Looper-palooza 2023

Tsali & Jacque Bentley

Platinum Loopers

Platinum Loopers Tsali and Jacque Bentley crossed their wake in August, 2022 and again in October, 2024.  Thus far, they have cruised over 15,000 nautical miles on their trawler.  As lifelong sailors, they owned numerous sailboats over the years and Tsali sailed across the North Atlantic Ocean.  After joining the AGLCA in 2019, they attended their first Rendezvous.  The Looper Crawl provided the perfect showcase in determining the Looper boat to best fit their needs – a Mainship 400 trawler named COMPASS ROSE.  Tsali and Jacque still maintain their dirt home in the Appalachian Mountains of north Georgia.  COMPASS ROSE makes her home port in north Alabama on the Tennessee River at Goose Pond Colony Resort & Marina where Tsali and Jacque serve as Harbor Hosts.  The Bentleys were recognized by the AGLCA as the 2022 True North Harbor Host of the Year and the 2024 Ron & Eva Stob Volunteer of the Year award winners.

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Brent Bowlin

Gold Looper, Great Loop Yacht Sales

The Bowlin Family (Brent, Sarah, Mary Grace, and Miller) completed their Loop in May 2021 aboard their Cruisers 4450, Light & Salty. After crossing their wake, the family wasn't quite ready to give up boatlife. They've since spent time visiting some of their favorite Loop destinations, and most recently exploring the Tennessee River.

 

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Chris & Alyse Caldwell

Ask Captain Chris

Captains Chris & Alyse Caldwell are USCG 100 ton Masters and Cruising Coaches who offer personal boat training online or onboard your boat anywhere! The Caldwells help build your cruising confidence with hands-on training, with their AskCaptainChris.com training videos, through 2-day, in-person seminars filled with tons of tips for the boater who loves learning and now remote learning using FaceTime and Zoom. If you have additional questions for Captains Chris or Alyse, please email them at [email protected]. 
 

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Tom Corrigan

Gold Looper

Tom is a Gold Looper who traveled the Great Loop with several side trips beginning in the fleet of 2020 and crossing his wake 19 months and almost 8,000 miles later in September of 2021. 

Tom and his yellow Labrador, Hank, began their pandemic-enabled Great Loop adventure from the Hudson River just above New York City. Making a not-so-typical looping boat, a 30-foot Searay Sundancer their home and remote office, Tom and Hank traversed 126 canal locks, 4 of the 5 Great Lakes, the infamous Gulf Crossing and even a vacation trip to the Bahamas. Every Looper has a personal “why” behind the adventurous spirit motivating them to consider such a lifestyle. If you see Tom and Hank at the conference, ask them about their story and how and why they raised ~$100,000 for rare pediatric cancer patients around the country as they traveled the waterways of America’s Great Loop.

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Greg & Susan Costa

Platinum Loopers

Greg and Susan Costa traveled over 15,000 miles on Lucky Me from 2016 to 2022. Their journey included The Bahamas, Canada and twice around the Great Loop. When not planning their next long-distance adventure, they can be found enjoying the beautiful waters of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

They wrote “Cruising the Bahamas With the Lucky Me” to give boaters a simple book to assist with planning a trip to The Bahamas. Their book has been well received with over 25,000 copies (e-book & print) distributed in the past five years.  The Costas are well known in the boating community and are often featured speakers on The Bahamas before major boating groups including AGLCA, Trawlerfest and Seven Seas Cruising Association. Follow their next adventure on Facebook at: Lucky Me Looping.

 

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Robert & Kay Creech

Gold Loopers

Kay and Robert Creech have been AGLCA members since 2007.  The Creeches started cruising to Florida with friends in 2000 and have been boating in coastal North Carolina since 1968.  They cruised The Great Loop from 2008 – 2009 on their 43’ 1990 Jefferson Sundeck, C-Life, which they purchased in 2006.  The Creeches cruised approximately 32,000 miles on C-Life, including The Great Loop, Chesapeake Bay, and Southport to Florida.  They won the True North Harbor Host of the Year Award in 2012 and 2019. They received the Ron and Eva Stab Volunteer of the Year Award in 2021 and also served on the Advisory Council for AGLCA.  The Creeches are Harbor Hosts in Southport, NC, AICW 309.  Robert started doing chart review in 2010 in Marathon, Florida, using flip charts, and still presents chart reviews and other topics at AGLCA events.

