Honey, Let's Get a Boat... A Cruising Adventure of America's Great Loop

by Ron Stob, Eva Stob

This is the story of a couple's travels on a forty-foot trawler cruising 6300 miles and 145 locks around the eastern part of North America known as America's Great Loop or the Great Circle Cruise. Their nautical ineptitude is evident from the beginning, but pulling from their personal and collective strengths, the authors overcome doubt, a lack of experience, and real and imagined horrors. The odyssey is told the way life hands out its adventures -- sometimes humorously, sometimes tragically, but always memorably. The writing is light and appealing, but there is a serious strain running through the book for those who relish history and descriptions of the landscape. Astute and attentive to detail, they chronicled events and kept an account of expenses, equipment and charting. As a result, the appendix/guidebook is worth the price of the book for anyone interested in planning their cruise. Topics include necessary charts and guidebooks, information on locks, setting an itinerary, resource addresses and websites, details on equipment and the best place to be educated about boating. The book has full-color inserts with black and white photographs interspersed throughout.

304 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

Reviews

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It was the first time in boating history that a boat part broke in front of a marina that had the part" (153).

How true is that statement. This book is a bit dated but if you're interested in the pipe dream of one day doing The Loop, you'll enjoy it. I enjoyed the first chapters the most as they got ready to set out. There's a lot of history that Stob provides along with way at each stop. Like I said, that probably is a bit dated.. (He keeps referencing Hugo as the big hurricane.)

Fun read but I wouldn't use it as a guide.

[Camile Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you heard of The Great Loop? It is a 6000+ mile trip by water, around the eastern part of the United States and southern Canada (as shown in my second photo). My husband and I have a dream of one day completing this boat trip that takes most people about one year to finish.

This book is the travel log of a couple who went on the Great Loop adventure back in 1994. Rob chronicles their 10-month journey starting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, up the Atlantic coast, through the Great Lakes and back down via the Mississippi River. Rob and his wife Eva are from California, and have only one week of boating experience before they start their trip.

Since this book is almost 30 years old, it is a little bit dated, but I think it is still very helpful for anyone planning to do this trek. Certainly, the costs mentioned in the book can be completely ignored, but most of the route itself should be the same. Rob adds some humour to his writing to keep the log from getting too dry. Thankfully for them, they didn't have too many mishaps along the way, but this made the journal a little less exciting for the reader. However, I believe this non-fiction book is meant to be for reference for potential “Loopers”more than for entertainment.

The is definitely one of many books I would like to have on hand for reference while journeying through The Great Loop adventure.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great travel book if you're interested in doing the great loop or are curious what long term boat cruising looks like. A good travel narrative, plus a detailed appendix if you're actually planning a loop.

[Judi Pelton · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like a personal trip log than a book. Though helpful to review to get a feel for unanticipated things to expect on The Great Loop. Helpful resources in back. Felt like doing research than reading for pleasure, but glad i did it.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was interested in learning about the Great Loop the book was a bit tedious as there seemed to be a lot of repetition in the events. I enjoyed learning about local history.

[Kristen Brennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband wants to get a boat and eventually wants to do the Great Loop so I thought this was a good read to fully understand what to expect from this type of adventure. I loved hearing about all of the places they stopped, the people they met and the food they ate. But on top of that, many things went wrong on the boat and it’s important to hear that part of the story too.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across a description of this book online and thought it would be enjoyable, so I purchased it. It was very interesting, about a married couples journal of a boat trip, doing the " Great Loop." I would love to do this cruise, but reading the book will be as close as I will ever get.

The book was interesting and not technical, no charts, graphs, or latitudes. A travel-log, what we did , how we did it and where we went. A nice light refreshing book.

[Archie McCain · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, without any qualifications or reservations, this is an excellent book in the genre of real-life travel. Think books like: The Dove, A Walk in the Woods, Travels with Charley. So if you enjoy real-life travel books that are typically written in the first person as with a journal of a trip, then you will definitely enjoy this book.

But for a subset of readers this book has been inspirational and has spawned a sub-culture of boaters that have become known as loopers. Interest in this book and the trip that the author's took was so high that the author's subsequently formed an association http://www.greatloop.org/ for people who were interested in traveling "the loop". Interest continued to build and now there are twice a year, spring and fall, meetings of loopers. The Stobs were not the first people to make the loop, but their well written book clearly struck a chord with many people. The magic of this book seems to be with people who are approaching a point in their life where they have the time and resources to have their own adventure, or at least to dream of their own adventure, while following the path first described in this book.

[Karen Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband is very interested in cruising The Great Loop, so we both read this iconic book to see what to expect. The book is interesting and recounts the Stob's year long odyssey describing ports and towns visited, problems encountered, scary moments and fun times. The appendix is filled with tons of pertinent information such as planning your itinerary, recommended guidebooks, where to take boater education classes, budgets, choosing and outfitting a boat etc. We are still researching whether we will attempt the loop, but this is the perfect first book to read on the subject of looping.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Well written and their story is interesting. It was interesting to learn about the great loop journey as well as the unique aspects of each place (i.e., culture, geology, etc.). Good read.

[Mom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!!! It's my dream dome day to buy a boat with Trent and Marilyn and do this trip together. What fun times ahead!!!!!

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this because my sister and her husband are about to follow in the authors' path, taking a boat around the great loop. Learned a lot!