September 29, 2017
Today was the shortest travel day of our adventure, 5.3 nautical miles, but it also had the most wave action. The forecast was for a small craft warning at 1:00 pm but when we left Belmont Marina at 9:00 am the seas were already 5-6 feet and the wind was from the northeast instead of the north. We usually cruise around 6 knots but we more than doubled that. Fortunately, we only had two miles to go before we were able to tuck in behind the breakwater as we made our way to DuSable Marina.
We are now less than one mile from the Chicago Lock, our first lock since Erie Canal. If all goes well, we will leave here on Sunday and start down the Chicago River. In many of the locks we have been through we have been the only ones in the lock, I’m sure that won’t be true in the Chicago Lock, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “The Chicago Lock is fourth in the nation in terms of commercial lock usage and second in the nation in terms of recreational lock usage. On a busy day, 50-100 vessels can be locked at once. On average, the lock cycles 12,000 times annually. The lock sees an average of 711,902 commercial passenger one-way trips and 41,071 non-cargo vessel one-way trips (based on 2000 through 2010 data). In 2012, there were 10,480 lockages through the chamber – serving over 47,000 commercial, recreational, and government vessels; nearly 700,000 passengers; and 200,000 tons of commercial cargo.”
We are essentially off of Lake Michigan, the marina is behind the breakwater which is what we take to the Chicago Lock. We have loved all of our stops along the way, it is just that winter is approaching and it is time to head south. Currently, on Lake Michigan, the waves are 7 feet with a forecast of 8-9 feet for the next twelve hours.
