Over the weekend we took a quick trip around the lake by car and visited Milwaukee. Besides stopping by Barnacle Bud's, Sven's and Three Brothers, we hung out in the park overlooking the southside anchorage. What a beautiful neighborhood!

The inlet just to the south of the moorings, is that a safe inlet for a sailboat?

How do you usually access the Lake from the mooring field? Head north into the main harbor and then out the south inlet? I don't know the official names of the channels harbors or inlets, are they named?

I suppose looking at a chart would tell me what I need to know but I am curious if there are a number of ways to get to the mooring field.

Well, the 'knee-jerk' responce from just about everyone is that there is three (3) entrances into Milwaukee Harbor. In fact, there are actually four (4), the extreme south entrance penetrating north from the South Shore yacht club into Milwaukee Harbor. In the event of a nasty storm, if you cannot make the 'main' three usually spoken of, you might claw into SS for some safety... though unable to make the northern three would preclude then SAILING north through the narrow channel into Milwaukee Harbor. I believe from your post that you are speaking of SOUTH SHORE??? OK, coming from the south, there's SS Yacht club entrance which I will come back to. Then there's the 'south gap', the 'main gap' (main channel) and then the 'north gap. I seem to recall that you posted a pic of the north gap entrance when you into'd yourself, so I'll presume you're 'with me' so far.

Assuming you're discussing the entrance to SS: I've sailed through it a few times, and I always give the NORTH face of it a wide berth. While true, I can see the rocks... a friend of mine, while sailing out of SS on his vessal a couple years ago, told me to give them a wide berth, as they (rocks) and the shoal water extends much further than what everone would normally suspect. So, I cannot give you a definative answer other than that: I give them no small clearance!

Wayne, here on this site sails out of SS, as do some others, I believe. Your more definative answer would be from sending him a 'PM' request.

So, yes, that's the gap to use for that vacinity. I've never glanced at a compass while transiting it, but believe I transit on an ESE heading to stay clear of that north face for some time prior to slowly turning to north.

Fair Winds,

Gary

Paul-
the gap at the south end of the southshore mooring field has been my main point of exit/entrance for many years now.
there are a couple of nasty submerged rocks at the east end of the north side of the gap, but in general if you just shoot down the middle (or close thereto) you'll be fine.
the real danger of the entrance (to me) is at night...then it gets tricky if you don't have a good base of local knowledge. for one thing it's just hard to see and if your off by twenty yards...ouch. also, the nav lights are very low and difficult to see, and the traffic lights up on lake drive can look like navigation lights.
so when are you sailing over?
bz/vj

I am looking for another harbor to moor my boat. I don't think it will be Milwaukee because the drive time is a little too long (4 hours if I drive fast, which I usually don't). I like the town though. I don't think I will get across the water this summer, but it is a goal for the future.

Lake Express makes it pretty quick, but pricey with a vehicle. Would this be a second mooring location for your boat or a primary?

I have a condo dock in South Haven, where I live, but I would like to get out of town on my weekends and days off. Also, we had a lot of rain last winter so there was a lot of silting up. My dock needs to be dredged and I'm not sure how deep the rest of the river is. The dredge guy is also the haul out guy so he is swamped with work right now.

I don't think the city can act fast enough to dredge out the harbor so I am looking for a deeper harbor. My boat is not in the water yet, and I have advertised it for sale. It is kind of an odd year for boating in South Haven.

Where did you advertise your boat?

craigslist

I probably should be more aggressive about selling it but my motivation to sell is not very high.

Where do you keep the dinghies to access the boats on moorings?

Paul I keep my boatt moored at SS and I always use the far south entrance. There really is no dinghy storage at SS except at South Shore Yacht Club I keep mine there but I believe you have ti be a member.