FAQ’s

One big question we are getting as people find out about Selkie is, “Where is Selkie?”

Selkie is on the East Coast in Baltimore.

“Why is Selkie in Baltimore?”

The simplest explanation is that our plan is to do America’s Great Loop.

What is the America’s Great Loop (otherwise known as “The Loop”)?

It is essentially a circumnavigation in a boat of your choice of roughly one-third of the eastern US, with some Canadian waters thrown in. The people who do it are called “Loopers.”

Wait, you say, “How can you circumnavigate only part of a continent?”

Well… believe it or not, you can, and many have. I’ll bet you didn’t know the eastern third of the US was surrounded by water, but it is. Let’s say you start in Florida like many people do.

This is the Loop:

Florida coast to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to the Hudson River to the Erie Canal to the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario up into Canada to the Trent-Severn Waterway to Lake Huron back into the US to Lake Michigan to the Chicago River to the Illinois River to the Mississippi River to the Ohio River to the Tennessee River to the Tombigbee River to the Gulf Coast back to Florida.

Another question we get is, “Gee, that sounds like a lot. How long is it?”

In time, it’s a minimum of 145 cruising days. In distance, its several thousand miles, depending on where you go and how much you wander along the way.

“How safe it?”

Well, lets compare this arduous journey to say… climbing Mount Everest:

For each year:	Mount Everest	The Loop
Number of people who finish it	800	150
Number of people who die trying	5	0

Even though a fraction of the people who climb Everest do the Loop, no one dies doing the Loop. That’s not to say there are trials like storms, dangerous reefs, mechanical failures, or other challenges that might face Loopers, but it certainly is safer than climbing Mount Everest. And more to our talents.

“When do you plan to do this?”

We will start this spring by taking Selkie north and west, eventually winding up in Mackinaw City, Michigan this summer. We plan to explore the Northern Great Lakes this summer and fall, before putting Selkie on the hard for the winter in Northern Michigan. The following year, we will put her back in the water, and in the fall, continue our journey and complete the loop.

We hope, during this journey, to see many of our friends and family. We will be visiting the following states and provinces:

Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.

We will keep you posted on where we are, so if we are nearby, please reach out to us and let us know!

For more information on the Loop, please visit the America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association Website.

Stay tuned.