When most people travel, they concentrate on their destination. But for people such as Jim Farrell, who travel by boat, getting there is as important as being there.
They are cruisers. They float from port to port-not in some giant luxury liner, where the water is so far away it becomes part of the scenery-but in smaller power and sailboats from which they experience the elements much more intimately.
They control almost everything: Where they go, when they go, how they go. It`s a lot of work, but the people who cruise swear it`s the most relaxing way to go.
”You have to enjoy getting there as well as being there,” said Farrell, a Chicagoan who is co-owner of a plastics business.
”You can hop in a car or a plane and get there quickly,” he added, while boating takes time. Under the best conditions, a sailboat won`t go much faster than 5 knots (about 5.75 miles per hour), he said. Most sailing cruisers go about 30 miles a day.
Powerboats, of course, can go faster; speeds of 20 to 30 m.p.h. aren`t unusual, even for boats less than 30 feet long.
Farrell has sailed for more than 40 years. But for the last four years he has owned a 28-foot trawler, a power boat named Jevabem that he describes as
”a dandified version of a lobster and fishing boat.”
Each year, Farrell goes on one major cruise with his wife or one of his four grown daughters, as well as lots of weekend cruises to places such as South Haven, Mich., Milwaukee and Racine, Wis. He left in late July on this year`s big cruise, a month in the North Channel, north of Lake Huron in Canada.
”It`s absolutely beautiful, secluded and a challenge in terms of trying not to hit any really thin (shallow) water.”
Generally speaking, there are two kinds of cruises: weekends and vacations. Weekend cruises are short jaunts to nearby harbors, usually two days and a night. A vacation cruise can go from a few days to several months. Many area boaters cruise the Great Lakes on their vacations, and others charter boats in other parts of the world, such as the Caribbean.
Whether they`re power boaters or sailors, cruisers differentiate themselves from racers, for whom speed is the goal. Cruisers say they are looking for leisure, beauty, self-reliance, relaxation or camaraderie.
Joe Cech, a retired school administrator from Skokie, and his wife, Alice, a retail manager, have been cruising for about eight years. He also organizes weekend cruises for members of the Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club at Montrose Harbor.
About four times a summer, several boats will travel together from Montrose to another harbor within 20 or 30 miles, say, Waukegan or Hammond. They usually pack lunches to eat en route on Saturday, then have dinner together ashore. They spend the night before heading back to Chicago on Sunday.
Cech also likes crossing the lake in his 30-foot sailboat, Big Al, to ports in Michigan, such as South Haven. Often he`ll leave around 7 p.m. and sail all night.
”After several hours, you don`t see land anymore,” he said. ”If the weather is good, it is exhilarating. You`ve never seen so many stars in your life. If there`s a moon, it`s almost like daylight.”
The Cechs often ”harbor hop” up the Wisconsin shore for their vacation cruises, which usually last a week or two. ”You try to make the harbors about 20 to 30 miles apart. Sailboats don`t go very fast,” Cech said.
For Stanley Gratt, an engineer from Oak Lawn, the appeal of cruising is that it`s ”a real contrast to your daily lifestyle.
”You`re dependent on yourself; there`s no one else,” said Gratt, who`s been sailing for 32 years, the last 13 on a 40-foot sailboat called Icarus.
”Money doesn`t do you any good; the buck stops with you.
”Boating gives you another perspective of the areas you travel,” Gratt added. ”Flying, driving or train travel give different perspectives.”
In past summers, Gratt has sailed with his son on four- to six-week trips throughout the Great Lakes.
”We`d alternate each year between the North Channel and Door County
(Wis.).”
On those trips, Gratt and his son were the core crew. ”My wife and daughter, and sometimes other people, would rendezvous with us and stay with us for a week,” he said.
Based on his cruising experience, Gratt said, ”a good harbor will have a good grocery store, a good restaurant you can walk to and a car ferry.”
