The Great Loop Guide

Part 1 – City Lights to Riverboat Fantasy

Picture the following: A warm, humid, mid September night on Lake Michigan. Clear skies with a sprinkling of stars. The faint breeze barely moving the boat along and offering little relief from the lingering heat, although not as bad as the preceding day had been. What felt like a week under way in various conditions was coming to and end as we gradually approach our first stop on the Great Loop; The City of Chicago Illinois.

The clear sky has permitted a distant sighting of the city lights since dusk, making the entire approach feel like an eternity. As darkness deepens, the city lights seem to grow while appearing to increase in intensity and size, giving the short lived illusion of a rapid approach, followed by hours of seemingly no decrease in distance. The whole effect leading to a surreal, very distant and almost fairy-tale like experience, enhanced by silently gliding across the thick, black, oil-like liquid underneath. While the modest speed indicated by GPS is a mere four and a half knots, looking at the black ripples silently and rapidly screech past the boat’s beam in the pitch black night suggested far higher velocities adding to a state of dazed confusion.

Many many hours later, with the sun rising over the horizon, the time has come for the first route options selection. A: Via the Chicago River through downtown Chicago (Must clear 17 feet Air Draft) and on to the Des Plaines River, or B: Via the Calumet River to the Des Plaines River. Either choice eventually leads to a non-negotiable railroad bridge with a 19 foot clearance. For Sailors, most options for mast unstepping are near the mouth of the Calumet River at the beginning of Route B.

Route A

…begins with traversing the Chicago Harbor Lock to enter the Chicago River.

Sailing through a large city core is a different experience altogether and Chicago has done an exemplary job of creating a visually satisfying and vibrant riverfront.

After several miles of sailing down the Chicago River, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is reached and the routes re-converge.

Route B

…Past the lighthouse, Route B offers a notably less scenic and longer route with industrial traffic and surroundings.

If 17 feet air draft is doable, Route A is highly recommended, unless industrial areas, freighters and barges appeal to you.

Once the T. J. O’Brien Lock and Dam as well as the Calumet River are traversed, the routes converge on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.