Scratching the Surface

About the Book

After a lifetime of sailing, Josh and Vicki Jones had sold their sailboat and were wondering what might be an interesting thing to do next. Digging around on the Internet, Josh found a lot of information on canals and waterways, and the concept of a Great Loop voyage stretching from Florida in the south to the Canadian canal system and the northern edge of the Great Lakes, across Lake Michigan to Chicago, then down the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico, across to the western coast of Florida, then through Florida itself via Lake Okeechobee and its canal to complete the loop. Undeterred by lack if a boat or of the money to buy one, Josh and Vicki made a plan and drew up a budget. By working a few years past Josh’s retirement date and saving his pension it looked just about affordable. And it just about was. Flying into Miami and catching the Greyhound bus to Fort Lauderdale they set out to find and fit out a boat. That alone was an interesting experience. The next 6,500 miles on the water provided many more, some in solitude, many in the company of other ‘Loopers’, the indefatigable band of boaters, many no longer young, who ply the inland waterways freely offering help and friendship. Confronted by monster barge tows, squeezing under bridges, replacing both 260hp engines, fighting waves and currents, it was 10 months of non-stop action.

About the Author

Josh and Vicki built their first boat in a dilapidated garage in England. They then married and had three daughters, which necessitated a larger boat. When the children were 7, 9, and 11 years old, they decided to take them to visit Granny; this required a yet larger boat, as Granny lived in Australia. The visit was a success but a mishap when they were on the way home to England, sailing south after a brief detour to visit Alaska, ended the voyage. The title of their first book, Rescued by the Canberra, summarizes the end of that adventure. They then emigrated to Australia and settled in Adelaide. After sailing extensively in the local gulf waters they took part in the 1996 Sydney to Hobart race and the 1999 two-handed Melbourne to Osaka race. They later sailed to New Caledonia and Vanuatu and were subsequently intending to cruise in the Whitsunday islands but were hit by a miniature cyclone just north of Bundaberg, which blew the mainsail completely out of the boat, after which they felt that sailing was losing its charm. They both worked in the Information Technology industry, Vicki as a Project Manager and Josh as a Technical Author. Vicki now runs her own bookkeeping business, manages their retirement fund, and buys property in her spare time. Josh has retired and finds it exhausting watching her.