AA Sails to Waukegan

FRIGATE BIRD – Built in 1938 at the Bond Boatyard (just north of Irving Park Road on theRiver), FRIGATE BIRD was a wishbone trysail ketch, over 40’ OAL, and owned by Adele Arlitt. Adele had a BA in Philosophy and an MA in Theology which might explain her choice of boat. Adele spent two years living aboard through the winter in the water, one at Triple A on the North Branch of the Chicago River and the other at the old Crowley Yard on the South Branch. The boat was heated by a coal-burning stove. The wishbone was an unusual rig with a triangular shaped sail hoisted on the foremast and controlled by a gaff yard running both in front and in back of the sail.

 

A Call from Adele – On a Thursday in late October of 1991, we got a call from Adele: “would you like to sail up to Waukegan from Montrose tomorrow?” Yes we did. We left
Montrose around 5pm and headed up the western shore on a reach. We arrived in the “old harbor” of Waukegan about 10pm and motored slowly up to the Waukegan Yacht Club, a possible mooring for the evening. As we approached the dock a bunch of men in tuxedos came out to take the lines. We had arrived near the climax of the Commodore’s Ball and were invited to join the party. It was not every day (or every year) that a wooden boat from the 1930’s came out of the night for a visit. Warmly welcomed as we were, it was a nice way to begin a visit to the home town of Jack Benny. And a wonderful visit it was…