Chicago, When are we going to get some boats together?
 

Is there anyone up for a Fun Run up to Racine or North Point or maybe a run up the Indiana shoreline into Michigan? Any sugestions on good places to eat with plenty of room to tie off a bunch of offshore boats. What is a good date or dates for everyone? I'm game for just about anything.
Dan

I'm game...In about a week or so.

Mark,
It would be a great way to break in some motors. Anywhere you'd recommend going?
Dan

How about an Ilinois River run. More places to stop and nicer water for rafting up. My boats slow but we would be happy to meet up with you guys some time.

Tracy and I were on the lake up in Milwaukee Sun. Man was it hot. Went down to Racine for a few hours. Anchored in the break just south of the marina. The was an older flat deck styled Cig and a beautifully painted Fountain also anchored there together. Sandy botom and the water was just great. Wouldn't mind hanging out there again, rafting up with a bunch of OSOer's. We'll follow this thread and see what most people want to do.

Intolerant1,
You should come out on the "Big Puddle" and play. There can be some nasty days out there. Just look for light southwest winds and lake is beautiful. My boat's no rocket ship, for now, unless I screw up over a big cruiser wake. :D It's a lot of fun out here. I actually run the Calumet River out to the Lake. I would be one of the River Rats.:D What part of the Illinois River are you on?
Dan

ActiveThunderTodd,
My Wife and I went to the Gary Air Show Sunday. It wasn't that hot. We were a mile offshore. It was so calm we just floated. When we got back into Chicago the heat was nasty.

Racine has a nice restaurant. I wonder if they would be receptive to a bunch of offshore boats. There weren’t too many guest piers near the restaurant last time I was there. Do they have a wall we could raft a bunch of boats off? If not the rafting idea sounds good. Do you know anyone that owns a great restaurant that could supply food?;)

Dan

WE boat on the big lake all the time. Mostly out of South Haven Michigan. Just did 300 miles on the water while traileriung port to port from here to Ontario Canada. The problem with this side of the lake is theres not much to do. I love the lake but Im a three (going on four in about 6 weeks) back surgery guy. If its rough I cant risk the injury. Next year Ill let her fly though.

Chris,
Nothing worse than a back injury. I'd stay off the lake too. If we did a river run where would be a good place to start? How are the launches?
Dan

I would be interested in something like that if we got a decent turn out.

I'd be interested too Candyman. A run up to St Joseph MI would be cool. but a a river run would be a lot closer for the Chicago guys.

This weekend is out. Maybe in 2 weeks?

Mark

Candyman,
We would be interested. We are out of Withrop Harbor. If you guys want to run up this way we can meet you somewhere. ActiveThunderTodd has a good point about the raft up area. We go there and it is pretty nice. There is a resturant at the harbor at Racine and they usually have several slips open for guests. If there isn't enough slips there you can go around to the south side of the harbor by the city boat launch and there is a long pier you can tie up to and you could raft a couple boats off of each there.

ActiveThunderTodd, you two interested in joining? It was nice talking with you two at the OSO outing last fall. I heard the fountain with the paint job was done by the owner, he actually does custom painting on boats.

Rick

I'd be up for it in a couple of weeks too! Usually go to Winthrop Harbor to launch.
Definitely going to make it to the air show- probably Friday though to avoid the traffic:rolleyes:

I'd love to get some of you guys over to the Mississippi- it's not that far to Dubuque for most of you- nice change of scenery!
Used to see a lot of Chicago performance folks out of Savanna, IL too. A fall run on the Miss is a beautiful ride!
Jim

A run to St. Joe or Michigan City wouldn't be bad.
Michigan City has that wall next to the yacht club where we can tie up and either go to the yacht club or Matey's. I'm not sure of dockage in St. Joe.
If we did St. Joe we can maybe get some of the Michigan guys to come down.

Mark

I'd be in for a fun run but the conditions need to be right for my little 24 footer. Last time I was on the big lake I stayed in the Chicago river to long that day and the wind changed on me. I came out of the locks to be greeted by 6-8 footers. I stuffed the bow twice and really thought I wasn't going to make it back to the trailer. Didn't help any that it was dark too.

I'll keep an eye on this thread and see if we can all hook up--weather permitting of course!!!!

Dave

I'm in. Lake MI works for me
I can launch at Winthrop or Alsip. It's the same distance on the trailer from my house. Should we plan for the weekend of the Aug 10,11?
Dan

When is the Air show?

