The Great Loop

[El and Bill]

Fred Heap began a discussion about the possibility of a group cruise to the south this fall along the Intracoastal Waterway along the Atlantic coast. We answered with the idea of perhaps going south through the Interior Waterways instead. We thought it might be a good idea to start a new subject to separate those who might want to discuss the southbound ICW from those who might want to consider a southbound Interior Rivers trip, doing the western side of the Great Loop in the fall. The following is a copy of the posting we made on the ICW discussion:

Great discussion! Since we're only in the talking stage, and not to throw any cold water on a trip southbound in the Fall -- the ICW is vulnerable to hurricanes during that season and the early predictions I'm reading indicate the possibility of another bad year in the offing.

So -- why not go southbound through the interior route of the Great Loop rather than down the Atlantic Coast? Head westerly through the Great Lakes, down the Illinois River, then the Mississippi as far as the Ohio. Up the Ohio to the Tennessee and then down the TennTom to the Gulf Coast. Along the Gulf to Florida.

Then, in springtime, come north up the Atlantic ICW when there are no hurricanes, when summer is at your back (rather than winter at the stern in the fall).

The interior route is incredibly beautiful in the fall with the colors of the trees. Heading southerly by that route, there could be time to do some extensive cruising on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers in full fall color -- wow!!

The interior route is also downriver (most of the way), and you don't have the traffic of those "delivery skippers" roaring other people's big boats south.

What do you think?? We've gone that way -- south through the rivers in fall and north along the Atlantic in spring and it is marvelous. Might even get talked into doing it again...[/quote]

[Byrdman]

OK..... Well..... I have to get home from the NJ/MD area somehow...and I would almost bet the farm on it that C-Byrd ends up in the NE prior to the end of plant season...which is pretty much done end of month Jun06...

Hummm? Starting time end of month Aug??? Sometime in Sep?? No Auburn season FB tickets bought yet...and Sherryl is kinda liking the idea of coming up to the NE for a bit of boating prior to me coming back down south...?

[El and Bill]

This is Fred's reply from the ICW thread:

Bill and El,

What a great idea. How long would it take? How many miles? How soon would we have to start? Lots of questions. Also, could we hook up with sponsors like the Nordhavn Rally did? Lets hear from you all on this.

Fred
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And here's our response to Fred:

Time limit in the north -- best to be off the Great Lakes before the September storms. Then, winter moves south at the rate of 15 miles per day (do you really believe that?), so that sets a rough timetable for travel. We usually let the 70 degree isotherm slowly push us southerly.

How long will it take? Well, wouldn't have to be to the Gulf coast until about December, depending upon the year -- don't want to get there while hurricane season is still going. There are some good side trips (especially the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers) that are well worth cruising in fall.

We've never thought about sponsors so that might be an area you would like to explore.

You have all winter to explore the Gulf Coast along the GICW and down to Florida (check [/i]Wanderers[/i] tales from their cruise along FL this year (could also do St. Johns River, Okeechobee, Everglades, etc)

Return trip in the spring (up the Atlantic Coast) along the ICW. Again, let the 70 degree isotherm move you northerly. Lots of cruises in Carolina Sounds, Chesapeake, etc. before returning to the NE.

Folks could join for all or part of the journey depending upon their time and interest. What do you folks think? Any other ideas or suggestions? Any interest?

[ffheap]

Just a quick catchup.

While in Florida, I picked up a video of the 2004 Nordhavn Rally, which went from Fort Lauderdale, to Bermuda, to the Azores, to the Med. Lots of planning, and sponsors. I knew we could not go across the Big Pond, but we could go along the shore. El and Bill came up with the idea of going the Big Loop. It makes much more sense. We could get more people involved from across the country.

What we have to do is plan the Ports-of-Call so people could plan when they could join us, crews can change etc. That is why I Was interested in the times between Ports, and the Ports-of-Call we might be interested in stopping at.

Lets hear from You All.

Fred Heap

[Cosmic C]

Hi El and Bill:

My wife and I are planning to do the Great Loop this year and next in the Cosmic C. We'll be leaving our summer home in the 1000 islands region of the St Lawrence about the end of the first week of August, and plan to cruise to somewhere like Fulton, MI before stopping for a couple of months to go home. Then we'll carry on to the east coast of Florida over the winter, leave the Cosmic C there for a few more months before leaving in April or May for the trip north back to the St Lawrence.

With this schedule we would be close to the schedule you are talking about, and we'd love to hook up with a group if it works out. We plan longer stops in Chicago, Peoria, and St Louis where relatives will be checking to see if we're still sane (most of them think we're crazy to do this anyway, let alone in a 25' boat).

Incidentally, we were going to email you, El and Bill, with a question about whether to take along an inflateable dinghy. I don't think I could handle anything much bigger than the tiny one that West Marine sells. Did you take one along when you did the loop? Do you think having one is really necessary?

Patrick

[El and Bill]

Patrick --
You have a great plan in the works -- south down the rivers in fall, north up the coast in spring. Might be an opportunity for a little cruising together.
We have a small inflatable dinghy (for use in Alaska and the NW, where tides are high) but have not used one for The Loop -- watch the tides (when in salt water, or the seiche in the Great Lakes) and anchor offshore in a high tide and wade ashore -- or beach the bow if on a rising tide and drop the hook into the beach. But, understand, that we prefer simplicity in cruising -- others might like a dinghy with a small outboard to chug around the backwaters. Too much extra stuff for us, and we take the C-Dory almost everywhere we want to explore.
We'll see if there are others who might be considering The Loop ---