Browsing: Great Loop

Cruising Life
By

Canadian Completes Greater Loop on a Kayak

Mark Fuhrmann,  a 65-year-old adventurer, just became the first person to complete the Great Loop on a kayak. Actually, Fuhrmann completed the so-called Greater Loop, since he started and ended in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His epic voyage covered 6,800 nm and lasted 268 days. Here’s the story from the Good News Network: After 268 days in his kayak, a 65-year-old has completed his epic ‘Reverse the Bad’ expedition, becoming the first person to solo kayak the Greater Loop across Canada and the United States. The journey of almost 6,800 miles (11,000km) required Mark Fuhrmann to paddle for 1,643 hours—which is…

Cruising Life
By

Mississippi, Ohio Rivers Drying Up

As if anyone contemplating the Great Loop this summer doesn’t have enough problems, now it turns out that both the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers are starting to dry up – for the second straight year. In Cairo, Illinois, where the two rivers join, water levels dropped more than 6 feet last week, and they’re forecast to fall 4 feet more by the end of July. That would push the Ohio into its official low stage, where barges can run aground and the shipping channels narrow. In St. Louis, the Mississippi could fall another 3 feet by the end of…

On Watch
By

ChatGPT: Best Boat for the Great Loop?

ChatGPT, the latest major iteration of Artificial Intelligence, has been getting a lot of attention recently, becoming the subject of front-page articles in leading newspapers, on blogs, even in casual conversations at the Palm Beach show. Founded by a Stanford dropout and funded by hundreds of millions of dollars from Microsoft, ChatGPT was launched just last November as an AI chatbot. Its parent company, OpenAI, was then valued at $29 billion. ChatGPT is nothing of not versatile: It can write computer programs, compose music, create short stories in the voice of Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald, do your kid’s…

Destinations
By

Illinois Waterway Will Close This Summer

There’s some bad news for anyone contemplating the Great Loop, or just cruising in the Midwest, this summer. The Army Corps of Engineers is closing three locks on the Illinois Waterway that connects Lake Michigan to the Mississippi for repairs all summer. The entire Waterway along the Illinois River has eight locks and dams that the Army Corps says are long overdue for repairs. The Corps had a short closure in 2019 and a longer one in 2020. This summer will also be a long one, but the closures are scheduled to occur simultaneously to lessen the impact to the…

Boat Reviews
By

New Beneteau Swift Trawler 41: A Family Cruiser

The easy handling Beneteau Swift Trawler 41 is designed as a comfortable family cruiser with three staterooms, two heads, a proven hull, and a 23-knot top speed to get you home in a hurry. The 41 is in the middle of the French builder’s Swift Trawler line, which runs from 37 to 48 feet. It was introduced about three years ago and has become a popular model. The size makes it large enough for extended cruising for a family, while it’s still small enough to fit into slips along the way and for a couple to run it comfortably. It…

On Watch
By

Mike Straub Completes Loop on Sea-Doo

Mike Straub, a very determined software developer from Omaha, Nebraska, just completed the Great Loop on his 12-foot Sea-Doo. Straub started on June 9 from Bellevue, just south of Omaha on the Missouri River, and put more than 6,000 miles under his hull until he crossed his wake on the Missouri earlier this week. Straub wrote on his Facebook page, Sea Doo Looper, that he’s now going up the Missouri and plans to arrive back in Omaha on Saturday. For Straub, the Loop was hardly a whim. He believes in living his passion. A few years ago, he drove across the…

Cruising Life
By

Lock Closure on Illinois Waterway

The Brandon Road Lock and Dam in the Joliet area of the Illinois Waterway will have restricted passage until August 14, and then a full closure from August 15 to September 4. Anyone planning on the Great Loop needs to schedule accordingly. The Illinois Waterway connects Lake Michigan/Chicago, with the Mississippi. Here is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ schedule for closures along that waterway this year and in 2023: 2022 Brandon Road Lock and Dam – Upper Bulkhead Recess Installation Restriction period/partial closure (will pass traffic under a 70′ width restriction from 6pm-6am): May 9-Aug. 14, 2022 Full closure: Aug. 15-Sept.…

Cruising Life
By

Cruise With Lots of Friends on Nazareth Aquadomus

You probably don’t want to climb on the Nazareth Aquadomus for your next cruise to Bermuda, but it certainly looks like it could be fun for the calmer sections of the Great Loop. The Aquadomus is a 41-foot catamaran that’s basically a houseboat with a flybridge. Built in Portugal by Nazareth Boats, the Aquadomus can hold 12 people in the vast spaces inside and out. It’s powered by two 200-hp outboards, and tops out at 12 knots. The big boat also has a draft of just 1’ 8,” meaning you can explore all those small coves and gunkholes that usually…

Boat Reviews
By

Beneteau Making New Swift Trawler 48

Beneteau just announced that it’s launching a new Swift Trawler 48. Hull number one, with twin 380-hp Cummins diesels, will have its world premiere at the Düsseldorf show in January; hull number two, with twin 425-hp Cummins, will make its U.S. debut at the Miami show in February. The 48 is the flagship of Beneteau’s Swift Trawler line, which starts at 35 feet. Beneteau also makes a Grand Trawler 62, but it has a displacement hull for long-range voyages. The new 48 is a three-stateroom, two head cruiser; top speed is 23 knots with the 380-hp engines, and 26 knots…

Cruising Life
By

St. Lucie Lock To Close for Three Months

Here’s some bad news for anyone planning to cruise around Florida this winter, or those hoping to tackle the Great Loop. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will close the St. Lucie Lock on the Okeechobee for three months, from January 2 to March 31, for repairs. That means that anyone wanting to cross from the Atlantic to the Gulf coasts will not be able to cut across the lake, but instead have to go all the way around, down to Key West, or cut across at Marathon in the middle of the Keys. The time and cost differential, depending…

1 2 3 8