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Old 01-28-2022, 01:49 PM   #19
Capt Ray
Senior Member
 
City: Green Cove Springs FL
Vessel Name: Shellerina.com
Vessel Model: Mainship 390
Join Date: Jul 2020
Posts: 220
All good advice by others. I'll add one more idea: Looper Crawls

I have been signed up to 2 other forums like this one. All of them are excellent. The AGLCA forum (members only) is excellent, they would welcome you as members. They have 2-3 "Rendezvous" events each year. Generally, spring in VA, and Fall in AL... where most of the Looper fleets are. This month they added a third one in Ft Myers due to popular demand that basically doubled up the geographical content of the Fall Rendezvous.

A bit more than half of the attendees at these conference-like events are "Planners" folks with or without boats who are planning to do The Loop at some point in the next few years.

One of the most popular "events" or parts of the Rendezvous are the "Looper Crawls". Usually a dozen or more Loopers open up their boat for "visiting hours" where you can tour several different types of cruisers/boats. There was also a break out Panel Discussion featuring 4 couples who each had different types of boats, which we were a part of to tell about our Mainship 390. Many planners said the cost and time invested in the Rendezvous was worth it for the Looper Crawls alone.

Yacht Insurance was another popular break out session... given by one of the brokers who specialize in yacht insurance... a fellow who is a USCG Master himself.

As the registrations for these things fill up quickly, I would recommend signing up to be a member and watch closely so you can pounce on the online registration when it comes. We were originally rejected, but then due to cancellations, we got "in" with room at the hotel/lodge. Then we were informed that a slip opened up too!!! So we obviously simply stayed on the boat. In other words, don't give up if you do not initially get "in".

I have not yet been to a "TrawlerFest" ... (different organization) but I hear those are great too!

Good Luck!
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