Days 221- 222 - Class of 2016 — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $75, daily high temperature 73°

To say it was a blowy night would be an understatement. At last nights Gold Looper event we made a run for it back to the boat just as the winds and deluge hit. This morning Robert and Brenda on Over Ice shared a tale of terror. As the storm hit around 9:00 pm Robert heard loud cracking sounds. The welds holding the dock together had failed under the pressure of the storm and their boat careened into another boat. Robert tied off several lines to secure the dock section. CL was fine. No worries.

Norfolk has chosen to display mermaids on many of their street corners featuring talents of local artists.

Today’s Looper seminars provided details on the trip from Norfolk through the Chesapeake and up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal to Canada. On Wednesday the seminars provided detail on the trip along the Trent Severn Canal through Canada.

Here is the entire herd. 260 Loopers class of 2016. John is holding the banner on the left side. Dale and Andy are half way back on the left side.

I had a busy day as a boat broker. I attended the seminar on “How to select the ideal boat for the Loop.” It was target rich with “wanna be” Loopers. We had CL on the Looper Crawl which is an opportunity for Loopers and future Loopers to climb aboard a wide variety of boats currently doing the loop. In addition to promoting CL I was also promoting the trawler B to B. I have 50 copies of the B to B listing and have some on Reflection and screen every visitor onboard CL. The AGLCA makes it easy because “wanna be” Loopers have a blue badge. The conversation starts with “how far along are you on your Loop plans? Have you bought your boat? That separates the prospects from the suspects.

The owners of B to B the Formosa 40′ trawler came by to visit after they toured the battleship USS Wisconsin that is nearby. I explained that trying to get potential buyers to take the ferry across the Elizabeth River to see their boat was proving a bit difficult. At that exact moment someone started waving the B to B flyer that Kirstyn Weber designed and said “how can I see this boat?” The amount of beautiful woodwork on B to B is beyond description.

The battleship USS Wisconsin

Bow view of the whiskey.

Off we went to the ferry and had a good showing. B to B is an older boat but the owners Michel and Sylvie have maintained her better than most. At $59,900 this boat should have sold ten times already.

Photo of the day.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“Never break the neutrality of a port or place, but never consider as neutral any place from whence an attack is allowed to be made.”
Horatio Nelson

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté KB (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. He was noted for his inspirational leadership, superb grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics, all of which resulted in a number of decisive naval victories, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars (1797–1815). He was significantly wounded several times in combat, losing the sight of his right eye during the campaign in Corsica in 1793 and later the amputation of his right arm in the unsuccessful attempt to conquer Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Atlantic’s Canary Islands off northwest Africa in 1797. He was shot and killed during his final pivotal victory at the naval Battle of Trafalgar against the combined Napoleonic French and Royal Spanish fleets off the southwest coast of Spain in 1805.