From a Family of Great Lakes Advocates
Two Sailing Sisters Help Preserve the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse
Published: Thursday, April 23, 2026 9:00 am
By: Mary Ann O’Rourke of the Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse
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This coming July, when sisters Katye and Anne Michaud sail pass the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse on their 11th and 12th (respectively) races to Mackinac Island, they’ll be even more proud of Chicago’s most visible maritime icon -- not for how it appears today, but for the behind-the-scenes work that’s gone into early-stage efforts to restore the Lighthouse.
As key volunteers for Friends of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, the Michauds have contributed their event planning skills, Katye’s restoration knowledge, and their numerous contacts within Chicago’s boating community. They were part of the team for last year’s fundraiser which netted $180,000 from a three-hour Wendella cruise.
Katye and Anne have admired the lighthouse for years and even considered offering the services of a friend who paints Great Lakes lighthouses, to add a fresh coat to the City of Chicago’s lighthouse.
But it wasn’t until a conversation with fellow boaters in the summer of 2021 on Burnham Harbor’s P dock that the sisters became part of the movement to save the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse.
The conversation was led by FOCHL founder and power boat owner Kurt Lentsch and grew from small talk on the harbor to a full-fledged consortium of Chicago boaters, who joined Kurt’s quest to preserve, restore and celebrate the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse.
“I was so thrilled to learn that Katye and Anne were all-in from day one,” says Kurt.
“Between their expertise, enthusiasm and numerous friends in the Great Lakes boating community, I knew we had a good shot at organizing this effort.”
Born in Northern Maine, they often traveled to visit their mother’s family in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Michauds (who are one and a half years apart) moved to Milwaukee in their tween years. Anne and Katye were both in their twenties when their mother bought a boat on Lake Superior. The sisters knew it was time to learn to sail. So, they began lessons – Anne at Milwaukee Sailing Club and Katye at Chicago Sailing. When their careers led them both to Chicago, they continued sailing with Chicago Sailing Club and Third Coast Cruising.
In 2012, Anne had an inkling that she might be ready to sail a Mac race after she helped a friend deliver a J35 from Toledo to Chicago.
“It was April, so weather monitoring was a constant issue,” says Anne. “We also had to deal with engine issues while underway. But it was that first long-distance trip that gave me the confidence I needed to sail the Mac.”
It was on that same boat, Alpha Puppy, that Anne sailed her first Mac in 2012. Katye joined her sister a couple years later on a J105 named Esprit d’Ecosse, owned by their friends from a sailing club, Ross and Judith McLean.
“At first, I simply enjoyed sailing, but I had no aspiration to compete,” says Katye. “When I joined the Esprit crew, I learned the intricacies of maximizing speed and totally enjoyed the challenge.”
Even before they sailed their first Mac race, the sisters enjoyed deep ancestral ties to the Great Lakes.
Their grandfather, T.D Vinette, was one of the first commercial divers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He built his first dive helmet out of a hot water tank, based on directions from a 1932 Popular Mechanics article.
In 1936, he was contracted to search for the lost gold cargo of a French barque, which sank in 1887 near Poverty Island in Green Bay. Though the gold was never found, Vinette located wreckage and artifacts from the vessel.
During World War II, Vinette completed hundreds of underwater salvage and demolition missions and was awarded the Navy Cross for his role in the secret rescue of 36 crewmen of the submarine USS Pickerel.
After the war, he returned home to Escanaba and founded the T. D. Vinette Shipbuilding Company in 1947.
A small but respected Great Lakes boatbuilder, the company was known for building rugged workboats from the mid-20th century through the early 2000s. Their vessels were typically steel-hulled and custom-built, which made them popular for work in harsh lake conditions.
Although the company is no longer operating, Vinette boats still appear around the Great Lakes and inland waterways, particularly as converted trawler-style cruising boats. Others include working tugs, research vessels, charter vessels and passenger tour boats.
Indeed, over the last few years, after the Mac Race, the Michaud sisters and the crew of Esprit enjoy an annual Sip n’s Sail sunset cruise around Mackinac Island in a 1962 Vinette-built tour boat, Isle Royale Queen III.
“It’s like we come full circle with my grandfather on that tour,” says Anne. “He meant a lot to us. He was a legendary Great Lakes storyteller. In one of our favorite tales, he told us how, as a teen, he helped the notorious pirate Roaring Dan Seavy with errands around the Escanaba docks.”
The Michaud’s mother, Joan Vinette, continued the family legacy of advocating for the Great Lakes. At Michigan State University Extension, she founded the program Life of Lake Superior to help encourage young people to explore careers, recreation and restoration of the largest Great Lake.
Now a resident of Munising, Michigan, Joan’s home on Lake Superior is lovingly referred to as the “Munising Yacht Club” by family and the many friends who visit the area.
“Advocating for the Great Lakes is in our blood,” says Anne, a licensed captain. “We love that we get to carry on that legacy by helping to restore Chicago’s beautiful lighthouse.”
“For me,” says Katye, “the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse is an icon on the city’s skyline from the water and represents a safe haven. When I’m returning the boat from Mackinac, other races or deliveries, navigating the gap and seeing that flashing light, I know I’m finally home. And now I get to return the favor by helping restore my favorite Great Lakes lighthouse.”
For more information, visit savethelighthouse.org
tags: Chicago, Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, Great Lakes, Lighthouse, Mackinac, Race to Mackinac, sisters
