Would like to hear from anyone who has done the Mobile to Chicago portion in a keelboat. I'm interested in knowing how much is motor and how much is sail. How often the mast must go up and down. Also the strength of river currents Dave
Great Circle
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Do you know about the association?
Go to http://www.greatloop.com/ and learn about the America Great Loop Association. I joined for a year because I was thinking about doing it, but never fulfilled that dream. They have newsletters and a directory that is packed with information.
Go to http://www.greatloop.com/ and learn about the America Great Loop Association. I joined for a year because I was thinking about doing it, but never fulfilled that dream. They have newsletters and a directory that is packed with information.
Up river
Doing it upstream may be a problem. Would certainly depend on the time of year and luck. The Mississippi currents can get really tough. In a five or six knot sailboat, you may be traveling backwards a bunch. Problem is the river has to much watershed, it can rain several hundred miles away and effect you a couple of days later. If you have any choice do it the other direction, up the Atlantic coast and down river.
Doing it upstream may be a problem. Would certainly depend on the time of year and luck. The Mississippi currents can get really tough. In a five or six knot sailboat, you may be traveling backwards a bunch. Problem is the river has to much watershed, it can rain several hundred miles away and effect you a couple of days later. If you have any choice do it the other direction, up the Atlantic coast and down river.
Great Circle - Down and Around
I made the trip from Joliete IL to Mobile - Downstream - in a O'Day 240 with and 8-hp Honda 4-stroke outboard. It was in September and currents on the Mississippi were and are definitely too strong to have gone upstream with this boat and engine. In fact, for the last real marina, south of St. Louis at Kimmswick MO., we made a practice landing about 3/4 mile upstream of it, in order to judge how much to allow for current - knowing that, if we miscalculated, we would be unable to come back upstream to it. As it turned out, on our landing, we caught the very downstream end of the last dock. This is just one example of many places on the Mississippi with strong currents. One of the wildest rides was where the Missouri River joined the Missiissippi! Good Luck; Be careful and Enjoy the Trip!
I made the trip from Joliete IL to Mobile - Downstream - in a O'Day 240 with and 8-hp Honda 4-stroke outboard. It was in September and currents on the Mississippi were and are definitely too strong to have gone upstream with this boat and engine. In fact, for the last real marina, south of St. Louis at Kimmswick MO., we made a practice landing about 3/4 mile upstream of it, in order to judge how much to allow for current - knowing that, if we miscalculated, we would be unable to come back upstream to it. As it turned out, on our landing, we caught the very downstream end of the last dock. This is just one example of many places on the Mississippi with strong currents. One of the wildest rides was where the Missouri River joined the Missiissippi! Good Luck; Be careful and Enjoy the Trip!
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