While cruising up the east coast you’ll have plenty of chances to bask in history, from the James Olgethrope 1733 designed Savannah Squares, Charleston’s charm and George Washington’s Dismal Swamp, just to name a few. To read more and view photos click on the EAST COAST ICW icon above. Once there, if you don’t see what you’re looking for, use the search window in the sidebar at the top right of the page or scrawl down to access “older entries” at the bottom lower right.

We thought this was interesting. Josh Tart is paddling his way around the Great Loop route in a Kayak. Starting in Cincinnati, Ohio, he worked his way down the river system and is currently in Florida. From looking at his BLOG we think this is a very interesting way to do the Great Loop boat trip and raise money for Charity: Water. What better way to raise money for a project, to improve drinking water for those who need it in developing countries, than to paddle through water (approx. 6,000 miles around the eastern United States and Canada).

Josh often sets up tents on islands and parks at the end of a long paddling day. The more you slow down and get closer to your surroundings the more of nature and experiences you will get to encounter. We can tell that Josh is having the adventure of his life. We wish Josh all the best in his endeavors. Check out his blog and the CHARITY he is working with; sounds like a good cause. Learn more about Josh (or look him up on Facebook).

On a side note:  We learned about slowing down ourselves shortly after we started our first “Loop.” We had a 42′ Silverton Convertible and were used to traveling fast while cruising the Great Lakes. It wasn’t soon into our Loop that we saw the benefits of slowing down, trawler speed, and enjoying our adventure even more. As you know if you are familiar with our blogs we changed boats and bought a Fathom 40 trawler, more recently we downsized to a 27-foot Ranger Tugs trailerable trawler and are still enjoying the benefits of taking our time when cruising. Hearing about this young man’s quest to find adventure while at the same time helping others really hits home the idea that, even though the trip or adventure can be the same route, it can be done in many different ways and we’re not just talking about slowing down.

NORFOLK, VA., MAY 7 – 10, 2012:  America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association will once again be holding its annual Spring Rendezvous & Reunion in the vibrant and exciting waterfront city of Norfolk, Va. This event, held at the Sheraton Waterside Hotel and the Waterside Marina, was attended by over 225 members last year. This year they are offering boaters in the surrounding area a unique opportunity: attend the Rendezvous and receive a free, one-year membership!

AGLCA Spring Rendezvous & Reunion
May 7 – 10, 2012
Norfolk, Virginia 

This year’s event will feature seminars on navigating Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, NJ, NY, the Hudson River and Canadian Canals, Entering Canada and Returning to the US, Lake Michigan, the Inland River System, Engine Maintenance, Marine Fuel, Provisioning for your Boat – Spare Parts and Buying Your Boat.

There will also be cocktail receptions, lunches, dinners, awards, door prizes, unmatched camaraderie, impromptu “concerts”, Looper Crawls, Vessel Safety Checks, and more!

Complete information on the event is available at GreatLoop.org, Rendezvous & Events, Spring 2012 Rendezvous & Reunion. The rate for attendance is $369 per person. Your registration fee includes:

• All seminars
• All group events
• Access to AGLCA Ship’s Store on site
• Access to vendor displays
• Six meals
• AND A FREE ONE-YEAR MEMBERSHIP!

To take advantage of this offer, go to:
Rendezvous SIGN UP FORM

Simply fill in the form and submit. A representative will be in touch to sign you up for your
Rendezvous attendance and Free Membership!

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“They say this is cruisin’, travelin’ the world by sea.” Scott Perkins lives the life he expresses in his music, exploring the world aboard the 32-ft DownEast sailboat Chip Ahoy. His 6,000-mile trip around America’s Great Loop boat trip inspired this collection of songs about passing through river locks, meeting interesting characters on boats and in America’s small towns and watching dolphins play alongside Chip Ahoy as she entered the Gulf of Mexico and passed into the Atlantic Ocean. The millionaire Intracoastal Waterway alley from Miami to Fort Lauderdale inspired Scott’s Florida anthem, “La Dee Dah.” “Sweetwater” captures the emotions of sailing on Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface. “Justify This Day” explains what it’s like to be tested in a storm on the water or in your soul – or both.

