While everyone else was in Little League, playing golf, or studying I was bouncing around in the waves trying not to get seasick. I am not sure why, but the seasick part did not deter me from getting back on the water. So now, fifty years from when I started sailing on Lake Michigan I still am.
But back to the quirks, when the wind is blowing from the southwest it has certain characteristics that winds from other directions do not have. A southwest wind blows across farmlands, subdivisions, industry, and Chicago’s bungalow belt before it collides with the manmade cliffs of the central city.
Try to imagine the above characteristics, and add to it the warmth and humidity that a southwest wind inherently brings with it and you get an idea of its feel. A southwest wind is thick and rowdy, and it is gusty at Chicago’s shoreline. The city’s wall of concrete, steel, and glass breaks the wind into an infinite number of vortexes, which combine in odd ways.
This keeps a sailor attentive, never knowing from moment to moment what the wind is going to do. With experience I learned to shorten sail before venturing onto the lake. A sailboat needs a certain amount of sail area to move through the water. Since most boats will only reach a certain speed, the more wind there is the less sail area is needed. If there is too much sail presented to the wind the boat gets blown on its side and goes sideways instead of forward.
The lake outside the Montrose Harbor entrance tends to be tumultuous. The southwest wind piles water up against the northern concrete shoreline that jutes eastward. With nowhere to go, the waves bounce back south and hit the rocks that work their way south to Belmont Harbor.
The Montrose Harbor entrance is tucked into the corner. The wind is in our face as we make our way out of the harbor. The sails flap wildly until the entrance is cleared and the boat can be pointed more east than south. The sails fill, the engine is turned off, and we pick up speed — if it were only so simple. Because the nature of a southwest wind in this particular place is gusty it can be overpowering one moment and absent the next, and its direction can vary from south to west.
To shorten or reduce a sail is to reef it. Reef is an Old Norse word meaning to rend. Reefing a sail is much easier to do at the mooring in the harbor then out in the wind and waves. So, this is what we do.
A sailboat needs the power of the wind to make its way through the confused seas. To adjust to the changes in wind speed and direction, and the changing sea state requires experience and a bit of chutzpah! In many respects, an underpowered boat (remember we reefed the sail) is as bad as an overpowered one, but knowing what we know, that the wind will become stronger, the sail area remains the same.
In a southwest wind, we steer for the Harrison-Deaver Crib 2.75 miles offshore, and some seven miles distant from the mouth of Montrose Harbor. If we venture too close to the downtown skyline the wind becomes, for a lack of a better word, squirrelly. The more off shore the steadier the wind becomes, so we try to head towards Michigan City, Indiana knowing we will never get there.
Heading for the crib the boat has the wind on its nose or close hauled in sailing terminology. Once heading back to Montrose the wind is on the port or left stern quarter and this is called a broad reach, the most efficient and comfortable point of sail.
On the best of days this short sail up and back from the crib encapsulates what sailing is all about: tactics, logistics, upwind and downwind sailing, a spectacular scenic background, unpredictability and the satisfaction of piloting a boat well. And did I forget to mention camaraderie, I shouldn’t have.
Lake Michigan’s quirks (believe me the list is much longer) are what make a barren coast so enticing to sail for a lifetime. When I look back at the inordinate time spent, I think I should strike out inordinate and replace it with rewarding or useful or well spent. For a sail in a southwest wind is certainly all those even if it is a bit quirky!
September 2015
