Spring always brings a fresh look to things as the gray snow melts to allow a new season of growth. The Chicago Park District Harbors will see changes, too, as the final phase of harbor renovations are completed this spring.
At Belmont Harbor, two new breakwaters are being constructed for more protection from waves. For years Belmont Harbor has been subjected to very large waves when the winds blow from the southeast. The new breakwaters should have a settling effect.
Some 400 new floating slips are being installed to replace some mooring cans, star docks and the old slips along the east side of the harbor.
Eight star docks and some mooring cans will remain, but the new facilities will make Belmont look like a state-of-the-art facility, and not the pre-World War II harbor it is.
New gas docks are being installed along with new walkways, landscaping and lighting.
At Jackson Park Inner Harbor, 25 new walk-on slips are being installed along with new walkways and resurfacing of the parking lot. In the Outer Harbor, 80 new floating slips will replace moorings and star docks.
In 1999 construction will begin for a new building at Montrose Harbor.
The structure, approved by the Chicago Plan Commission last year, will be on the south side of the harbor and house the harbormaster, a ships store, rest rooms and restaurant.
If you want to see the new harbor configurations, call Westrec Marinas, which manages the harbors for the Park District, at 312-747-0737 for plans.
– The smallest sailors. The Chicago Radio Controlled Model Yacht Club is looking for members and has a full lineup of activities set for the upcoming season.
The Chicago Club races from 10 a.m. until about 2 p.m. every Sunday, starting May 2. The group races in the Cook County Forest Preserve District’s Axehead Lake in Des Plaines, at the southeast corner of Touhy Avenue and Interstate Highway 294 (Tri-State Tollway).
For more information on the Chicago Club, call Rich Matt at 708-442-9697.
These model boats are fairly large, many standing more than 4 feet high. The operator controls the sails with a radio control device from shore. Races must follow all the rules sailors do, and an Olympic style race course about the size of a football field is set up in the lake.
A state-of-the-art model can cost $500 and up (way up).
If you are interested, check out the American Model Yachting home page at www.intellisys.net/AMYA for links and basic information.
– Teamwork. The Olympic Sailing Committee of U.S. Sailing, the national governing body for the sport, has named two local sailors as members of the 1999 U.S. Sailing team, Jim Elvart of Chicago and Talbott Ingram, of Winnetka. Both race little 470s. The team will help recruit top sailors for the 2000 Olympics.
– Looking for fame. After several failed attempts to put himself in the record book as the first man to fly nonstop around the world in a balloon, Chicago billionaire Steve Fossett has announced he will compete in The Race, a no limits around the world sailboat race set to start in Sydney, Australia Dec. 31, 2000.
Fossett will be sailing a Catamaran named Play Station. The Web site www.therace.org will tell you more.
– Farewell. For more than half a century, Herb Kaczmarek was a fixture at Montrose Harbor. He raced every Wednesday and most weekends in his sloop Dixie, and had 29 Chicago to Mackinac Island races to his credit.
But most of all Kaczmarek was a helper. He assisted more people in putting up and taking down their masts than many a boatyard professional. A skilled sailor with a good sense of humor and steady hand, he had few problems recruiting crew.
Kaczmarek died March 11 at 84 after a short bout with pneumonia. The Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club is naming one of its regatta’s in Herb’s honor, it will be called the Dixie Cup.
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E-mail boatnews@aol.com or write to William Recktenwald, City Room, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611-4041.