Chicago Air and Water show is Aug 17,18 & 19

My Coast Guard Festival plans just fell apart.
Anybody want to hook up Aug 4 or 5?
DS

We could try for two runs. Maybe we could run up to St. Joe or further depending on the water and grab a late lunch at Michigan City on the way home. The wall would be a safe place to tie up. Instead of making a lake crossing run the shoreline and put on a show for the beach goers.
Any of you Michigan guys Know of a good place we could all meet up for lunch that would have room for a bunch of boats? New Buffalo or St. Joe?

I would also like to do a run up North. The break wall at Racine sounds like a nice place to gather.

RV,
Does the city launch allow boats to tie up there for a while?


Open weekends for me are
July 27, 28
August 3,4
August 10,11

I plan to be at the Air show on the 16th. I could be persuaded to run somewhere on the 17 or 18.

Keep the ideas coming.
Dan

We launch out of Winthrop Harbor when on the "permanent puddle" and we just went to the "taste" couple weeks ago. Would love to hook up with some of you folks, especially with those light southwest winds mentioned, on a trip in any direction. We plan on going to the air show practice on Friday 8/16 by boat, weather permitting, as well.

Dan,
Don't forget we can try to get everyone down for the River Poker Run on Sept. 7.

Thats always a good time:D

Candyman,
Yes you can tie up at the long pier by the city boat landing. The long pier is actually away from the actual boat ramp so you will not be interferring with the ramp activities or their docks. How many boats do you think we may have? We may be running up to Racine this weekend and I could check to see how many slips we could get at the resturant in the harbor vs the long pier by the city ramp.

Rick

Dan,
St Joe has the wall in the river where you can tie up to, and raft boats off. It's pretty long, too, so you can get a lot of boats without going 2-3 wide. There is the Pump House (best place there for a goup), Schu's, Silver Dollar, The Bistro for a fancy dinner, and Kilwins for ICE CREAM!!! LOL! The muni is usually full with us locals on the weekends. The 27th and 28th (this weekend) we won't be in the water, though. I bet a bunch of us could run with you to MI City or something if you came up here. There are 7 or 8 boats around here. Barney's Boathouse is cool and right by Clementines, but they only have a few slips and the 46 Rough Rider in it last weekend stuck out about 30' past the end of the dock:)

New Buffalo has some slips usually available. As far as I know there is really no place to tie up and get into town. You'd have to hit the muni for some transients. There is Hannah's and one other place I can't recall in town that has good grub. The good ice cream shop there closed though. The other one isn't as good. Trust me, if there is one thing I know a lot about....LOL!

A bunch of us MI peeps were thinking of heading to Holland for a weekend, too. So, if it's not the same weekend, we'll be around and can hook up.

Mark

We would definitly be interested. We usually launch at Winthrop Harbor (NorthPoint Marina) But can launch anywhere as long as we have directions.

Problem is, we don't have the boat yet. Keep us posted as if we have it when you have the event(s), we will join in.:D

Let me throw this out there as I think it would be a blast. About 10 years ago we put our boats in on the Illinois River in Morris and headed towards Strarved Rock state park. There is a camp ground with little docks you can park at and sleep on your boat or break out the tents ans camp on land (for those cuddyless boaters). I think an overnight OSO camp out could be pretty wild. I will call my buddy whp set this up years ago and try and find out where exactly we went. As far as the big pond, I can cruise at 40ish mph and as long as it stays around two foot Im good. Rollers are ok, its the chop that brings me pain. Why dont we try and do acouple gatherings?

You might want to move this thread over to OSO Gatherings or at least post a link to it over there so it doesnt get lost.

Just talked to my buddy who said the camping was in Marsielles (no idea how to spell it). I need to find out where the locks are now in that area. My wife and I are going to do this either way. Ill let ya know what I find out. Air show sounds great if the water cooperates. Sitting on a rocking boat all day can be tough. Last year we tied up at Chicago PD dock because the water was terrible. Membership has its privledges :cool:

We were just there, all over the place. Ya'll should have come out to play, ah Mr. Cig

Robert

You got it Robert. We had a blast!!!!
It's just hard to get that group going before noon. But then they don't stop til wee hours in the morning.

I'm still tired and it's Weds already

Mark

I will be watching the Venitian Night fireworks on Saturday. Anyone else?

I would be interested in meeting you guys. Racine has a good resaurant and plenty of space to tie up in the launch basin just behind the restaurant. There is plenty of room to raft.

Winthrop Harbor has plenty of room, but the food is just Ok. Waukegan Yacht Club might be interested?

I think someone is putting together a run from Diversey to Waukegan on Saturday. I will look for the website.

