Friday night we had three guests onboard from New Zealand. They were in Chicago for a hardware trade show. The Haydon family ( Trevor, Sue and son in law Mike Fisher ) live in Christchurch and experienced severe property damage from the earthquake that took place there about five years ago. The Haydon’s have an indoor swimming pool in their house that splashed out and soaked the entire house. They lived in a caravan ( camping trailer ) in their yard for several months while their home was rebuilt. Fortunately their souvenir guitar, signed by all four of the Rolling Stones among their vast collection of rock and roll memorabilia, was unharmed. A visit to their home would put a Hard Rock Cafe to shame.

Saturday was a perfect day on the water to watch the Air and Water Show. The winds were moderate from the west so the waves were one foot or less. Friends of the Arnold’s, Anthony and Jean and our son JP and his wife Rachel joined us for the event. We departed the dock st 9:30 AM and cruised a few miles north of Navy Pier to a spot east of the North Avenue beach. There were already hundreds of boats at anchor. We dropped our anchor and backed down on it to make sure we were secure. As the day progressed hundreds more boats joined the fleet already anchored by dropping anchor close to other boats. For most of these skippers it appeared this was their first attempt at anchoring. We saw anchors on large motor boats that were so small they would barely hold a dingy. We watched boats drag past and occasionally into us as if they had no anchor at all. It is quite entertaining since it is daylight and we can see each misadventure develop and be ready to fend off. If this had occurred at night it would have been a disaster.

The Air and Water show runs from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM with performances from many precision flying teams, parachute jumpers carrying flares, helicopters and Air Force jets. This included an appearance by an F18 fighter jet and the Blue Angels. It was a wonderful day on the water. The same show repeats on Sunday so we will go back out and watch it all again including the ever entertaining anchoring antics of our fellow boaters.

Photo of Blue Angels above the John Hancock tower in Chicago. Photo by Rachel Simons

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Blue Angels over Lake Michigan – photo by Rachel Simons

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