Great Loop Cruising

PenguinPA · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:45 am Post subject: Great Loop Cruising

Happy Holidays to all!!!! Xmas Tongue

Just wanted to see if any brats had done all or part of the Great Loop? I am sure El and Bill have and plan to visit their site next. Trying to get some information, as my wife has become really interested in this cruise and we may try and start planning a trip for next year.

Related question: Does anyone have thoughts on the Rideau Canal. We may try and do some short cruising before trying the entire loop. Gift

As always, appreciate everyone's input!

Drew

Sea Wolf · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:45 am Post subject:

Drew-

For the Great Loop and Erie and Rideau Canals, try the following threads:

Rideau Canal Cruise.

Erie Canal Cruise

Erie Canal

Wandering the NY Canals

East Coast Cruise

Lake Champlain Fall C-Dory Cruise

Rideau Waterway and Canals

Erie Canal

The Cosmic C is on the Great Loop at last

Great Circle Loop / CD 16

Upper Mississippi Advice

The Great Loop

And more if you use the Search Engine here on this site!

Good Luck, Happy Cruising, and Merry Christmas!

Joe. Thumbs Up

Byrdman · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:57 am Post subject:

Yes .... THE LOOP!!

A person could spend a life time and never see it all. Being born and raised in the Heartland area where several of the Rivers intersect .... and just about all of "major cities" owe their heritage to these waters. A love for the river. Have travled portions of the Great Loop with Bill and El, and parts with several other C-Brats. Enjoy each trip. Work to put on a C-Brat Gathering or two a year here in and/or around the Nashville TN waters...give or take 250 miles... Endless channel miles alone, but one of the newer books I just bought was "Great Loop Side Trips" by boat travelers Ron & Eva Stob. Taking it with me to South America to keep me in touch with home over the next couple of weeks...on a big boat.

Hope to see some more of my C-Brat friends for a spring 08 gathering. Mar-Apr time frame generally, and of course at our annual gathering in the Seattle area Jan08, and the NE gathering 6-8Jun08.

Great topic.

Happy Looping.

Byrdman

Byrdman · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:04 am Post subject:

Opps... Forgot the pics!!

See Yall on the waters!

Byrdman

PenguinPA · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 2:01 am Post subject:

Pat...
Awesome Maps!

Joe- Thanks for the links...I always forget about the search engine on the site! Embarassed

Please forgive me! I'm still just an a new guy, but learning a little more all the time!
I'll go look at the threads...pre-emptively, any good books about the loop?

Started to read "riverhorse" great info on erie canal, but now bogging down Crook

Thanks & have a Merry Christmas Xmas LOL

Drew

Sea Wolf · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 2:48 am Post subject:

Drew-

You might also try putting other geographical parts of the Great Loop into the Search Engine, such as the ICW, Great Lakes, specific lakes, rivers, etc.

Joe. Thumbs Up

JamesTXSD · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:20 am Post subject:

PenguinPA · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 10:30 am Post subject:

Great Info...

Have to hang my head in shame...We just bought an R-25...Don't have a tow vehicle so will have to so some serious planning. As an introduction, am looking at doing a bareboat charter on the Erie Canal this spring. There is a company who rents Nimble Nomads...Pretty close to the Tug, Same beam, Same length, different powerplant so may try this option as a sampler. If anyone has any info on CruiseUSA or has an opinion on the Nomad, I sure would love to hear it! Thumbs Down

Read the thread from Cosmic C last night....I'm just about ready to stop work and take a sabbatical, Afraid I wouldn't come back. Shocked

Thanks again

Hate to make you blush, Jim, but it has been reading the adventures of Wild blue to my wife that has inspired us to begin to get out of our backyard (PNW) and go do a little exploring! Thanks much! Teeth

Papillon · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 1:20 pm Post subject:

Jim,
While checking out some of your provided links above I couldn't help but notice that on http://cruisingthegreatloop.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/normal_scenery~3.jpg that these folks took a picture of our friend and host Jon's house. Wish they could have stopped by while we were having our C-Brat gathering.