He finds car ferries romantic. ”It`s a thing of beauty to see a 500-foot ship turn around in a small harbor.”
Last year, Jack Beierwaltes, 78, a retired manufacturer`s representative, became one of only 19 people given the Admiral Bayfield Award for sailing all five of the Great Lakes.
The award, named for William Bayfield, who originally charted most of the Great Lakes, is given by the Great Lakes Cruising Club to boaters who have traveled at least half the length of each of the five lakes.
The club is an organization of about 2,700 boaters who travel on the Great Lakes. The club`s log book, updated every five years, contains information on almost every harbor in the system.
Beierwaltes and his wife, Ginny, 79, have been sailing for 40 years. Last year, Beierwaltes realized that he had met the requirements for four of the lakes in an earlier eight-week cruise of Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. So last summer he set off on his 35-foot sailboat, Charmer, to cruise Lake Superior.
”We had one crew with us for a week, then another crew drove up for the next week,” he said.
But cruising isn`t just sunny days and fun harbors. ”Stormy weather” is more than a song title to cruisers.
”If you cruise for long distances, you`re going to get caught in bad weather,” Gratt said. He said he once was caught in a storm in which several people drowned.
”One crew member was so sick she was vomiting blood. We were about 12 hours offshore when it hit. It was a hair-raising experience.”
But Beierwaltes said that, with all the weather information available,
”if you get in trouble today, you`re deaf, dumb and blind.”
Boatswain Mike Baron, chief petty officer of the Coast Guard station in Wilmette Harbor, noted that the National Weather Service broadcasts weather information 24 hours a day on marine band radio.
Although it`s not required, the Coast Guard recommends that boaters install Loran, a navigational aid that can help them plot-and pinpoint-their position and can help rescuers find a vessel in an emergency. The guard also promotes boating safety classes. Baron also recommends that boats have a marine band radio for weather reports, as well as a ship-to-shore radio or cellular telephone.
”We`ve had an influx of people calling in on cellular phones,” he said. For banker Harrison Tempest, who lives in Lake Forest, cruising is time for the family, which took up sailing while living in London.
”We wanted a place to get the kids out of the city on weekends. They sort of grew up on a boat. It`s a good way to really stay together as a family.”
The family then moved to San Francisco and would cruise down the California coast. But instead of harbor-hopping, the family would sail straight through for about three days, keeping watch in four-hour shifts,
”sort of like the Navy,” Tempest said.
The kids are now in their 20s; his son is married and his daughter lives in Manhattan. Tempest no longer owns a boat, but the family still goes on cruising vacations every year, usually in the Caribbean.
Relaxation is what keeps Tempest cruising. ”Being able to watch nature be able to move the boat . . . You`re with your family and there`s no other distractions. You get away from phones and faxes. You`ve got to concentrate on what you`re doing, so you take your mind off your job as well.”
Dennis Kepchar, vice president of planning and marketing for a Chicago hospital, agrees. Every summer he and his wife take a two-week cruise aboard their boat, Wysteria.
”Sailing is something that is totally relaxing. Your mind empties out,” he said. ”Unless we have a conflict, we spend almost every weekend in the summer sailing.”
Cruising on your own boat isn`t the only way to go, however. Many people charter boats.
Jane and Steve Gardner of Winnetka started sailing as a couple three years ago when they arranged a crewed charter in the Virgin Islands.
All three couples were celebrating their 30th anniversaries. At the end of the week, they renewed wedding vows on deck.
The women carried bouquets of hibiscus and orchids, and everybody was dressed in a bathing suit, Jane Gardner said.
One week on the boat, and the Gardners were hooked.
But the Gardners don`t plan to invest in a boat soon. The boating season in Chicago is too short, they said. And bareboat chartering is easy and affordable.
With a bareboat charter, what you get is a bare boat. Most are equipped with radios, navigational aids, lifejackets and pots and pans. What makes it
”bare” is the lack of a crew, though some charter companies do have captains available for around $100 a day. And the charter companies don`t provide food, though some will stock the boat and bill you extra.
