Vancouver Hybrid Club Night - A Great Loop Adventure

Vancouver Hybrid Club Night - A Great Loop Adventure © Bluewater Cruising Association

Heather Marshall
Scottish Cultural Centre, 8886 Hudson St., Vancouver
08 Nov 2023 1900h - 2130h
Members $5 / Non-Members $10

The Great Loop (also called America's Great Loop) is a 6,000 mile continuous waterway involving the eastern third of the United States, including Lower Canada and Florida.

Bill and Caroline Ehmann, generally known as retired J-36 sailors, then bought a Provincial 42' Lobster boat named Friendly Cove in Smith Falls, south of Ottawa in March 2014. Their Great Loop Adventure started on the Rideau Canal at the end of July 2014. They completed the first half of the Loop, travelling on the Canadian canals, the Great Lakes, the Great American rivers, and the Gulf of Mexico, ending up in the centre of Florida by the end of November 2014.

After a brief return to Victoria for Christmas, they returned to Florida in early March 2015. The Loop took them up to New York state via the Intercoastal Waterway. There was a brief blue water experience off the shores of New Jersey. Then up the Hudson River, the Erie Canal and finally ending the trip in Cleveland at the end of May.

This presentation will cover the highlights of their adventures on the Great Loop and the unique aspects of inland water navigation. Come to hear about cruising areas which are largely unknown to Canadians, and even Americans, accessed through rivers, canals, lakes and ninety-five locks and often six feet of water below the water line!

Note: Payment is required for virtual attendance via Zoom - see below.

Hybrid Meeting Format

In-Person Attendees:

• For those attending in-person, the format will be very much the same as "normal"
• Doors open at 7:00 and meeting starts at 7:30pm
• Cost: $5/Members, $10/Non-Members

Virtual club nights (via Zoom) enabled BCA to continue our monthly meetings and presentations throughout the pandemic, with an added bonus of expanding our community to members and non-members across the globe. With the return to in-person meetings, BCA has continued to provide a virtual component to our club nights, as it has significant benefits to our membership. This however comes at a cost for the purchase of cameras, audio equipment and the lost revenue due to a decrease of in-person attendance used to off-set venue costs.

Zoom meeting invitation:

• Click here to register for and purchase your virtual meeting ticket and receive the Zoom meeting invitation.
• Please note that you must be signed in to the BCA website to get the member price.
• Cost: Members - $5.00 per connected device; Non-Members, $10 per connected device.

This article has been provided by the courtesy of Bluewater Cruising Association.