Across to St. Joe

Sailing Across–We first sailed to St. Joe on ESMERALDA , on Labor Day weekend in 1989. Thetrip from Chicago is about sixty miles. With a favorable wind, she could do it
in ten hours. The wind was strong from the north and we could beat over and just clear the finish line on a straight line from Chicago. We sailed across in tandem with a larger boat on the same course about a hundred yards to leeward. At times in the trough of a wave, we could not see the top of their mast. Waves were running about four-five feet and taking the wheel from the starboard side, my elbow was dipping in the water most of the trip. St. Joe shares the mouth of the St. Joseph River with Benton Harbor. The voyage was the first leg of the Tri-State regatta from Chicago to St. Joe to Michigan City and back over the Labor Day weekend. If the weather is clear, you can just see the top of the Sears Tower when the top of the Benton Harbor water tower comes into view. St. Joe sits on a tall bluff overlooking the Lake.

 

St. Joe Hospitality–Sailing across the Lake you enter the town between two long piers which form a protected passage shielded from the worst Lake weather once you get past the first hundred yards. Just past the railroad bridge, you tie up along the shore below the town. On our first visit, we found ourselves sheltering along the riverbank just beneath the town jail. Our first visitor was a small boat bearing a basket of fruit. The gift was the first of many received from thepeople of that town.