Donald Wilson Jr. looks to turn his Chicago Match Race Center into hub of international sailboat competitions

Melissa Harris
CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL
October 28, 2009

A 1997 headline in the Tribune declared Donald Wilson Jr. the “whiz kid” of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Now 41, Wilson, founder and CEO of DRW Trading Group, a derivatives trading firm, is trying to turn Chicago into a worldwide center for competitive sailing.

Earlier this year, he launched the Chicago Match Race Center, which has swiftly grown for one reason: Wilson’s wealth. This winter, he’s scouting for corporate sponsors for the center’s 2010 regattas, new members and, most of all, skilled competitors. Wilson won the center’s first regatta here in June.

“Defacto, it’s run as a benevolent dictatorship, because I’m paying for it all,” he said, declining to say how much money he has invested.

In match racing, identical sailboats race head to head on a course, usually with on-the-water umpires.

Wilson began sailing as a teenager in Switzerland and moved back to the United States to attend the University of Chicago, graduating in 2 1/4 years. He once paid $102,600 in a charity auction to observe a prestigious yacht race from onboard, serving as the so-called 18th man.

Wilson rents space for the center from the Chicago Park District at the north end of Belmont Harbor. And, so far, he has purchased eight new racing boats, four boats for umpires and a 70-foot houseboat that acts as a clubhouse. He also is buying four highly coveted boats for a new Olympic women’s sailing event.

The center’s top race this year attracted competitors from New Zealand, Japan and Europe.

“It’s only taken (the center) one year to make an impact on match racing in this country,” said Jake Fish, a spokesman for the United States Sailing Association. “Another interesting thing is that they really take care of their umpires, paying for all of their travel expenses. So they’re attractive for race management as well.”

Facing the worst financial crisis of his 20-year tenure, Mayor Richard Daley plans to slash city funding for Venetian Night, a festival that his father began as mayor more than 50 years ago.

And that places the future of Chicago’s longest-running public party very much in doubt.

City officials said today they can no longer afford the $100,000 for fireworks or the $200,000 to police crowds estimated at more than 500,000.

“Operational costs exceeded the sponsorship revenue,” said Cindy Gatziolis, spokeswoman for the Mayor’s Office of Special Events.

Leaders of the Chicago Yachting Association, which organizes Venetian Night, said city officials had not informed them of the event’s demise.

Mayor’s Office of Special Events (Venetian Night webpage, already deleted…):

Venetian Night is the longest running event that the City of Chicago produces, and was once a multiple day event that featured a beauty pageant and parade on State Street in addition to the lighted boat parade and fireworks show on the waterfront.

Saturday:

Saturday Weather

Sunday:

Sunday Weather

June 10, 2009
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Navy Pier has more than tripled its surveillance network — with cameras so sophisticated, they can pick out a face in a crowd six blocks away — thanks to a $4.2 million Homeland Security grant designed to prevent a lakefront terrorist attack.

The Navy Pier network marks the first installment in a four-year-old plan known as Operation Virtual Shield. It calls for linking 1,000 miles of fiber optic cable into a uniformed homeland security grid, with surveillance cameras capable of spotting suspicious activity from one end of Lake Shore Drive to the other.

Until now, Navy Pier’s nine million annual visitors and surrounding lakefront waters have been watched by 60 black-and-white cameras in fixed positions. They were linked to an even more primitive control center on the pier.

The new network includes 200 rotating surveillance cameras so sophisticated, they can pick up a face in a crowd six blocks away. To speed response times, they’re linked to the 911 center, the nearby Marine Unit and to the Chicago Police Department’s Near North District.

Forty of the cameras are located indoors, including the Winter Garden and Navy Pier garage. The 160 outdoor cameras monitor the main entrance, the east end, and exterior perimeter.

Vince Gavin, director of special projects for Navy Pier, said there’s even a special camera trained on the inlet between Navy Pier and the Jardine Water Filtration Plant, one of Chicago’s most vulnerable terrorism targets because Lake Michigan water is purified for drinking there.

“When a boat penetrates the east end of that inlet, that camera focuses on the boat, a horn will go off and an audible message will go out: “Leave this area immediately. You’re subject to a $5,000 fine by the U.S. Coast Guard,’ “ Gavin said.

“Then, we monitor the boat. If the boat continues, the Marine Unit’s got it. A Marine Unit boat is over here in two minutes.”

Installed in February, the new cameras have already been used to catch at least one pick-pocket and nab someone who was damaging a store that had closed for the night. They can also pinpoint boating accidents and drowning victims or monitor emergency response to Lake Michigan plane crashes.

Parents who take their young children to Illinois’ most popular tourist attraction can also breathe a little easier.

“If we had a lost child, [investigators would ask], ‘Where did you lose him? We can focus in on that area. What was he dressed like? Okay, we’ve got a boy fitting that description.’ You don’t have to run around and up and down. It provides so much of a quick response. … And the facial recognition — it’s as close as I’m looking at you,” Gavin said.

The next round of lakefront surveillance cameras will be installed around McCormick Place, Soldier Field and the Museum Campus, thanks to a $6.8 million Homeland Security grant awarded in 2007.

Seventeen cameras — 11 of them infra-red — will cover the area from Oak Street Beach all the way to 3900 South. That’s because on flat land, there’s a visibility of one mile at night and two miles during the day, Gavin said.

And what about Navy Pier and lakefront patrons who are not comfortable being watched?

