004 What Did I Get Myself Into?
Great Loop Prologue Jun 2, 2016
What have I got myself into?
Stretched out lying on the cockpit seat at Cedar Point Marina my mind was still groping for answers to questions I had. Was my 22ft sailboat big enough for the ocean? Can I be comfortable living in a small space? How much food should I take? Will there be grocery stores along the way? How much water should I have and can I get more if I need it? Are there dangers I need to be aware of? How will I get my medications when I run out? How much will this all cost? The list of questions went on and on. Each morning I would wake up with more unanswered questions. Settle down, Henry, I would reassure myself, get that first cup of coffee and we'll figure all this out.
(Side Note: At this time I was not at the least considering taking Mickey along. There was so much going on the thought of having an animal to watch and care for would be overwhelming for me. I had made arrangements for a friend to care for him while I was gone. Those plans were going to fall apart)
The Great Loop, what is that?
I have mentioned it many times but what is it really? For one thing, it's huge! I read somewhere altogether it's over 20,000 miles of interconnected waterways. Well if you include all the waterways of the Great Lakes in the US and Canada and the Mississippi and Ohio and Missouri rivers and then down in the Keys to the Bahamas you can get 20,000 miles, easily. But most people will do a reasonable 5 to 6 maybe 7 thousand water miles.
There is no real starting point. No endpoint. It's a loop so where you start is where you finish. I choose to start at Cedar Point Marina in Sandusky, Ohio, where all my family had their boats docked. There is a term we Loopers use at the finish and that is we 'cross our wakes' Going full circle we do cross our wakes. I'd tell the grandkids Grampa is going to sail off to the west and when I return I will be coming from the east, proving once and for all the world is round! Just like the ancient mariners predicted.
How about going to Canada, will I need a passport? Well. if you are going into Canadian waters, yes, you will need a passport. But let's look at a big map of the eastern US. Both the US and Canada share the border on the Great Lakes as well as the major rivers, Niagara, Detroit, and St Clair Rivers. If I sail the south shores of these waterways I will not be going to our neighbors up north. I can stay inside the US borders for the entire voyage.
Let's give some thought to where I will be going.
Looking back at my personal experience with sailing the Sea Marie on Lake Erie I know I can sail comfortably from Cleveland to Put in Bay, That's what, 60-some miles. Takes me 12 to 15 hours depending on what mood the lake is in. Let's look at that paper map of the eastern US again. Using a pair of dividers I set it at 20 miles. Going from Put in Bay I run the dividers up to Michigan and up the Detroit River. There are numerous towns and marinas within 20, 40, and 60 miles of the route. Down Lake Michigan again there are towns with safe harbors all the way to Chicago within a day’s sail. Once on the inland waterways, the opportunity to stay in a town or safe anchorage appears abundant all the way to Mobile, Alabama. On the Gulf of Mexico, there is a safe route known as the Gulf Inter Coastal Waterway or the GICW for short.
Wait a minute... Here is something that will give me pause. There happens to be a large stretch of open water in the Gulf of Mexico between human habitation. Measuring the distance it seems to be 75 to 80 miles of ocean between Carabelle and Steinhatchee, Florida the closest 2 cities. Doing some napkin calculations going at 5 mph I would need at least 16 hours of travel if the Gulf would let me. Getting her up to 6 mph I could do it in 13 hours. It's a foolish sailor that would sail in the dark in unknown waters, I will have to time my arrival during daylight hours. With a good weather forecast and an early morning start, I think I can manage that.
There is another possibility of sailing from Carabelle to St. Mark's and down to Steinhatchee. I would need an extended period of time for the Gulf to be calm.
Going down the west coast of Florida doesn't look too bad. Lots of interesting places to explore. Crystal River and the Manatees, have to see that! Ft. Myers will be a must-stop as I have friends who live there. From here I can go south around the Florida Keys and up past Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, or I can cut across Florida on the Caloosahatchee River to Lake Okeechobee and continue on the St. Lucie Canal to the Atlantic coast at Stuart, Florida. OK, I watched some videos on YouTube, and the boating community around Miami and Ft. Lauderdale does not look inviting for a little sailboat like mine. Let’s do the canal instead. From here my compass heading will point me north.