Caption read: Along the Apalachicola river, we didn't see a lot of homes. This one caught our eye.

JamesTXSD · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 2:20 pm Post subject:

Hi Drew,

It was the Nimble Nomad that made me consider a powerboat. Our neighbor had one for sale. I had passed by it in our canal many times while on our sailboat and always thought it was interesting looking... in an art deco kinda way. When I visited with him about the boat and told him what we were looking to do (trailering, extended cruising) he said, "You don't want this boat; you want a C-Dory."

I said, "Great! What's a C-Dory?" Wink

It took me several months of hunting around Texas to actually see one (a rather ratted out boat, though).

The Nomad is a 6-7 knot boat; pounds in any kind of chop. A 50 hp outboard, but no chance of planing (hull similar to a Nimble Arctic sailboat). No v-berth - a nifty front cockpit (great for anchoring and line handling) - so you have to make up a bed in the cabin each day. I think the Nomad is ideally suited to the New York Canal System, since there is a 10 mph speed limit through much of it. I'd be leary about taking one in any kind of open water, though.

IMHO, it is nowhere near the boat your R-25 Tug is. Another alternative to chartering the Nomad would be... renting a tow vehicle and taking your Tug anywhere! Mr. Green

But, the NY Canal System is near the top of our list of must-do; I'd rather be on my own boat, but chartering is certainly another good alternative... the BVIs are calling my name, too, and I don't think Wild Blue is the right boat for that mission. Cool

Thanks for the kind words. These boats (the C-Dorys and the Ranger Tugs) are great for the kind of cruising we enjoy. Tough, seaworthy, comfortable, and not overwhelming. Good luck to you and your wife with the Tug - it's a great boat! I hope our paths will cross someday.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

thataway · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 7:45 pm Post subject:

We have done over slightly half of the Loop--but in multiple stages in multiple boats. We live just off the Gulf coast ICW, so we host a Number of the "loopers" both at our dock and at the Pensacola/Orange Beach marinas and anchorages.

My impression is that most people "do" the loop, but don't take the time to really explore the towns, and waters which comprise Eastern America. The advantage we as C Dory and Ranger owners is that we can trailer the boats to different parts, or do a part, and then take the boat back home--and do more the next year etc.

The average looper does it in about a year--it is about 6000 miles--depending on the route you take. To do it properly, and really see the byways, it would take at least several years. For example, Pensacola has multiple great historical sites, and there are multiple rivers and anchorages to explore. Over 50% of the loopers will not even stop in Pensacola--because the port is 6 miles off the ICW. Thus they miss the historical and the soul of the area.

So, take your time, and really discover what there is to see.

Another forum is:
http://www.trawlersandtrawlering.com/greatloop/greatlooplist.html This is a very active forum, and has most of the current "loopers" on line.

El and Bill · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:26 pm Post subject:

Drew --
Yes, we have completed the Great Loop and have repeated many favorite sections of it since our completion. If you have specific questions, write a p.m. to us. It's a marvelous experience -- take your time, and we would advise a counterclockwise direction, keeping most of the current under your hull and avoiding the ICW along the east coast in the fall hurricane season. We find that most Loop cruisers stay on the "4-Lane" -- the marked main route -- and that many of the joys of the Loop can be found on the "blue highways" -- the many bays and rivers that lead off the Loop and are less traveled.

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference." -- Robert Frost

smittypaddler · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 7:12 pm Post subject:

I did the full loop inmy C-22 Cruiser Na Waqa, and planned to do the Rideau, but went by way of the Erie Canal instead when I read several cautions about boaters not honoring no-wake zones along the Richelieu. If I had to give one single piece of advice, it would be to take your time. I did it all in about six months, and regret going so fast. I'm trailering Na Waqa back to the St Johns River in Florida in January, because I skipped this river on my loop, and have since heard how beautiful it is.