I was wondering what the boating was like on the Chain during the 70s, 80s, and 90s?
What type of boats and how big?
What was the boat traffic like?
Were there as many no wake zones?
Would anyone have any pictures from back then?
Was the 25 mph night time speed limit always posted?
I was just curious because the first time I ever went out on the chain was in 2003 on a friends pontoon boat.

There was a bad accident there in the late 80s. It was a boat that had LIBERATOR down the side, and hit broadside with another boat; both at speed around dusk. We had cousins on the chain and used to visit with my Father's Imp.

Wow the late 80s is a while back. I couldn't imagine being in that accident and surviving it.

Yep, a guy left jukebox late at night in his Liberator and ran over a boat that was anchored with no lights on,,sadly some people lost their lives that night..

Wow Tom that was a long time ago good memory.

Am I the only one here that doesn't feel like the late eighties seem that long ago?

No,sadly you are not alone..

Denis
I have a good memory,too bad its short.lol

Yes; that sounds more correct. I know we had seen the "LIBERATOR" boat running around all weekend. Then that news of it's accident came the morning we were leaving.

Yeah, I was out that night. The 4-winds liberator drove right over a ski nautique in Fox Lake. I got a call about 2:30AM as I was getting ready to put the boat on the trailer in McHenry. We went back up the river to see what was actually going on. They had Fox Lake blocked so went all the way up and around through the lakes. By the time we got to Fox Lake from the other direction, it was opened. They had the ski boat beached at Mineola and the lake county sherriff was there doing interviews for the news. People were saying that they couldn't see because of the fog but they heard the impact and then heard people yelling for help (they were on-shore). If I remember correctly, all three people were killed in the ski boat. The one thing I know for sure was that two of the people were twin sisters; their father owned the chevy dealership at rt.12 and lake-cook rd in palatine. The 4-winds was sitting on the ground in front of a boat shop in McHenry for years (on rt.31 north just south of johnsburg rd.). Very sad, I remember like yesterday