Wild Thyme Sailing

Wild Thyme | A 1989 Catalina 30 Tall Rig

This site is dedicated to the cruising of Wild Thyme on Lake Michigan and serves as a practice in HTML coding.

The story of Wild Thyme begins on our honeymoon in the winter of 2014. We had chartered a 34' Beneteau in the British Virgin Islands for a week and were bitten by the "we need a bigger boat" bug. It took quite some time finding a boat that met both my specifications and my wife's demands. We made several trips to Wisconsin and Indiana to look at boats, but we ended up finding Wild Thyme in the same harbor we were currently moored in. We circled the boat for weeks and finally made an offer in the summer of 2014.

Transitioning from a tiller to a wheel and having an inboard diesel made crusing all the better--not to mention the auto pilot and central ac/heat! Since we have had her, Wild Thyme has cruised to almost all of the ports in the southern half of Lake Michigan, including stops in Wisconsin and Michigan.

  • Life while being moored in Chicago

    When people think of "harbor towns" Chicago usually isn't the first one to come to mind. The lake is crystal clear (thanks to the Zebra Mussels) and is deep enough to never have to worry about grounding. It can be a treacherous lake with waves reaching ten feet during large storms, but on most days the westerly prevailing winds make Chicago a great sailing area. With Michigan 65 nautical miles across the lake, Wisconsin 60 nautical miles to the north, and Indiana even closer, there are numerous places to visit.

Chicago Mooring

Wild Thyme has been moored in the Chicagoland area since being purchased in 1989 by its first owner.

Maintenance

Wild Thyme has had the strictest of maintenance with oil changes annually, and is currently maintained by the professionals at Crowley's Yacht Yard.

Winter Storage

For the first 15 years, Wild Thyme was stored in a heated storage facility near Waukegan. The last 15 years, she has been outside protected by a custom cover.