Ships & Giggles

Tiller Dreams

Palm Trees in Da Keweenaw

Bits & Pieces

A lead guitarist and professional musician for more than three decades, Scott cut his teeth on classic rock & roll, wearing out the grooves on BB King records when he was 15 and graduating from playing for pizza to professional life in rock & roll touring bands throughout the South and Midwest in the 60s and 70s. After a stint on the western band circuit booking out of Las Vegas, in the 1980s Scott opened Perkins Electronics in his hometown of Houghton, Michigan. While playing occasional local gigs, his main focus was family life. The “music room” in the back yard was a proving ground for many of his daughter’s bands and his son became an excellent drummer.

Scott’s musical taste ranges all over the map, with true craftsmanship being the number-one criteria. A short list of favored performers includes Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Carlos Santana, Joe Cocker and Gary Moore.

As he makes his way through Jimmy Buffett country, performing in southern Florida and the Keys, Scott is quite frequently compared to Buffett. “The comparison is flattering, but when people ask me who I sound like or play like, I have to say that I mostly sound like – myself,” says Scott.

We recently met up with the crew of Chip Ahoy, Scott and his wife Cyndi (below) while visiting Marathon on our way down to Key West.

The 2012, Third Annual Looper “Sunset Celebration” was a huge success with over 120 in attendance. It was a little windy (not a problem for Loopers) – lots of good food was shared along with a chance to reacquaint ourselves with old friends. Thanks Patricia & George Hospodar for organizing the event and providing Loopers in the area with an opportunity for this fun reunion.

3rd Annual “Sunset Celebration”

Sunday, February 26, 2012

5 p.m.

Banana Bay Resort and Marina
Gulf-side beach pavilion

Banana Bay is located at 4590 Overseas Highway (Gulf-side) directly across the street from Home Depot.

Bring an appetizer to share and your beverage of choice.

As an additional incentive to all those who may be traveling to Marathon by car, Banana Bay Resort (an AGLCA sponsor) will be offering hotel rooms at the following rates for that week-end: 15% off the rack rate for a one night stay, and 20% off for a two night stay. Just make sure to mention that you are with the AGLCA boaters group when you call to make your reservation @ (305) 743-3500.

As “Loopers,” we were excited to be able to tow our boat from Lake Powell to Rogersville, Alabama for the AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association) 2011 Fall Rendezvous. Little did we know that, not only would we make new friends, we’d run into a few Loopers that we did the Loop with back in 2005/06.

Tom Conrad (above-center), here with his wife Patsy and Janice Kromer, was the MC for the rendezvous. He did a great job.

Jim did a presentation on the St. Johns River.

Fellow AGLCA Advisory Board members, Audrey Stehle and Patsy Conrad (above-left). Susann and Alan Syme (above-right).

Tom and Patsy Conrad (above – Tom’s not only the MC for this event, but he’s also the famous weather guy Loopers rely on when anticipating the Gulf crossing).

Fellow AGLCA Advisory Board members, Rick and Betsy Johnson (above-left).

Patsy and Ron Stob sang an original Looper song while Ted Stehle, Steve and Janice Kromer manned the bar.

Jan and Rusty got a big going away party on the patio by old Looper friends of ours Ken and Darcy Searl (Darcy’s in our book, Women On Board Cruising).

Ken and Darcy Searl, Just Us, (above-left) and Darcy again with Lisa (above-right). Jan and Rusty, cbay, the honored recipients of the impromptu party (below-left) and long time Loopers and friends, Elvie and Roy on Roy-El, (Elvie is also in our book, Women On Board Cruising) drove to the event to visit their many Looper friends.

It can be maddening trying to find, buy and then store all those chart books we boaters need for long-distance cruising. We’ve always felt it was important to have paper charts as a back up to our GPS chartplotter as well as for route planning. The downside of paper charts/chart books is storage on a boat as well as having to maintain reasonably updated material. While going through our transition from a 40-ft live aboard, with tons of storage, to our new 27-ft trailerable Ranger Tug R27, we wanted to come up with an alternative for backup charts. Our solution is the i-Pad 2 along with a Navionics downloadable Marine and Lakes app (optimized with HD)!