On the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway, I can be sheltered from King Neptune's wrath. Some big cities to explore, such as St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Savanna, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Southport, Norfork, and then up the Chesapeake Bay and down the Delaware Bay. Then up the New Jersey coast to New York City. Here I'll be on the Hudson River to Waterford and start my westward journey on the Erie Canal to Lake Erie and hug the shore back to Sandusky. I think I can do this, no, I Know I Can Do This. Put me in coach, I'm ready to play!
Let's get real!
After a 2 day sail from the launch ramp at Edgewater Park Boat launch, the Sea Marie is nestled quietly in her berth. This is my second year here at this marina. Both my kids, Greg, and his family as does Jennifer and her family have boats here and we visit a few times a week. I have been making a list and reworking that list to include items I need for my long-distance voyage.
Not finding a specific Great Loop list I modified my 'things to take on a backpack trip' list for a long journey. The usual items like a tent, sleeping bag, cook stove, fuel, and clothes were reasonably apparent. The boat's my tent, I'm on cushions, Already have an alcohol stove and a microwave. But the list had to be better organized. I compartmentalized the categories and broke the list into separate sheets of paper. What do I need specifically for the safety of the boat? What are the Coast Guard requirements for a 22ft sailboat? Surprisingly, very little. Once I got the majority of items I began to think how could some items do double duty. Starting to build redundancy. The easiest example is the common 5-gallon pail. Throw in a plastic grocery bag and you have a trash receptacle. It can serve as a washing machine, throw in your soiled clothes, and with a plunger, water, and detergent, plunge it clean, but for safety, it was a great bailing tool. Gets lots of water out in a short period of time. But what it was most useful as... was as my marine toilet. I had onboard a regular portable marine porta-potty, and it was ok, however, cleaning it out was a terrible chore. That 5-gallon bucket with a few bags in it, insert a sliced pool noodle lengthwise on the rim and there you have it. I often used it as a water bucket to scoop up water and rinse the deck and cockpit down. Flip it over in the cockpit and you have a table. That orange Home Depot bucket was always ready and readily available.
The category lists were set up just like you would at home. Items for the kitchen, pantry, bathroom, bedroom, and living room. Unlike your home with ample storage, I have to keep it simple and store only what I will use.
This is not a complete list but one I used to start thinking about and expanding.
Kitchen: Microwave, stove, fuel, pot, pan, cooking and eating utensils, can-opener, pot holders, liquid detergent, sponge,
Pantry: Food, Peanut Butter, canned soup, pork&beans, easy rice fixing, bread, eggs, fruit&veggies
Cooler: Perishables, Insulin pens, butter, jelly, condiments, meats, cheese
Bathroom: toilet paper, cleaners, wag bags, bucket, solar shower bag, towels
Bedroom: light sleeping blanket, sheet, blanket, summer clothes, winter clothes
Livingroom: TV, HDMI cord, laptop, power cord, battery light
Electronics: AT&T Phone, Tracfone, power cords, VHF handheld radio, VHF station radio, Beofang Radio, Garmin GPS eTrex GPS, Lorance Chartplotter, 3x12v marine batteries, battery charger, dc to ac inverter, small generator, fuel for gen.
Boat: Safety gear. handheld flares, flare gun, horn, EPIRB, PFDs, Spotlight, two anchors, and its anchor rode, an assortment of lines, and shore power cord.
I needed good resources and reliable information.
Early in December, I found information on boats traveling in salt water. They used a different type of bottom paint than the one I was accustomed to up here in the freshwater of the Great Lakes. What I needed was available from my local West Marine store. I'll have more to say about the process in the next installment of Sailing Saga of the Sea Marie.
Thank you for subscribing to my Sailing Saga of the Sea Marie. One of the pleasures of being on a list like this is the ability to stay engaged with the readers. Comments are highly encouraged. Did you find this post interesting? Would you do this if someone asked you to come along? Did you find something that didn't make sense? Did you or do you know someone that has done a long journey like this?