Browsing: Great Loop

Cruising Life
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Cruising Down the Tenn-Tom Waterway on a Nordhavn 59

When we last checked in with Larry and Jamie McCullough on Independence, their Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot, they were in Lake Michigan, about halfway through the Great Loop journey they had started last April in Florida. Now they’ve cruised down the Tenn-Tom Waterway, the 253-mile long cut from Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee River near Demopolis, Alabama. Before the Tenn-Tom opened in 1985, boats had to continue down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and then head east across the Gulf of Mexico. The Tenn-Tom basically was a shortcut, saving hundreds of miles. In addition, the…

Boat Reviews
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Beneteau Launches New 41 Swift Trawler, Flybridge and Sedan

Beneteau is launching its new 41 Swift Trawler in the U.S. at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat  Show, starting Oct. 30; it just introduced it in Europe at the Cannes show. The new 41 comes in two versions, a flybridge, similar to all its siblings in the Swift Trawler fleet, or a sedan, which would be very appealing to anyone wishing to avoid the bridges in Florida or around the Great Loop. The 41 is the latest Swift Trawler, coming after the successful launch of the 47, and it replaces the 44. And it has all the space and amenities,…

Cruising Life
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California Couple Tackle Great Loop on New Nordhavn Coastal Pilot

In a recent email, I asked Larry McCullough, an experienced boat owner who’s now about half way through the Great Loop with his wife Jamie, why they had bought hull number one of the Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot. “Yesterday was a good example of why Nordhavn,” he replied. “We are in Lake Michigan, which can be very treacherous. NOAA was calling for three-foot seas but the wind picked up more and we were in some seven-footers that were very close together. I must say the boat handled it better than some of the crew.” McCullough, a retired stockbroker from Tiburon,…

Cruising Life
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Retired British Submariner Completes Great Loop in a Kayak

After more than 5,700 miles and 14 months, Steve Chard, a retired Royal Navy submariner, is going to hang up his paddle. He’s tired. Chard, 61, just completed the Great Loop in his kayak, and he was all alone the entire way. Even more remarkable, Chard went the long way around. He started on June 1, 2018, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and went counterclockwise, up around Nova Scotia, past Prince Edward Island, into the St. Lawrence and down to the Rideau Canal, where he joined the Great Loop as most people know it. He lost 46 pounds in the first…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Grumpy Completes Great Loop, with Some Lessons for Us All

Mission accomplished. John Hauck, 80, a retired Army special forces major and helicopter pilot, just finished the Great Loop, arriving back home in Demopolis, Alabama, 110 days and 6,303 miles after he left. He put 416 hours on the twin 150-hp Mercury outboards that drove Grumpy, his RF-246 Rosborough, and said they “performed flawlessly.” Hauck did the Loop solo, except for 21 days when a lady friend joined him, from the Erie Canal to Ludington, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. He says if he does the Loop again, it would be nice to have company onboard. Hauck’s journey was a major…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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After 5,000 Miles and One Major Mishap, John Hauck, 80, Approaches Chicago on the Great Loop, Solo Once Again, on Grumpy

When we last checked in with John Hauck, the 80-year-old retired Army major and special forces helicopter pilot who is doing the Great Loop on his own, he was down on the Gulf Coast of Florida. That was two months ago. Since then Hauck has driven Grumpy, his 2003 Rosborough RF-246, around much of the Loop, and he’s now near Chicago. All told, Hauck writes from St. Joseph on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, just 60 miles from Chicago, that he has spent 99 days and put more than 5,000 miles behind him since he left Demopolis, Alabama, on…

Cruising Life
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Nebraska Couple Completes the Great Loop on 153 “Good Days for a Boat Ride”

Every morning for 340 days, Dale and Merna Hartwig from Grand Island, Nebraska, woke up on their 2002 Navigator 4000 and asked each other, “Is this a good day for a boat ride?” He wrote me that, “if the weather/seas/destination were ok, then we went. If they were outside our ‘good day’ parameters, we simply stayed another day where we were and enjoyed the area.” The Hartwigs found enough good days – 153, in fact – that they just completed the Great Loop, crossing their wake in Savannah, Georgia. All told, they cruised 6,200 miles and went through 123 locks,…

Cruising Life
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NOAA: Huge Dead Zone Coming in Gulf of Mexico. Mississippi Flooding Stalls Barge Traffic

NOAA just predicted that a large dead zone, about the size of Massachusetts, will develop in the Gulf of Mexico this summer as a result of record rains and flooding in the Midwest. Meanwhile, flooding and fast currents have stalled most of the barge traffic on the Mississippi, with almost 300 barges waiting out the weather at two locks there. NOAA says the dead zone, an area where low or no oxygen can kill fish and other marine life, will be caused by nutrient pollution flowing down the Mississippi. Once the excess nutrients reach the Gulf, they will stimulate the…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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John Hauck, 80, Starts a New Adventure, Alone, on Grumpy

Even at 80, John Hauck is looking for new challenges. “I like adventure,” he told me. “I’ve been an adventurous individual my whole life.” Hauck’s latest adventure is to take on the Great Loop, by himself (“All my adventures have been solo,” he said) on his 2003 Rosborough RF-246 Grumpy with twin 150-hp Mercury outboards. He left Demopolis, Alabama, on April 15, and he’s now cruising down the Gulf Coast of Florida, aiming to complete the 5,600 mile Loop in two to four months. “I thought this would be a good way to celebrate my 80th…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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New Jersey Couple Ride the Great Loop on Their Yamaha WaveRunner, and Love It

When most people start planning a cruise on the Great Loop, they have to decide whether they want to do it on a 30-foot, 40-foot or even a 50-foot boat or more. Not John Cacciutti, a builder of luxury vacation homes from Ocean City, New Jersey. Cacciutti thinks outside the box. He and Barbie Evangelisti, his riding partner, are doing the 5,800-mile Great Loop on their Yamaha WaveRunner. And they’ve already put 1,700 Loop miles behind them. Cacciutti and Evangelisti are not the first people to do the Loop on a PWC. Indeed, Larry Harcum completed the Loop in 87…

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