“Walt Disney [World] has probably been doing this for years,” said Ray Orozco, executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Chicago Sun-Times: Navy Pier triples number of surveillance cameras

UPDATE:

According to this IBM press release, Navy Pier is “the top-visited tourist and leisure destination in the Midwest, welcoming more than eight million visitors annually”, having “an economic impact of more than one billion dollars annually”.

IBM Press Release: IBM Launches Intelligent Security System at Chicago’s Navy Pier

CBS “48 Hours”: ‘Operation Virtual Shield’ discusses the homeland security impact of Chicago’s camera surveillance system, also highlighting its striking inability to protect against terrorist attacks that remain undetectable or which take place outside of the limited camera surveillance areas.

going…

Going…

GONE!

The Real Pirates are in your government; taxing, borrowing and spending too much.

Field Museum has some pirates, too.

Through October 25, 2009.

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/pirates

Today is Chicago Tea Party Day.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123975867505519363.html

Just say “NO!” to Big Government.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-04-14-biggovernment_N.htm

Update:

Representative Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, released a statement in response to “tea parties” being held on Tax Day.

Chicago Tribune: reports:

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Chicago Democrat, said in a statement that the protests were “an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan” and called them “a shameful political stunt.”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-taxdayprotests-il,0,2920655.story

Here’s the entire press release by Jan Schakowsky:
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/il09_schakowsky/pr_teaparties_04_15_09.shtml

Needless to say, we do not support the views of Jan Schakowsky.

Batavia Man on Ship Attacked by Somali Pirates
Local sailor: We practiced evading pirates
“We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets”
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04/batavia-man-on-ship-attacked-by-somali-pirates.html

“I’m not a pirate, I’m the saviour of the sea”
Who are the pirate bands menacing commercial and tourist shipping off Somalia? Our writer meets one of the leaders
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6100783.ece

Northwestern University Sailing Team
Wet Your Willie 2009 Spring Regatta
April 11-12, 2009

Cameraphone pictures from Saturday-

A sunny day with good breeze from the north.

Conditions were much colder than it looks!

Pirates on Lake Michigan have attacked boats and towns during the 1800’s, wreaking havoc and mayhem in their search for booty in regions such as Beaver Island, the Manitous and Grand Haven.

WBBM Newsradio 780 reports:

CHICAGO (WBBM) – While the world watches the Somali pirate drama, there’s a story to be told of pirates right here on Lake Michigan.

Lake Michigan was home to a few pirates from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The headline: Wholesale robbery by pirates on Lake Michigan. The date: October 10, 1855, in the New York Times.

The Times reported on people in the area around Saugutuck, Michigan, “thrown into the most intense excitement by the operations of a gang of marauders, who are reported to be Mormons from Beaver Island.”

But it wasn’t other ships that were attacked, it was land-based stores.

Half a century later – and almost 101 years ago – “Roaring” Dan Seavey took control of a Great Lakes cargo ship and sailed it to Chicago.

He reportedly got control of the 40-foot schooner Nellie Johnson in Grand Haven, Michigan, by out-drinking its captain and crew – then stealing it.

The Sun-Times reports that Seavey “found no fortune in his pirating: He was unable to sell the load of cedar posts in Chicago and was captured back near his home in Frankfort, Michigan.”

This J/30 was too big for “Will It Blend?”.

Bonzai Dragon, J/30
Sail Number 41838.
Hull Number 346.

The Corinthian Yacht Club is hosting its Sailboat Crew Development School beginning April 22 at the club at 601 W. Montrose Drive. The five week class, from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays, provides training in basic and intermediate crewing skills to those 18 and older. The training takes place on land though students are asked to dress for the outdoors. Fee is $110 and includes book and materials. Send the completed application form and check to Jim Janik, 5256 W. Warner Ave., Chicago, IL 60641-1469. The form and more information are available at www.corinthian.org.

Chicago Sun-Times mentions:

Then at Monroe Harbor, a possible home to Olympic rowing and swimming competitions, sailboats rocked on the choppy waters, its masts emblazoned with the Chicago 2016 bid team’s logo.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/olympics/1512352,olympics-international-committee-chicago-040509.stng

Lake Michigan Sail Racing Federation
1st Annual Survey Results

LMSRF has compiled the results of the 1st Annual Survey including all of the essay answers (minus the ones that weren’t “G” rated) and has them available for all Lake Michigan Sailors to review. We especially encourage all Organizing Authorities to listen to what the Sailors want. By responding to the needs of your customers, your events may grow and provide better satisfaction for all concerned.

Read the full results at:
http://www.lmsrf.org/survey_2009/survey_2009.htm

As a reward for completing the survey, 2 sailors out of 133 who provided their names in a random drawing have won free memberships in LMSRF for the 2009 season. Congratulations Lake Michigan Sail Racing Federation Members:
Jon Fischer
Paul Murray

Sincerely,
Donald Thinschmidt
LMSRF Commodore

The Fordham Spire is the latest project in the history of Chicago’s architectural development.

Today, Reuters highlights the slowing of construction of the Spire as emblematic of the worldwide economic slowdown.

We look forward to the successful completion of the Fordham Spire, for its inspired origins, innovative design, and physical beauty as a landmark achievement bringing another source of pride and character to Chicago for all to admire and enjoy.

REUTERS:- Global Recession Stalls Skyscraper Construction:
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1729195720090323