GREAT LOOP
THE AQUATIC APPALACHIAN TRAIL
If you live east of the Mississippi River, technically, you live on an island.
Every year about 100 boats prove that point by completing a circumnavigation of the entire eastern U.S. The path, called the Great Loop, is a continuous waterway connecting lakes, rivers, sounds, canals, the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
“The very idea of seeing portions of the great country from a water perspective is so exciting,” says Robin McVey, who is setting off this fall to “do the Loop.” She and her husband will take their 42-foot Jefferson Sundeck. “We are on a countdown to castoff.”
According to America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association, at any time about 300 “Loopers” are tilting at the full circle of 5,000 miles — or more, depending on route choices and side trips. Most Loopers take a counterclockwise circuit heading north in the spring, often from Norfolk, Va., where they meet for a rendezvous and seminar (this year’s runs May 2-5). Looping can be a social affair, and the rendezvous serves as a gathering point to meet other travelers.
“The Loop is about the people,” says Kurt Kettelhut, who completed the Loop with his wife, Mary Ellen, last year on their 25-foot Ranger Tug, Loophole. “You meet the most interesting cast of characters, boaters, marina people.”
From Norfolk, the cast of characters heads north through the Chesapeake, briefly outside into the Atlantic and into the Hudson River. The next leg goes through the Erie Canal and on to the Great Lakes, where many Loopers spend the summer months. In the fall, the boats flock downstream with the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers and cross to Florida in November after hurricane season has passed.
The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway completes the circle, a beautiful but often challenging route that runs from the Florida Keys back to Norfolk. Though it’s possible to make the run from Florida to Virginia entirely in inside waters, many boaters make longer hops offshore in the Atlantic, bypassing a tight cluster of drawbridges in South Florida or the infamous tidal swings and resulting shallows in Georgia.
“My favorite part of this first part of the Loop is the ICW between Georgetown and Myrtle Beach, S.C.,” says Philip Barbalace, who, with his wife, Karen, have one-quarter of the Loop under the keel of their Mainship 40 Expedition Trawler. “It looks primeval, cypress trees stick out of the water, stunningly beautiful, 10 to 20 miles long. You expect to see a pterodactyl fly by.”
The array of challenges along the Great Loop includes busy ports; heavy commercial traffic, especially on the Mississippi; capricious weather; scheduled bridge/canal openings; and, inevitably, equipment failure. But along with the satisfaction of conquering 5,000 miles of waterway, the ride gives the incomparable experience of navigating at school-zone speed through riverside forests, vast lakes and bays, storied rivers and dazzling city centers.
Ask Loopers about their favorite stretch, and you’ll probably get a different answer from each. Some love the small-town life on display along the Mississippi, while others relish the Florida sunshine or the beauty of the Hudson River Valley. But there’s more to it than the scenery.
“What I learned on the boat is that Mother Nature is in control,” says Mary Ellen Kettelhut, who went straight from her corporate job to living aboard a 25-foot trawler. “When I was working in corporate America, I was highly trained to control everything. I needed to really relax and let things come to us.”
The Great Loop has been attempted in everything from a kayak to 70-foot-plus boats, but there are a few critical restrictions on vessels. Some parts of the route get shallow, so a draft of 6 feet or less is necessary. And one stretch between Chicago and the Illinois River has a fixed bridge with only 19 feet of clearance. For that reason, sailboats are not optimal Loop boats, although many sailors drop their masts and carry them onboard or ship them to be picked up down the way.
Finally, the route includes long stretches with no services, so a vessel needs fuel tankage (or a collection of jerry cans) to allow traveling 250 to 500 miles between fill-ups. There are plenty of boats that meet this criteria — for some, too many.
“Don’t agonize so long about the boat choice. If you want to do the Loop, you just have to do it, ” says Mary Ellen Kettelhut. “We talk to so many people, and they say ‘I’d love to do it’ and then agonize over details.
“Just buy a boat and go. All the rest will work itself out!”