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| Navigator |
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| Ivory Lady |
A little background for those who have not been in the "Loop" about our upcoming adventure.
The cast of characters:
"Ivory Lady" - a 43 foot fast trawler
"Navigator" - a 48 foot motor yacht
Admiral Jann - one of the four amigos
Commodore Bill - one of the four amigos
Princess Caryn - one of the four amigos
Captain America - one of the four amigos
The Adventure:
Circumnavigate the Eastern half of the United States by boat. This route is known as America's Great Loop, and is the genesis of the name of our chronicle. The route includes the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Chesapeake Bay, the New York and Canadian canal systems, the Great Lakes, the mighty rivers of our heartland, the Tennessee/Tom Bigbee Waterway and finally the Gulf of Mexico.
Prologue:
About 7 years ago, the Admiral and the Commodore began dreaming about "Doing the Loop". During that time, we were cruising the West coast of Florida with our good friends from the Tampa Bay area and the idea rubbed off on the Princess and the Captain. About 4 years ago, we began to collectively get serious about really accomplishing this adventure and recognized the changes needed in our life styles to make it possible. Selling houses, selling boats and buying more appropriate cruisers, and retiring from long and fruitful careers were all necessary if we were to undertake a couple of years of cruising and living aboard.
By January, 2014, the stars aligned and with the end of the Commodore and Admiral's responsibilities at the Marathon Yacht Club, the plans became reality. Navigator and two of the amigos left Tampa Bay in February and joined Ivory Lady and other two amigos at the Marathon Yacht Club in the Florida Keys. The month of March was spent fine tuning the boats and provisioning for the trip. Lots of farewells and good wishes (and free drinks) were provided by the members (read friends) of the Club for that entire month, making the departure a bit sorrowful, but depart we did! Stay tuned for the ongoing chronicle of our amigos getting on the "Loop".
To find out more about the "Great Loop", click on the link to www.greatloop.org.
Good luck with your adventure. We are friends of Steve Schluter and we have a 40 foot Silverton on St. Croix River in Minnesota. We brought her back from Chicago so we have cruised the south half of Lake Michigan, and own the Illinois River to the Mississippi, then 650 miles north to Minnesota. Will be fun to hear about your trip, I'll check back. Ron Reimann (our trip blog is here: http://flyingcolorsmn.wordpress.com/ )
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