Location: Chicago, IL - Navy Pier + Chicago Yacht Club
I walked along Navy Pier with a few friends, we’d spent the day exploring and walking around downtown. But what I remember most clearly wasn’t the noise of cars and people, or the glitter of the skyline, it was the masts. Masts of the sailboats sitting in the Chicago yacht club marina I mean.
The Chicago Yacht Club sat there, quiet but proud, every sailboat docked. And for the first time in a long while, I felt completely at peace. There was something serene in that moment: the sun on the water, sound of the waves, sound of hulls creaking, and the sight of the boats moving with the water.
I think that was the moment I truly connected to water, not as a backdrop, but as something alive.
That experience rewired something in me. It wasn’t long after that I started paying closer attention to the coastline, to harbors, to towns with maritime histories. And eventually, it led me to the ocean itself.
But it started here. With Lake Michigan.