”Bareboating is not for somebody who wants to sit around and do nothing,” cautioned Stacy MacDonald of Woodstock, a clinical social worker who, with her husband, Ian, has chartered boats in the Virgin Islands and the San Juan Islands in Washington State. ”There`s work to do.”
Not all charters require a long trip. Over the July 4 weekend, the Gardners and another couple chartered a 31-foot sailboat in Michigan City, sailed to Monroe Harbor and watched the city`s fireworks display from the boat.
Regardless of the site or length of charter, MacDonald recommends that you know as much as you can about the boat and charter company beforehand.
”If you get stuck on a rotten boat, it`s no fun,” she said.
She and her husband once got stuck in the British Virgin Islands on a boat with a faulty electrical system. The charter operator was reluctant to come out to fix the boat, she said.
”We didn`t know if the engine was going to work,” she said. ”It pays to go with quality.”
Before booking a boat, she said, ”call them, talk to them. If you can, it`s always nice to ask someone else about their reputation.”
Judy Anderson, 43, a legal secretary from Des Plaines, doesn`t like bareboating; she wants a crew to do the work.
”I don`t want to have to cook and clean up on vacation,” she said. She has gone on several charters in the last few years.
Anderson doesn`t own a boat and doesn`t intend to buy one. However, she often crews for friends on Lake Michigan and belongs to a sailing club.
Even experienced boaters may want a captain, said Bob Tate, who runs the Chicagoland Bareboaters Club Ltd. from his Evanston home. He took his first charter in 1975 and has been hooked since. Six years ago he started running the charter company for a living.
Despite his experience, he said he sometimes likes having a captain aboard who knows the local terrain and sights. ”When we went to Greece, we decided to hire a captain because he knew the local waters and where the tavernas were,” Tate said. ”He kept asking us, `When are you going to let me sail?` You take along a captain and you have the best of both worlds.”
Even with a bareboat charter you can hire a captain, Tate said; in some cases, if the charter company thinks you don`t have the experience to handle the boat, you won`t have a choice. ”They might put a captain aboard for a day or two.”
Crewed charters can be useful for learning to sail. ”We have boats that specialize in teaching,” Tate said.
For example, about 60 percent of the charter clients of Sailboats Inc. have graduated from the company`s school, a three-day course that covers the basics of sailing, said Trey Ritter, vice president of operations.
The others fill out a resume that shows they have the knowledge they need, he said. Sailboats Inc. has 85 boats in seven locations around the Great Lakes, including Monroe Harbor in Chicago, and one in Florida. The company offers a two-day charter for $500 to $1,025, depending on the size of the boat, Ritter said.
Michigan City Sailboat Charters also offers three- and five-day sailing courses. The company has 10 boats. Weekly charters range from $1,210 to $1,590; a two-day charter costs $450 to $590, said Diane Logan. Boats also are available out of South Haven, Mich., she said.
With six or more people splitting the cost, a bareboat charter can start at $100 per prson, not including food, drinks and air fare, Tate said. A crewed charter starts at about $160 per person per day, including food and drinks, he said.
According to brochures, weeklong bareboat charters start at around $3,000, not including food, drinks or airfare. A one-week crewed charter for eight people aboard an 80-foot boat and including a captain, cook, all meals and drinks costs $18,000, plus air fare.
Kepchar found out about charter companies through ads in the back of sailing magazines. Travel agents also can be helpful.
Regardless where the cruise is, or who arranges it, cruising can be a unique experience.
Jim Farrell once helped a neighbor sail a boat across the Atlantic Ocean to Cadiz, Spain. They went down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, across to Stewart, Fla., to Bermuda and finally to Spain.
”You lose track of time,” Farrell said. ”That`s the nice part of it-being there and getting into the flow.
”The deep blue of the north Atlantic is something I could look at for hours and hours without end.”
