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Old 10-17-2018, 08:53 AM   #1
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Our first cruise

We arrived in Chattanooga Saturday after our first real “cruise,” a 2152-mile delivery run that we started on the upper Chesapeake and finished in about 63 days, counting weather delays. We wanted to have the boat close to our home this winter, allowing us to finish the refit and upgrades we have planned.

On one hand, this was a terrific adventure. We learned a lot about the boat (it’s simply fantastic for two people to cruise) and ourselves (we’re an amazing team and can do pretty much whatever we commit to). On the other hand, it was a slog—a daily get-up-and-go if the the weather’s good push. (The pace was dictated by a consulting gig I’m starting soon and wanting to spend as little of October as possible on the Great Lakes.) We had many great stops and took a few days to explore places like Chicago and Killarney, Ontario, but wish we’d been able to see and experience much more along the way.

With the boat no longer 800 miles from home, we’ll be able to use it much more, fine-tune our skills and finish the many projects we have planned. At some point—maybe a year from now—we’ll head down the Tenn Tom and eventually back to the Chesapeake at a leisurely pace and then perhaps up to Nova Scotia. Completing the loop won’t be a priority, but we’ll take credit for it when it happens.

Somebody organized a group to meet us as we pulled in to Chattanooga’s riverfront the other day and we both got lumps in our throats as we arrived home.
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Old 10-17-2018, 09:48 AM   #2
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Congrats on a successful 'delivery run' back to TN
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Old 10-17-2018, 11:14 AM   #3
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WTG Ian! Must feel good having that trip under your belt.

Now you've got some real River Cred!
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Old 10-17-2018, 11:18 AM   #4
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Congrats!!!! The beginning of a long term adventure....
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Old 10-17-2018, 11:23 AM   #5
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Congrats on your trip. We did part of that bringing our boat home from Virginia 2 years ago.
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Old 10-17-2018, 12:19 PM   #6
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Way to go! Congrats on the successful trip.
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Old 10-17-2018, 01:56 PM   #7
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Cool trip! ��
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Old 10-17-2018, 03:42 PM   #8
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Excellent adventure Ian,congrats!
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Old 10-17-2018, 04:35 PM   #9
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Sounds like you've earned a glass of really good bourbon!
WTG Ian!
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Old 10-17-2018, 05:22 PM   #10
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What an amazing river system to enable your voyage.Well done!
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Old 10-17-2018, 06:04 PM   #11
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Great trip. A few questions. How big is your vessel? How far is it to Chattanooga from the TenTom?
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Old 10-17-2018, 07:44 PM   #12
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Thanks, all.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BruceK View Post
What an amazing river system to enable your voyage.Well done!
Truly a remarkable system. I’m in awe of the visionaries who built the canals, dams and locks that tie it all together.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark P View Post
Great trip. A few questions. How big is your vessel? How far is it to Chattanooga from the TenTom?
44 feet, with 14’10” beam and 4’7” draft. It’s comfortable for extended cruising but I would not want a draft much deeper for the loop. We actually got stuck in the middle of a channel on the Trent Severn.

Chattanooga is about 250 miles upstream of Yellow Creek, the gateway to the Tenn-Tom.
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Old 10-17-2018, 09:16 PM   #13
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Sounds like you had a great trip. Hard to beat a cruise through the heart land.

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Old 02-19-2019, 02:32 AM   #14
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What a great trip - I can walk from coast to coast where I live in 1/2 a day so I am awe struck by some of the stuff I read on here. I can imagine what an adventure it will be when you don’t have to have an eye on the time.
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Old 02-19-2019, 05:54 AM   #15
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What a first / delivery cruise!!
Congrats on the "new " and great looking boat.
Would love to hear more about the trip, unexpected occurrences and lessons learned.
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Old 02-19-2019, 07:41 AM   #16
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Excellent! Congrats on completing your journey. I second Bacchus' comment and would like to hear more about the trip, what you learned, etc.
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Old 02-19-2019, 08:18 AM   #17
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Old 02-19-2019, 01:13 PM   #18
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Thanks, all.

The number one takeaway, as I mentioned earlier, is to allow more time. That will be easy enough for the next half of the Loop since we won’t be on a delivery timetable, no matter how loose.

Other thoughts:

—spend more time anchoring vs at marinas
—have a working dinghy for exploring. (Our 9-ft Achilles doesn’t cut it for the amount of running around we like to do,)
—be sure of the areas your electronic charts cover before you start. Our plotters’ C-maps don’t cover Canada and we didn’t notice that until we were approaching the Trent-Severn. Fortunately, we have Aqua Map on two iPads and had no loss of coverage.
—finish the creature-comfort and cosmetic upgrades. Now that we’ve been aboard for many weeks at a time, we have an idea what’s needed to make the boat our home.
—lastly, we learned that we have a great cruising boat. It performed beautifully in all conditions and is the perfect size for us.
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Old 02-19-2019, 04:00 PM   #19
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Congratulations on a successful and sounds like exciting adventure.
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