The “Kathy Ann”

I don't often look back on my days growing up in the Midwest, but I came across this photo of my parents' erstwhile venture into boating. The "Kathy Ann" was my dad's score: he and some ship's captain brought her up out of drydock in Waukegan, IL sometime between 1962 and 1963, cruised up the Lake Michigan shore, finally coming to anchor in Milwaukee harbor, where she stayed until my dad sold her to parties unknown. 

We spent one glorious summer on the water, ferrying a couple of us kids and one dachshund to-and-fro in a brightly painted dinghy, spent the night, got in the car and returned home. 

The boat never left the harbor, but she was a welcome escape from the hot humid summer days inland. I have fond memories of falling asleep to the gentle rocking of the tide with the cord of a little transistor radio plugged into one ear. The music of the summer of 1963 (our last before we left for California) still echoes through the years.

My brother adds the following tidbit: 

"I don’t know if you are aware that I was on the “maiden voyage from
Waukegan.

Not long after leaving shore I realized that maybe the Captain was
sailing too close to shore. Sure enough, when we approached Kenosha,
the vessel ran aground. This resulted in the boat being towed to harbor.
I think that there was some heavy expense incurred before the boat could be brought
to Milwaukee.

I’m not sure but I recall thinking that the Captain was imbibing.
I wonder how much expense the whole venture cost.

I don’t have much recollection of my time on the boat.
I do remember that Dad was trying to get a generator
from the dinghy on to the boat and he lost it in the process."

Stemming from this recollection, I recall my father standing in the dinghy while it was tied to the boat; the gap widened and the generator and my father went down into the water. Father came up but the generator remained at the bottom in the muck, until he was able to hire some drivers to retrieve it. I don't remember whether he got it to work after that.