The Great Loop Experience - From Concept to Completion A Practical Guide for Planning, Preparing and Executing Your Great Loop Adventure: A Practical ... & Executing Your Great Loop Adventure - Softcover

"This trip resulted in their first book, Reflection on America's Great Loop, a personal, light-hearted, real-life account of the couple's travels while circumnavigating the waters of the United States and Canada. Their newest book, The Great Loop Experience--from Concept to Completion, is a comprehensive guide written to help others plan, prepare, and successfully execute their own Great Loop adventures. It also addresses the questions that these authors/lecturers are most frequently asked by future 'Loopers.' Some of the many topics covered include: Selecting and Equipping Your Boat, Choosing Your Route, Financial Considerations and Trip Costs, Managing Your Onboard Life, Vessel Security, Customs and Border Crossings, Boating Protocol, Locking Procedures, Safely Negotiating the Waterways, Open-Water Crossings, and Great Stops along the Way. This how-to guide will not only inform and educate you, but also hopes to be an inspiration for all those who want to one day make this wonderful journey! The GreatLoop Experience definitely has the information you will want so that you may confidently and knowledgeably cast off your lines for your own exhilarating Great Loop adventure!"--Provided by publisher.

George Hospodar first began his nautical life by purchasing a 14-foot sailboat, Rum Dum, in 1970. His wife, Pat, joined him in 1971, and together they have cruised more than 24,000 miles aboard their two sailboats, Adventuress and Temptress, and on their motor yacht, Reflection. For 37 years, they extensively explored the coastal waters from Nantucket to Norfolk including Chesapeake Bay, and for several years they were cruising editors for Waterway Guide. Since 2008, they have traveled the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway a number of times, and have completed the America s Great Loop waterway trip through the U.S. and Canada. George graduated from the New Jersey Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science and spent a majority of his career as a consultant in the design, programming, and installation of financial systems for the banking industry. He is a past commodore of the Bristol Sailing Club of Bay Head, New Jersey, was the owner of a marine canvas business, served on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Marine Trades Association, and is a past president of the Chesapeake Marine Canvas Fabricators Association. George has been a 100-ton U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain for more than 20 years. Patricia Hospodar holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from Rutgers University, a Master of Arts degree in Education from Seton Hall University, and has done additional post-graduate study at Rider University s Westminster Choir College. She retired after 36 years of service as a music educator in the Irvington (NJ) Public School System, where she was the community and Essex County Teacher of the Year and an award-winning middle school choral director whose choirs performed in a wide variety of venues, and in numerous choral festivals and competitions in Canada and the U.S. George and Pat are members of the Marathon Yacht Club and are lifetime members of the America s Great Loop Cruisers Association. They currently divide their time between their home on Barnegat Bay in Brick, New Jersey, and their adopted home aboard Reflection in Banana Bay Marina in Marathon, Florida."