The advantages for us to acquire the i-Pad 2 are many, including:

SIZE:  All charts available on a device that is no larger than a magazine – saving precious storage room.

PRICE:  At $700 for the i-Pad 2, it’s less money than you’d pay for all the charts you’d ever possibly need.

FLEXIBILITY and VERSITILITY: You can take all your charts with you anywhere, easily, on or off the boat. Use the Internet to look up a territory or download the chart ahead of time to use when you don’t have Internet access. After you’ve downloaded your charts it can be used like any charts without an internet connection more versatility. With an internet connection you can use the i-Pad w/Navionics app just like your onboard GPS, with live chartplotting capability Beyond the navigation usage you can download a whole library of books and use it as a book reader.

MORE INFORMATION:  The Navionics app also has information on marina’s, marine repair ad restaurants along with measurement, tracking and route tools.

TIDES and CURRENTS:  With an Internet connection the Navionics also has the up to date information on tides and currents.

UPDATES:  You never need to worry about outdated charts/chartbooks, its all updated periodically, automatically.

QUANTITY: All navigatible lakes, rivers, bays and sounds that are inland or along the ICW routes in Canada and the US are available to download at a one time price of $30 to $35.

I could go on and on about the vertues of the i-PAD 2 Navionics app but suffuce it to say we’re very pleased with this new technology and how it will make our boat lighter and more efficient

We signed up for this MTOA Rendezvous last winter and are so excited to finally be here. We’ve only been to one other MTOA event, it was in Crisfield, Maryland. That rendezvous was so much fun we had to sign up for the one out here. The east coast  rendezvous are big productions and can have as many as 200 members in attendance. The PNW group is smaller, but a growing membership. MTOA is a national boating organization run solely by members who volunteer.

Every evening presented more opportunities to exchange boating information and stories. Saturday was the PNW MTOA Chowder Cookoff. This year’s winner was Debora Daly (winning chowder sits in the middle- above, center).

First night of the rendezvous we were warmly greeted by Sue and Bruce (above-left) on Meridian Star, a North Pacific trawler. Sue is a regular  follower of our Boat U.S. Cruising Logs, so she had the advantage of knowing a little more about us than we did about her.

Our morning walk took us to this scenic view at the southern end of Gig Harbor (above-right).

We really can’t say enough nice things about this event in Gig Harbor. A lot of the attendees knew each other already but we have to say that we received a very warm welcome and immediately felt right at home, just as if we were among our dock mates in our homeport.

The north end of Gig Harbor is a short walk from our marina (above). We heard about the Tides Restaurant (below) even before we left Kent, Washington.

Jim and I have been long-distance cruisers for five years. Most of that time has been spent on good sized boats, most recently our Fathom 40, but last year we decided it was time for a change.

After redefining our cruising goals we came up with a plan to buy a trailerable trawler. We wanted to have more flexibility in our cruising time. After doing the Great Loop boat trip almost two times we wanted the ability to move around the country quicker to cruise areas that would take forever to get to by water or not even accessible by a larger boat. I’ve always wanted to rent a houseboat on Lake Powell, now we’ll be able to do that and be on our own boat. One of the features of this kind of boating didn’t occur to us initially – it didn’t take long for us to see ourselves using the boat as an RV while traveling from one cruising ground to another.

After a lot of research we went with a Ranger Tug R27 and a GMC Sierra pickup truck. There’s nothing like a little change in one’s life to get the blood flowing and such has been the case for Jim and I.

Next week we return to Seattle, WA (the same place we took possession of our Fathom 40 three years ago) to pick up our new Kismet. We’ll attend a MTOA Rendezvous and also an Ranger Tug Rendezvous in the Puget Sound area. After our time in Washington State our stops will include: Portland OR to cruise the Columbia River, Lake Tahoe, Lake Powell, and finally Rogersville, Alabama for the AGLCA Rendezvous.

