Where, on the shores of Lake Michigan, within 2 hours from Chicago,
can I rent a 14-foot catamaran (a.k.a. "Hobby Cat")?

Any other types of sailboats do not qualify for this question.

I've sailed on Lake Michigan, it's quiet enjoyable. I was not able to
find any place with the requested 14' Hobie's. However at
http://www.kellogg.nwu.edu/student/club/sailing/sailing.htm you can
rent a 16'. From personal experince on the lake, I'd suggest the 16'
anyway. If you really want to try and find 14' Hobie Cat you may want
to give one of the places found here a call:
http://www.rasource.com/boatrentalnational.htm#OO

Hope this helps and best of luck!

.r

The two Hobie Cat dealers near the lake as listed at 
http://www.hobiecat.com

1.    Hedlunc Marine Sports, 515 Greenbay Road, Wilmette, IL  847 251
0515
2.    Wolf's Marine, 250 West Main Street, Benton Harbor, MI  616 926
1068

Although they sell cats, they may know of places to rent as well.

The comment from rainmkr may be the direct answer to your question but
you might also try two others contacts that can supplement the
information. Although neither of these contacts show themselves as
renting Hobie's, they may help lead you to a place that does.

1.    Chicago Sailing Club      773 871 SAIL
2.    Milwaukee Sailing Center  414 277 9094

Good luck....sweet sailing!

Listing the websites for the two hobie dealers near the lake:

         Hedlund Marine:     http://www.hedlundmarine.com/

         Wolf's Marine:     
http://www.wolfsmarine.com/ww/default.asp?mscssid=8CKGD7Q3C6BQ9HV5KUARDXSAJE500439

i contacted a chicago area travel agent and this is the response i received:

"I am sorry to say that I am not aware of any 14ft catamarans in 
Chicago.  I
do know of a place for J 22's.  Please let me know if you are 
interested and
I can direct you."

Doesn't look to me like there are any 14 footers for rent.

Thanks for the info! The Kelogg page is the most promising one so far...
I'm not interested in the single-hull sailboats, but buried in the page
there is a reference (without a link) to "Hobie 16' catamarans from Wilmette
Beach". I'm going to drive up there today to see what I can find.

I found the answer via an off-line search (talking to the owner of
Hedlund Marina, referred to by a previous comment).

The Willmette Park District rents both 16-foot Hobie Getaways and the
14-foot Hobie Waves I was looking for, at Gillson Park (Lake Avenue
in Wilmette).

Once I knew the answer, finding the website was easy:
  http://www.wilmettepark.org/gillson.html#sailing