MILWAUKEE – There are two things you can count on any given sunny day on Milwaukee’s lakefront: A cascade of waves against the rocks at McKinley Marina, and dozens of sailboats dotting the shoreline and plotting a course along Wisconsin’s Fresh Coast.
But one notable mast is conspicuously absent from the water for the second straight year.
Pier Wisconsin at Discovery World downtown was the home for the Denis Sullivan from 2006 until it was sold to World Ocean School in 2022.
Despite the Sullivan’s move to new harbors in Boston and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the homeport painted on her stern still reads Milwaukee. So perhaps it’s fitting that when the Sullivan was sold, a clause in the lease required World Ocean School to allow Milwaukee-area students to learn and sail aboard the schooner.
I spoke with three young sailors who recently had the honor of working on the ship in its Caribbean home of St. Croix Island. Angelo Edwards, Peyton Washington, and Leo Madson each have been active within the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center for years, and each says the experience they shared aboard the Sullivan last fall was one they’ll both never forget and hope others will take advantage of.
