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Hello folks!

I write to you from Chicago where we are in the middle of a Tall Ship event.  Happily the heat wave of last week is gone, at least for now, and the weather is relatively cool, or at least cooler.   The sail from Bay City to Green Bay was an exercise in Summer Great Lake sailing; a 3 day cycle of wind, thunderstorms, and calm.  The first day out was a fine sail with a southerly breeze that brought us well beyond the "thumb" on the "mitten" of Michigan, or well out of Saginaw Bay, before the wind dribbled away and the thunderstorms started coming off the land.  As we approached Mackinac, we took in all sail and pushed on hoping for some sort of breeze but without luck until that next evening when the wind finally came back south of Beaver Island, Lake Michigan.  That led to a nice sail over into the top of Green Bay and a bit of a beat south in the Bay before anchoring up for the night (and a great swim stop) in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

From there it was on to Green Bay with a fine parade of sail, albeit in close quarters, and a well prepared festival.  What no one could predict about the festival was that it was to be visited early Sunday morning by the most severe round of thunderstorms that we have yet experienced this year in the lakes.  At 0630. a wave of storms past over the event bringing 60 knot winds out of the west and 2+ inches of rain.  This wind meant that PRIDE II was being set OFF her dock, which is usually counted as a good thing.  In this case, however, the ship was down wind of dozens of vendor tents, three of which came aboard to visit and had to be ruthlessly cut away lest the added wind part our dock lines or cause us damage.  The crew was quick and the knives sharp and inside 30 minutes the weather had passed leaving a leveled vendor area, a swamp for a field, and some thoroughly drenched reenactors.  Once the ship was secure, PRIDE II's crew turned to assisting vendors and neighbors to reestablish themselves in the now very wet environment.

From Green Bay it was off to Chicago.  ASTA had planned to have a race from Sturgeon Bay down towards Chicago but, with the winds predicted to be southerly and fresh, it was decided to race north on Green Bay up towards the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal.  This seemed like a good idea but was partially frustrated by the fact that the Green Bay rail road bridge broke down in the closed position trapping the entire fleet in Green Bay for an additional hour or so on the morning of the race.

Still, we all got out, took our times as we passed buoy G5, and commenced to sail.  The wind, which had been fresh all morning, gave two puffs and expired. By 1430 that afternoon, the whole fleet had withdrawn from the race so as to be on time for the parade of sail at Sturgeon Bay.  

The next morning had the wind filling in out of the south-southwest. Highlander Sea was not 5 miles distant.  For PRIDE II, Highlander Sea is our closest competition and so we put on four lowers and the fore topsail and, as she was to leeward, cracked off the breeze, picked up speed and eased down towards her.  This led to a delightful day of sailing, generally towards the southeast and the two ships charging along close together in what became 25 knots + breeze. We shortened the topsail to a reefed topsail and were still making 9 knots but the wind was backing, sending us further to the east, so we threw in a tack and stood back southwest.  By 1800 hrs, this promising breeze had deserted us completely and the thunderstorms had arrived so it was in-sail and motoring on a slow bell throughout the evening to Chicago, where this line of thunderstorms was heralding the end of an especially hot heat wave.  At first light we went to the dock and received aboard members of the Maryland Port Administration and their guests who were joining us for the Chicago Parade of Sail.  As it was still raining, we set the midships awning, as well as plenty of sail and actually had a sailing Parade of Sail, which doesn't always happen.  By 1300 hrs, the skies cleared and a cool northwest breeze settled in, perfect weather to show the ship.  From here it is on to Port Huron.

Cheers,
Captain Beebe-Center