On the cusp of any new adventure we always wonder what new sights we’ll see and who we’ll meet. We’re excited to get on our new Kismet, learn all about her and especially the particulars about this type of cruising. So stay tuned we’ll have some amazing cruises to share with you soon.

Kismet tucked neatly between two sailboats in Gig Harbor, WA

Interested in learning more about trailerable trawlers? Visit our other website:  Trailer Trawler Life

Sometime during these summer months it seems like every town – Trenton, Campbellford, Peterborough and Fenelon Falls, to name a few – have festivals to celebrate the short summer season. The Trent-Severn Waterway is 240 glorious miles long, dotted with small cottages, lakes and rock islands. As you travel the waterway, you’ll negotiate 44 unique locks, 2 lift locks (Peterborough and Kirkfield) and the Big Chute Marine Railway lift. If you love nature and enjoy uniquely rugged cruising grounds, you should be right at home on the Trent-Severn Waterway.

For more details and photographs of our trip on the Trent-Severn just click the Trent-Severn Waterway in the CATAGORY list on the left column (you may need to scroll down a bit).P.S.: A real Canadian experience for us was a tour of the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough.

Here I am with my dad boating on Lake Chemung.

When I was a child, our family would drive to Lake Chemung (Howell, Michigan) to spend summer weekends, a family event I always enjoyed. Like many things children look forward to, like getting to the lake, it never seemed to happen soon enough. If I said it once I’d bet I said it a hundred times, “Are we there yet?” and I’m beginning to feel the same way about heading out west to get back to boating. This time with our Ranger Tug R27 trailerable trawler.

Later this summer we plan to drive 2,400 miles to Kent, Washington and pick up the R27. We’d like to get onto the water just as soon as we can get the boat into the Puget Sound. Gig Harbor will be our first stop, we’ll spend three days getting familiar with our new boat while exploring a port we’ve not visited before. As it worked out MTOA (Marine Trawlers Owners Association) is having a Rendezvous that weekend in Gig Harbor. As members we’ve only attended one other MTOA Rendezvous, Crisfield, Maryland 2009, and it was a lot of fun.

Above photos of a Ranger Tug Rendezvous, coutesy of Herb Stark.

Hoping to have a bit of the new boat learning curve behind us quickly we’ll cruise north and return to the San Juan Islands, a wonderful cruising area we had the pleasure of exploring in 2007 – it will be great to get some more cruising time in this area. Before we leave Washington State, we’ll also attend the Ranger Tugs Pacific Northwest Rendezvous in Bremerton, Washington. This will be a great opportunity to meet over 40 fellow Ranger Tug owners and learn about their favorite boating experiences. We’ll then trailer our new Kismet south, visiting our son, Ross, in Portland, Oregon where he’s suggested we cruise up the Columbia River, through the beautiful Gorge. After that it’s on to Lake Tahoe and then over to Lake Powell for more new cruising experiences before we head east for a return to the Tennessee River cruising grounds and another AGLCA Fall Rendezvous.

We find ourselves spending a lot of our free time going over charts and planning routes. Lisa’s also itching to get back on the water. She’d been on a little bit of a hiatus from photography and is now itching to get her gear ready to record all the new adventures and boaters we’ll encounter.

For a well protected anchorage once you’re through Snow Cut, at Carolina Beach, you can head south at marker 161G to a place we’ve anchored a couple of times. Between mile markers 245 and 244 you’ll find Mile Hammock, a heavily used anchorage for migrating boats. If you’re timing is good you might even witness military maneuvers, as the anchorage is adjacent to Camp LeJeune Military Base. No trip through North Carolina is complete without a stop in Beaufort, lots of history there. If you have time, a trip up the Neuse River to New Bern can be very rewarding and its a wonderful place to leave your boat for an extended period. Lastly, if your plans are to take the Dismal Swamp (we highly recommend this option) you really need to stop in Elizabeth City and stay at the free docks downtown. They go out of their way to welcome boaters and it’s the perfect stop to rest before you head into the Dismal Swamp. If you leave early enough you should not have any trouble getting a spot to tie up to at the Visitor Center,For additional information and photo’s click onto the April, May, October and November of 2009 icons on the left side column.