Fri., April 30	7:00pm	Stone's Throw Bar at DoubleTree Hotel	Pre-Cruise Meet-N-Greet
Sat., May 1	6:30 am -10:00 am	Municipal Launch Ramp - Worth, Illinois.	USCGA Vessel Safety Check and Chicago Loop Cruise Registration.
	10:00 am	Worth-Chicago-Worth	2010 Chicago Loop Cruise!!!
	3:00 pm -5:00 pm	T.B.D.	Raft-up, weather permitting
	8:00 pm	Stone's Throw Bar at the DoubleTree Hotel	Post-Cruise Meet-N-Greet & barstool raft-up!

We will launch in Worth, Illinois on the Calumet Sag Channel. These ramps are located at 115th Street and Harlem Avenue. See Map. This launch facility consists of only 2 ramps, with minimal dock space.

Check-in will occur at the pavilion located on the west side of the parking lot. Everyone needs to check-in and notify me of your actual headcount present for the event. You will also pick up your registration packages, t-shirts, etc. You might be ready to check-in before I am ready, so please be patient if that is the case.

We expect to depart the docks by 10:00 am, perhaps a bit later. Please allow plenty of time for check-in, USCG Aux. safety inspections and departure. I plan to arrive prior to 7:00am and encourage as many as possible to do the same. Some of the giveaways will occur at check-in, and will be a matter of choice. The earlier you arrive, the better the selection!!!

Following launch, we will proceed southeast toward Lake Michigan on the Cal Sag Channel. We enter Lake Michigan at Calumet Harbor after passing through the O'Brien Lock. At this point, we are on the Illinois/Indiana state line. We then proceed north on Lake Michigan toward the Chicago River Lock.

Once downtown, we will enter Monroe Harbor on the north side of the Oceanarium, and cruise past the Field Museum, Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain inside the breakwater. We continue to the far north end of the harbor, known as DuSable Harbor. We hope to use the DuSable Harbor docks to tie off and enjoy lunch (b.y.o.) if I can obtain permission from the Harbor Master. Our "halftime" contingency location is Ping Tom Park along the South Branch of the Chicago River in Chinatown, just outside of downtown Chicago. Do not miss this "halftime break" - literally thousands of dollars in "goodies" will be given away to registered participants, compliments of our generous sponsors!!

We enter the river system again at the Chicago Lock. We proceed southeast on the Chicago River to the Illinois Ship & Sanitary Canal and then the Canal back to the Cal Sag to Worth. We generally return to Worth between 4 and 6pm. The total cruise is approximately 68 miles, with roughly 13 miles on Lake Michigan.

The cruise will be confined to the rivers if conditions on Lake Michigan are not favorable. This route was appropriately nicknamed "half looped" in 2004! Essentially, the route becomes reversed so we approach Chicago from the Illinois S & S Canal and the Chicago River. We will proceed through downtown Chicago all the way to the Chicago Lock but do not lock through. We then turn around and stop at Ping Tom Park for our halftime break, then return to Worth.

As mentioned in the registration page, all communication originating from, or directed to, the planner(s) of this event will be via email at don.chambers@chicagoloopcruise.com. Please make sure you have granted appropriate permissions to that address if you utilize any spam filtering applications with your email. This is particularly necessary with AOL users.

Please centralize group discussion of this event on Team Crownline. Crownline Boats has been, and continues to be, a major supporter of this event and Team Crownline is the primary reason most of the participants have come to know one another. Questions posed there, as well as subsequent responses, benefit everyone and generally reduce the number of redundant questions.

A group directory, complete with participant, vessel names, phone numbers, etc, will be distributed to all participants via email just prior to the cruise. Participants will find it convenient to print this directory so that it is accessible during the cruise to identify each other, or to communicate directly with another boat, either by hailing on VHF, or calling via cell phone.

While not required, VHF is highly recommended, not just for this event, but as a recommended piece of safety equipment. Our communications are primarily by VHF channel 78. I’ll maintain a watch on channel 16 on behalf of the group and encourage anyone else to do the same if your radio has a dual watch feature. Technically, if you have VHF, you are required to monitor 16, but I believe a handful of individuals doing this on behalf of a group traveling together more, or less, satisfies the requirement. FCC rules prohibit the use of profanity - and this is a "family friendly" event - so please watch your language.

While I do not have FRS, many do… so, please keep kids on FRS 1, and adults on FRS 7. That is 1-0, and 7-0 for those of you with sub-channels on your FRS radios. Keeping the kids off the adult working channel should help quite a bit, but remember that most of us will be using VHF as a primary means of communication.

There is NO WHERE along the route to get gas!

PLEASE BE SERIOUS ABOUT A FULL GAS TANK!!!! Do NOT attend this event without a full tank!!! Your life, and the lives of your crew will be very much at risk if you run out of fuel!!.

There is nowhere for a bathroom break, so plan accordingly. 5 gallon buckets and laundry detergent bottles have been utilized by those without porta-potties in the past!