GL: Great Loop, on a Sailboat

[bill fiero]

     We did the Great Loop in a 20' Pacific Seacraft Flicka.  We could step
the mast ourselves in 15 minutes and only dropped it for the Erie Canal and
for the Illinois River from Chicago to the Mississippi.  We sailed probably
50% of the time (being a small boat, if there was no other traffic, we could
tack [if necessary] even in the ICW stretches).  It was a marvelous trip, and
we would encourage sailors to take the trip -- and also encourage any cruisers
to opt for the smallest boat in which you can be comfortable.  We would leave
harbors in our little Flicka when others were coming in for shelter (the myth
of big boat being safer is just that -- myth -- there are many circumstances
when the smaller boat is preferable in heavy weather).  Also, the economy of
sailing (or our little diesel engine if we couldn't use the sail) made the
trip inexpensive (relatively), anchorages in shallow coves easy, and any
maintaining simple.  If you want to see a big smile on my wife's face remind
her of that marvelous day we sailed down the Mississippi, with a steady 10k
wind aft and strong current under the keel, a white 'bone in our teeth', and
our color-filled drifter ballooning out ahead.