Sunday Summary #82

Patience, August Budget, and Q&A

Hi ,

Welcome to Scho & Jo’s 82nd Sunday Summary. This edition of the Sunday Summary was written aboard PIVOT who is still docked in Mackinaw City, Michigan.

Last Week.

We enjoyed our stay at Mackinaw City Marina where we waited out some bad weather for several days. As we pulled into the marina, we were delighted to see our looper friends aboard MV Grand Plan who we hadn’t seen since Beaufort, SC, and passed on the Hudson River. Art and Sharon have a YouTube Channel and in their recent video, Art shares some of the real struggles with doing the Great Loop. He talks about things going wrong, having to keep going and fixing those problems when they’re 3,000 miles from home. I deeply appreciate people’s vulnerability and authenticity when they share their real-life struggles instead of the ever-present highlight reel that we see often see today on social media.

One of the great things about the Loop is the community. During our time here, we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know so many more boaters. From dinner aboard Volare (46 Carver) with Gary and Mary to celebrating Art’s Birthday at a local restaurant (Art and Sharon on Grand Plan, a 36 Grand Banks), going to a local concert in the park with Art and Sharon the following night, to drinks at a local bar with the crew of Wild Life (Mark and Laura on a 39 Mainship), Son of a Sailor (Craig, Bob, Gary on a Viking Convertable), Smile with the Rising Sun (Joel and Jill on a 28 Cutwater), and Charmed (Mike and Mary on a 36 Albin). Even though we're stuck in Mackinaw City, we're sitting here with 15 other looper boats, making the time pass rather quickly.

Midway into the week, a fellow looper, Julie on Halfling (C-Dory 26), invited all the loopers in the area to docktails where we all chatted about the possible weather window the following day. We were 1 of 2 boats that decided to stay put (6 boats left) due to our cruising speed and the size of the weather window (we wouldn’t arrive to our destination by the time more inclement weather arrived, so we opted to stay put). It’s just one of the ways that you’re never really alone when you do the loop. It’s so nice because (assuming you’re going in the traditional counter-clockwise direction) you’re always with other loopers. The sense of community on the loop is incredibly special and one of a kind. To pass more time while we've been waiting out the weather in Mackinaw City, we enjoyed a date night at the local movie theatre and watched Top Gun Maverick. It was incredible! 

Overall this week has been so restorative for us. We’ve been loving our new StarLink and have been working non-stop from the time we get up to the evening with a break for a mid-afternoon run where we soak up this low humidity, temperate weather. Having easy access to the shore is one of the benefits of being on a dock that we really enjoy. We’ve caught up in so much of the behind-the-scenes work that we’re able to relish in having clear minds.

This week we celebrated 6 Months on the Great Loop!

With the big milestone, we wanted to film a video with our cumulative expenses, stats, and

your questions

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We’re doing another Q&A, so please send us your questions to [email protected].

This Week.

We are currently in overdrive weather watch mode! We’ve been at the Mackinaw City Marina for 8 days and are planning the next leg of our journey which requires heading into Lake Michigan and doing a 90 degree turn… The course should be fairly easy as we watch out for fishing nets, but the 90 degree turn means we need to be particularly careful with our weather as we can have wind or waves on an ideal direction of the boat and then not. It’s something we’ve been very mindful about, but with our easterly winds, we will be taking advantage of hugging the coastline to hopefully have a smooth cruise. Please send us positive thoughts this week as leap and we venture into Lake Michigan!

“I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience, and to respect the fury of nature.”-Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist

 Videos. 

In case you missed it, here are all the vlogs we’ve released since our last Sunday Summary:

VENTURING into the ATLANTIC OCEAN on the Great Loop (Cape May to Atlantic City)

90 miles on the Atlantic into New York Harbor (not our favorite cruise)

NO MORE OCEAN CRUISING! (Entering Staten Island, New York on the Loop)

 Blogs. 

In case you missed it, here are all the blogs we’ve released since our last Sunday Summary:

• August Monthly Expenses on America’s Great Loop

 Monthly Stats. 

As August has come to a close, here is our Nebo travel log. We're so happy that Nebo was able to record our last month of cruising even though we were in Canada and it wasn't actively broadcasting!

Nights at a marina dock: 10

Nights on a marina mooring ball: 0

Nights on a free dock: 0

Nights on a paid dock: 1

Nights on a free lock wall: 2

Nights on a paid lock wall: 1

Nights at anchor: 17

 Updates. 

After having a fabulous experience at the America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) Spring Rendezvous in Norfolk, Virginia this May, we’ll be attending the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous in Paris Landing State Park in Tennessee this October! We’re excited to announce that we’ll be giving a presentation on Anchoring and Loving It! and are so excited to share our love of anchoring with prospective loopers. Some of our favorite days on the loop have been spent on anchor. If you’re planning on attending the rendezvous (I believe there are still spots available), make sure to stop by PIVOT and see the crew. Our welcome committee (Ollie) will be ready to greet you with a big smile!In preparation for our presentation, we would love to hear what questions you have about anchoring. Email us your anchoring questions to [email protected]. 

 Great Loop Recommendations. 

We are looking for recommendations for destinations and spots along our Great Loop to go see, visit, and enjoy. It's been a real challenge for us to keep track and stay organized with the many wonderful recommendations we've received thus far. So we've created a Google Form to help us stay organized. Thank you to everyone sending us recommendations so far! We really appreciate it.

 Gratitudes. 

This past week we got to reconnect with two of our friends who travel internationally full-time, The Passport Couple. After a month of not chatting with them, we got the opportunity to catch up and it was so rejuvenating to the soul. A 13-hour time difference and constantly changing schedules don’t get in the way of friendship. We’re grateful for the incredible people we have in our lives and are looking forward to catching up with several other friends in the upcoming weeks. Use this as a friendly reminder to call someone you love ❤️

Peace and love,Jenn + Elliot