Sail Chicago's activities and programming are overseen by six standing committees that oversee the following activities: 

Documents and Administration
Insurance, licensing, rules and regulations, legal concerns, compliance

Finance
Budgeting, financial transactions and reporting, and annual financial filings

Maintenance
Maintenance of the Sail Chicago fleet

Mariners' Community
Membership-related activities including DEI initiatives, membership help, member service time contributions, website content, communications, and social activities

On the Water
Programming including Member Cruise Outings, Tiller Times, sailing instruction, racing, and private sails

Safety
Risk management and mitigation, incident and accident review

We encourage you to get involved in our committees!  You can find a list of the people who lead each of these committees on our Board of Directors roster.

Send an e-mail to membership@sailchicago.org. Your e-mail address can be quickly and easily changed, and this change will flow down to other systems (mailing list, volunteering, pre- and post-sail checklists) that Sail Chicago uses.

The annual membership runs for the calendar year, January 1 to December 31. Usually members can renew their membership by the third week in January.

If you're looking for parking close to the Monroe Tender dock, the closest option is the Millennium Park Garage located to the west. It's about a 5 minute walk to the tender dock from there. Check the Spothero app for the best rate. You can also park in a lot or at a meter downtown and walk over to the dock to save money. Of course, public transportation or bicycle remain the most cost effective ways to get to the tender dock.

If you're reserving one of our boats for private use, there is one parking pass per reservation for the garage that you can use, free of charge. Note, however, that you need to have the pass in hand BEFORE you park in the garage. So you'll need to swing by the dock, grab the pass, and then park your car and walk over. The parking pass for the garage may be used after 10:00 am on weekdays and all day on weekends. Parking passes for skippers are available in a lockbox located outside the Monroe Harbor tender office.

Please see our Fleet page for details about our boats. Members who are skipper-certified and checked out on the specific boats may reserve boats for private use when the boats are not being used for other Sail Chicago program activities. Members reserve open boats using our online reservation system. Current costs for private boat use and additional information can be found on the reservation page on mysailchicago.org and vary by time of day.

As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, our primary mission is to teach sailing to the Chicagoland community. Unfortunately, we can only offer private use of our boats to members of our organization who have completed our skipper training program. A variety of other organizations in the Chicago area offer private boat rental.

However, if you're a member of another Community Sailing Organization, we'd love to connect you with one of our members who could host you for a sail. Please e-mail us at support@sailchicago.org, and we will put you in touch with our Ambassadors program.

Besides being able to hang out with some really good sailors, not to mention genuinely nice people, membership benefits include:

Access to Sail Chicago (US Sailing-certified*) instruction classes,
Access to sailing opportunities through Tiller Times (students only) and Member Cruise Outings,
Fun social events throughout the year
Participation in an active community of like-minded people dedicated to the sport of sailing
Access to a fleet of well-maintained boats (skipper certification required).
A place to learn new skills and put your existing ones to work.

YES! Sail Chicago offers a $100 rebate on joint/dual/household memberships to two members living at the same address. Joint membership information >

Reach out to membership@sailchicago.org for any further questions.

Sail Chicago is a member-run organization and is very similar to a co-op where the members are the owners and share in the roles and responsibilities of the organization. Here at Sail Chicago our members exercise their “owner’s responsibility” via an annual service requirement.

Members are expected to sign up for jobs that contribute to running Sail Chicago each year for a total of at least 25 hours. This is referred to as the “Member Service Requirement.” Members may choose to instead pay a $400 Opt-out fee, which is due at the beginning of the following sailing season.

1. All new (first time) members are exempt from service during their first summer of membership only.

2. In each subsequent year, returning members must sign up for one or more roles that will fulfill their annual Member Service Requirement of a minimum of 25 hours.

3. If a member does not complete their Member Service Requirement during a season, they will be required to pay the Opt-Out Fee at the beginning of the next season in order to remain a member in good standing. The Opt-Out Fee reimburses Sail Chicago for the member not completing the Member Service Requirement for the previous year. It does not satisfy the current year's Member Service Requirement.

Example: Member joins Sail Chicago for the 2013 season. No service time is required their first year. In 2014, they commit to serving on a boat maintenance team by the beginning of the sailing season, and then do actually participate as a boat team member, which satisfies their Member Service Requirement for 2014. In 2015, they sign up for a boat team but never actually participate, so they have not met their Member Service Requirement. They must pay the $400 Opt-Out Fee by the beginning of the 2016 season to cover the 2015 season.

We are a non-profit, member-run organization, which allows us to keep membership and boat usage fees at a low level. We offer a full array of courses taught by Sail Chicago members. Once sailors complete our skipper training course and pass a written test, they are qualified to have access to our boats for private use. After the first year of membership, we require our members to complete a minimum of 25 hours of service a year or to pay an opt out fee of $400. For details on all our classes, policies and how to become a member see sailchicago.org.