Who runs the poker run on September 7? Where do I sign up? I would be interested in seeing the river with someone that knows where they are going. I usually stay North of the city.

Steve

I'll be comming down from Milwaukee August 11th and I'll be at the Chicago Air Show. E-mail me if anyone wants to hook-up. My brother will be in town from NY and I want to show him a good time.

It sounds like Racine is the winner for running north. . Having somewhere to dock the boats is a must. The wall at St. Joe could work for a Michigan run. It would allow some of the Michigan guys to meet up with us.

Joe900sc,
Are you coming by water on the 11th?

Stevel,
Mr. Cig would have information on the Poker Run. Where did you hear about another run?

Intolerant1,
How is the river the second and third week of September? It would be something different.

H2owarrior,
When's the due date on your new baby? I can't wait to see it!

32fever,
Thanks for the info. Are any of you guys going to the GH offshore races?

RV,
I have no idea of a boat count yet. You can never have too many boats. The more we have the better. It will all depend on Mother Nature.

MR. CIG,
How could we forget about your Poker Run! It gave me my 3 seconds of fame on Wild Chicago. :D That Grand Haven race sounds like a good time also. Do you think the Hammond group would be interested in running with us?

Tonto,
You picked the wrong weekend to be up here. :p I seen that rig of yours. It should be easy to bring it back. BTW, Awesome boat!

26ZX Donzi,
I usually take the day off Friday to go to the practice also. It's the best day to go. Only problem with the Air Show is there is no way to raft up and meet everyone. We could definitely get a group area going. Wally tried to get one organized las6t year but Mother Nature had other plans.

Any preferences to dates? How about the 10th or 11th we make a run to Racine, Weather permitting. Their boat show is from the 15-18 so that won't be a problem. Then we could plan to go to St. Joe on the 25th. The Michigan City show is the 22nd-25th so that won't be an option.

Any other ideas? How do these dates sound? What weekend is the shootout at LOTO?

Hope we can get this together.
Dan

Candyman, that sounds like the start of a plan!!

Dan,
As far as overnighting, Island Point Marina has lots of slips open. I'm sure they'd let boats stay there. If they're touchy, Kaama can work some magic and hook you up, right Mark? (The wall is usually best for just lunch stops, and the IP slips have been going fairly cheap)

I told wifey tonight we're going to the races in GH that weekend. Nothing else planned big that weekend and we're getting a small group to go to LOTO for a week of boat vacation after Labor Day, so we'll be staying around close to home saving our pennies for our big trip shortly after the Holiday:)

Ya know, if this stupid job didn't get in the way, we could go boating a lot more. LOL! :) Summer is going faster than a 16 year old after a 12 pack.

Mark

I believe the weekend of the 11th is the air show so that would interfere. As far as the river, Im having a lumbar spine fusion sometime around the first of September. My summer is winding up fast. 3 months in a body brace after that. Im going to try and get down there asap. Ill let ya know and if some want to join then all the better. If the water isnt too nasty, Ill try and keep up with a run on the big lake to wherever. Ill also be hitting South Haven at least once more if anyone is interested. I would love to cross the lake but would need good water and another boat as mines a single. Staying tuned.....

Payton,
I may take a run over to St. Joe on Saturday to take a look around. If you interested let me know.

32fever,
I was thinking just a day trip but open for suggestions. Just want to get some boats together running in a pack to a common destination. Just like a Poker Run only cheaper!
Are you guys going to be around this weekend?

Intolerant1,
The Air show is the 16, 17 and 18. Here is a link to the site.
http://www.ci.chi.il.us/SpecialEvent...randWater2002/

Dan

Dan, I wish I could. We are going to have about 50 kids and a bunch of thier parents at our house on Sat for a Sunday School picnic. We'll be out sunday afternoon though.

Racine for 10th or 11th works for us. If everyone is flexable how about waiting until that week to finalize the 10th or 11th based on the weather/wind. It may make it more enjoyable for some if the wind isn't too bad.

Dan, can we plan on meeting at NorthPoint (Withrop Harbor) as you guys pass on your way to Racine? It sounds like there maybe a few that will be launching at NorthPoint.

Who is all in for the Racine trip on the 10th/11th?
Who is planning on launching at NorthPoint?

Rick

I'm Sure I can gather a few of the Hammond guys.
They are always looking for somewhere to go.

Mark

Dan,
Our boating group will not be out Sat. We have a wedding for one of our [boating] friends' daughter's wedding. WE'll be out Sunday, though weather permitting. So our whole OS boat clan will be at the wedding and recep.

Mark