Our Latest Blogs

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  A Summary of our Eastbound Trip
  by s.v.QE II
  September 18, 2023
  Chicago, IL to Rochester, NY May 18 to September 6, 2023 Our trip from Chicago, IL to Rochester, NY was everything we had hoped for and more. Some interesting facts about the trip: Once the boat was pulled from the water, we spent another 12 days traveling through New England checking out potential harbors for … Read more
• 
  Going Home
  by s.v.QE II
  September 18, 2023
  Newport, RI to Mission Hills, KS September 18, 2023 After 116 days, or just under 4 months, we are finally returning home. It has been a wonderful summer and our visit with the Whites was a fantastic way to end our trip. After sailing nearly 1,500 miles aboard QE II, we drove another 1,775 in … Read more
• 
  Our Last Day in Newport
  by s.v.QE II
  September 17, 2023
  Newport, RI September 17, 2023 We spent the last full day of our trip in Newport, RI with the Whites. The morning was principally spent talking with Marion and Steve in their kitchen drinking tea and eating pastries we had picked up the day before. By the afternoon, we headed out to the Sailing Museum, … Read more

Two months after meeting Elizabeth she said to me, “you know I grew up sailing and I think it is a wonderful hobby. I think you’d like it. Would you be interested in learning how to sail?” Keep in mind, I just recently met this girl and I knew then that I liked her so I replied, “you know, I’ve ALWAYS wanted to learn to sail”. Nearly 30 years later, I continue to learn how to manipulate the boat and sails so that the wind will take us where we want to go.

Since that time, we have owned three boats: Serendipity, Anticipation and QE II. The later we are now beginning our 20th year of ownership. We lived for over 5 years of our life together in Chicago where we sailed Anticipation and often dreamed of what it would be like to own a larger cruising sailboat that would take us across Lake Michigan and beyond.

Four years after we returned to Kansas City, we still felt the “bug” to buy a bigger boat and we were fortunate enough to be able to purchase the “boat of our dreams”. We bought a 2001 Catalina 380 at the Annapolis Boat Show and have enjoyed the experience ever since.

Virtually every year we have managed to sail across Lake Michigan at least twice to experience the wonderful harbor towns of Michigan or sail along the western shore of the lake into Wisconsin. That has been very satisfying. Elizabeth has often expressed an interest in doing the “Great Loop”, a water adventure that takes one down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida, back north along the Atlantic coast returning to Chicago via the Great Lakes. Frankly, I’ve not been that interested. However, I have been intrigued with the idea of a Great Loop through the Great Lakes.

Inspired by that concept, we are now planning to embark on what will be a three (3) year sailing adventure. Our first summer will be a sail along the US shoreline of each of the Great Lakes; north through Lake Michigan (along the Michigan shore), south in Lake Huron, east in Lake Erie and culminating our first year in Rochester, NY after exploring Lake Ontario.

The second summer will be spent completing what is known as the “Down East Loop”. That year we will sail out of the St. Lawrence Seaway, around Nova Scotia and Maine, travel south past Massachusetts and through the Cape Cod Canal. From there we will make stops in Nantucket Island and Martha’s Vineyard before heading to Newport, RI to spend time with Elizabeth’s sister and her family. From Newport we head west to Block Island and through the Long Island Sound into New York City. Following a short stay we will head up the Hudson River to our final leg, a transit through the Erie Canal.

Our third and final summer will be spent sailing along the Canadian side of the Great Lakes with a focus on the Georgian Bay and North Channel before an exploration of Lake Superior. We plan to conclude our trip by sailing south in Lake Michigan along Wisconsin before returning to our home port of Chicago.

This blog is intended to chronicle that trip so that we have a record of our adventures and can share our experiences with friends and family. We thank you for your interest and look forward to sharing many of our experiences with each of you.

We also invite you to also become engaged with our Vlog (Video Blog) which can be found on our YouTube Channel, The Voyages of the QE II. A link to the channel can be found immediately below.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbp5TI15aUMrcCS6i1ooZwg

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100074108859672

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbp5TI15aUMrcCS6i1ooZwg/featured

https://www.instagram.com/s.v.qeii/