Journeys›Photograph

Mid-July Sailing Day on Lake Michigan

·Lake Michigan·#summer#boating#michigan#lake michigan#sailing
A young woman in sunglasses smiles on a sailboat, holding a can, with other people on the blue ocean.

Out on Lake Michigan for a full day of sailing, and mid-July is apparently when you want to be here — sailors call June through July the best window on this lake, and the day backed that up. Steady wind, hardly any chop, which is not nothing on water that can throw 20-foot waves when it wants to.

We stayed in sight of the Michigan shore most of the way, the dunes running along it in a long tan ridge with cottages tucked at the waterline. Other boats scattered across the horizon doing the same thing we were. This is the lake that hosts the Chicago-to-Mackinac race, 333 miles, the oldest annual freshwater sailboat race anywhere, and on a day like this you could see why people keep coming back for it.

The dog rode the whole way on the cockpit cushion like she owned it. Cans of Miller Lite made the rounds. Somebody kept a hand on the wooden tiller for hours and did not seem to want to give it up.

Calm blue water stretches to a distant coastline with green trees, a sandy beach, and scattered buildings under a hazy sky.A sailboat glides on dark blue water with green, forested hills and a sand dune along the distant shore.A black and white dog with its mouth open lies on a boat deck, with blue sea and clear sky.From a sailboat's deck, a white sail with a blue North Sails logo overlooks a vast blue sea with other vessels.A person smiling in sunglasses and a striped bikini top on a sailboat under a clear blue sky.A sailboat on an ocean under a bright sky, seen through a partial frame on the left and top.A view from a sailboat across dark blue water towards a distant coastline with hills and a small white sailboat.Two men on a boat, one holding a rope and the other a wooden pole, with blue sky and ocean.

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