The Great Loop-lets talk about that to get me outta my funk....

[owly]

Did anybody actually sail on any of the inland river portion.... the upper Mis or the Tenn Tom? Or any part of the ICW, or does everybody just give up and motor all the way?

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by theBigKahuna

We used Hop-O-Nose to take it down.... VERY entertaining operation. I forgot on the Buffalo end, but if you're headed East, not West, he's the last place in the area to fuel up and rumor has it he won't sell you fuel if you unstep your mast before reaching him :-)

If you are talking about Wardells in Tonawanda...I will not use them again. He was just generally a jerk and provided as little help as possible.

There are other marinas in the area that can step a mast.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by owly

Did anybody actually sail on any of the inland river portion.... the upper Mis or the Tenn Tom? Or any part of the ICW, or does everybody just give up and motor all the way?

From our experience, they would definitely be the exception.
- Most of the river system is too narrow to sail unless you are absolutely obsessed with it (plus for much of it the mast is down anyway)
- Even the ICW, large parts are too narrow for most non-obsessed.

We sailed maybe 1 in 10 travel days...but we aren't obsessed, so it was days when there was enough open water and the wind was from a decent direction.

If you watch other boats on the waterways, 90% motoring seems to be the norm.

You will find a few sailboats permanently on the upper mississippi...particularly if you turn north at St. Louis, there are larger impoundments behind the dams where day sailing is possible.

[Jammer]

I sail on Lake Pepin which is one of the natural lakes on the Mississippi.


I have sailed on the river system. Here is a video clip of my previous boat, a Morgan 25, sailing near downtown St. Paul.



https://youtu.be/_vCW44vCyWM


But generally it is difficult to sail on the rivers. The river banks and the trees funnel the wind so that it is most often right on your nose or right on your stern, or blocked completely. There is a risk of rounding a bend and losing steerageway as the wind dies, and being at the mercy of the current. You have to stay on top of the boat, all the time. It's either a challenge or a source of frustration, sometimes both.


With the wind on your tail, frequent jibes are necessary as the river meanders or the wind shifts in response to terrain.


With the wind on your nose, you have to short tack, and have to be aware of the edges of the channel. I generally assume the channel markers are outside the channel, because sometimes they are. There are submerged wing dams outside the channel and they don't give much.

[BoatBumm]

Originally Posted by owly

Did anybody actually sail on any of the inland river portion.... the upper Mis or the Tenn Tom? Or any part of the ICW, or does everybody just give up and motor all the way?

On the inland portion the only place I theoretically could have sailed was on Kentucky Lake. It’s long and narrow running north-south. My mast was down until I got to Mobile. But there was a steady north wind blowing and had my mast been up I could have run down the Lake. But that was it as far as I could tell for potential sailing.

And I cannot imagine given the major challenges of the Mississippi even in powerboat mode trying to sail there for any significant portion. I’m sure it could be done, but that skipper is either much better skipper than I am or much more foolish.

Likewise it’s not practical on the ICW. Too narrow, too many trees lining the waterway, too much other traffic to watch out for and avoid. You gotta stay in the channel in a sailboat since for most of the ICW you’ll quickly go aground if you let yourself get sloppy. To sail you need to leave the ICW and go out into open water.

The relative lack of sailing opportunities is one of my other disappointments about the Great Loop. I could certainly sail for the Great Lakes portion, and had some wonderful memorable sails in the Great Lakes, then when I jumped over to the Bahamas then returned to St. Augustine, and then finally coming up the East Coast I skipped Georgia completely and jumped off shore from St A to Charleston, SC. Once I got to the Chesapeake Bay then there was again plenty of sailing opportunities there. But poor Serenity was a motorboat for a great deal of that trip.

Part too of the decision to just motor is that often you are trying to put miles under your keel. I spent too much time up in the North Channel of
Lake Huron. (My favorite part!). It took me longer than expected to get down to Mobile. It was getting cold and even in mid-Alabama I woke up to ice on the deck for almost a week. I was pushing to get farther south! All the Loopers loosely traveling with me were complaining about the cold.

I can well understand now why one of the guidebooks advised for powerboaters wanting to do the GL, to buy a sailboat in the 30-40’ range with a good diesel engine and drivetrain, remove the mast and rigging completely, and do the loop as a sailboat turned into a powerboat to take advantage of the much better fuel mileage of a sailboat under power. He’s got a good point. The powerboats couldn’t go much faster than the sailboats anyway for most of it.

Good luck!

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by owly

Why not the multihull forum? Don't multihulls do the great loop? A multihull definitely be the most fuel efficient as well as the most comfortable. Probably half the fuel consumption for the same speed as a comparable monohull, and the shallow draft makes them beachable and allows access to places the monos can't go.

Show me data on why a cat will burn less fuel than comparable mono. 2 hulls, more wetted surface, 2 engines...

[MaddMatt]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

(we had a small catamaran so it wasn't an issue).

I am not the OP but looking at small 8 or 9m cats to do the loop.What did you use?

Matt

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by MaddMatt

I am not the OP but looking at small 8 or 9m cats to do the loop.What did you use?

Matt

Gemini 3400.

If (when) we do it again, it will most likely be in a Gemini, though we will likely pull the mast beforehand and run as a power boat.

Great size:
- Easy for 2 people to manage but plenty of living space.
- Good control with a motor that pivots to provide directional thrust.
- Small enough for 2 people to manhandle in locks (you can't tie off, so manually handling the lines is critical)
- Shallow draft because much of the route, there are places where shallow draft is a big advantage.
- Narrow enough to fit in most standard slips.
- Without the mast, bridges are a non-issue.
- Protected helm if out in bad weather.
- Efficient running at 6kts...we got 6mpg with outboard and diesel version will get even better (we prefer outboard though for simplicity and reliability)