Thursday, March 28

On Watch

Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr +

After The Loop and 25,000 miles, The Coles and My Dream Are “Not Done Yet”

Ted and Sue Cole of Placerville, California, just crossed their wake in Dania Beach, Florida, completing the Great Loop around the eastern half of the United States. That, of course, is a major achievement, but it’s not singular. After all, 127 other boats completed the Loop last year alone.

But what is unusual, is that the Coles only cruised part of the time, taking seven years on the Loop from start to finish. And even then they managed to put in side trips to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and much of the Caribbean, all cruising destinations far from the Loop. Closer to home, they made four separate trips to Canada and one around the Downeast Loop (up to Lake Champlain, down the St. Lawrence, around Nova Scotia and back to Maine), putting in some 25,000 nm in all.

Cole says his love of cruising started when he was in the Sea Scouts as a teenager and his group had a 40-foot converted landing craft.  “I had a dream to someday cruise in a boat of my own that size,” he says.

That is why, in 2006, after he retired from the Air Force and a second career in software, Cole bought a 1986 Kadey-Krogen 42, and named it My Dream. Powered by a 135-hp Ford-Lehman diesel, My Dream cruises at 6.8 knots; it holds 700 gallons of fuel and Cole says he gets three miles to the gallon, giving him a safe range of about 2,000 nm, “enough to do any leg of the Loop and not worry about fuel.”

For her part, Sue Cole retired in 2007 after a career as a school teacher and principal, so they had time for long-range cruising, starting with a trip from Fort Myers, where they bought the boat, to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. After that, they just kept going, putting the boat up on the hard during hurricane season, flying home to California, and then picking up where they left off.

Now, Cole says, “we are not done yet. Yes, we’re done with the Loop, but there is still a lot of ocean out there.” Next up: The Bahamas and the Windward Islands.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

http://kadeykrogen.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share.

About Author

Comments are closed.