 

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Dave & Claudia Fuller

Platinum Loopers

Dave and Claudia sold their home, bought a boat, had an estate sale, retired, and then moved aboard Still Waters II in June of 2015. Their initial quest was to do the Loop one time and find a home along the waterway. They completed the Loop in February 2017, notching 9,950 miles travelled, but failed to find a home. This necessitated a second Loop. The Platinum Loop was completed in January 2019 but again they failed to find a home.  Putting house-hunting on the back burner, they next set off to do the Down East Loop. Figuring their best option for a home was somewhere on the Inland Rivers, they spent 2020 searching the Tennessee River.  But, once again, they failed to find a home.  In 2021, they decided to take the Ohio River up to Pittsburgh.  In 2022, they took the boat to Texas.  Still Waters II has been in all 5 Great Lakes, 3 countries (5 providences of Canada), every state east of the Mississippi River and 7 states west of the river.  Oh, the quest for a home continues..........

 

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Elliot Schoenfeld & Jennifer Johnson

Loopers In Progress

Jenn and Elliot are known as Scho & Jo on their YouTube Channel. They are two young, currently In Progress Loopers who decided to do the Loop on a budget with no prior boating experience. To gain anchoring confidence, they planned to anchor most nights before leaving for the Loop to learn first-hand whether it would be right for them. During that time, they learned what to do and what not to do from personal experience. The best part is that they share the highs, lows, and everything in between in their daily videos on YouTube.

 

 

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Jay Kraft

Trawlers Great Lakes

Water and boats have always been a part of Jay’s timeline.  Hailing from Traverse City, Michigan, his boating career began by pushing his 9’ pram off the beach of an inland lake in Michigan as a child and running a GunBoat 48 on the East Coast and Caribbean has enhanced that timeline.  As the founder of Bay Breeze Yacht Sales and Trawlers Great Lakes, Jay has also been the Nordic Tug dealer for the Midwest since 2002; trawlers have been the focus since then. Jay remains actively involved in the day-to-day and routine maintenance of the Trawlers Great Lakes fleet while sharing his knowledge with clients on how they can save time and money by taking on vessel maintenance themselves.

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Cindy Lewis

Sterling & Associates

Cindy is a marine industry veteran with over 38 years of industry experience. Early in her career, she worked for a large sailboat dealer in the Midwest, moving to a marketing position at Pearson Yachts in Rhode Island and eventually becoming a successful yacht broker and moving to the Chesapeake. Cindy’s career path took her into boating magazine advertising sales and the publishing side of the business for several years. This opportunity opened the doors to many dealers and manufacturers and continued product knowledge. In 2002, Cindy became involved in the marine lending side of the business. She is from Annapolis, MD where she keeps her center console boat and enjoys the Chesapeake Bay, Severn River and local tributaries.

 

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Ken Marks

Marks Marine Insurance Agency

Marks Marine Insurance Agency (MMI) is recognized as one of the largest, and one of the very last, Independently owned marine insurance agencies. The agency’s focus on its client’s satisfaction, not that of shareholder or board. MMI’s primary goal is to build long term clients who can depend on our experience both in marine and insurance and boat ownership. Ken has been in the insurance industry since 1988. Starting into the Marine Insurance in 1989. Additionally, from 1990-2015 ken was involved as a yacht broker as well as owning a Boat dealership for 5 years. In this capacity he has been on well over 100 marine surveys. He has been recognized by many Insurance Companies for his expertise in the boat market.  He has brought to the forefront new underwriting concerns caused by new power drives, and electronic components of newer vessels.

Ken is a frequent speaker at The Great Loop events, and various owner’s rendezvous and cruising clubs. Ken was introduced into boating at the young age of 7 years old. His father owned a 28ft sailboat and bought Ken his first boat, a 7ft hard-shell sailing/rowing dink. A neat fact about Ken, he was once the youngest certified diver in NJ at the age of 10.

Since those days, Ken has gained considerable time on pretty much anything that floats up to 85ft including part time First mate on a 70ft trawler out of Stuart Fl from 2017-20. He has traveled extensively from the Great Lakes down through the Bahamas including 3-day overnight trips and a lot of sea time offshore fishing the canyons of the East coast. With the advancement of technology, it has allowed him to work remotely part of the time from his boat Mango, a 58ft Symbol Pilothouse. He travels between slips on the Jersey Shore, Chesapeake Bay, and Stuart Florida with his wife Sharon and two daughters and 3 dogs. Mango will often be found anchored out, and Ken and his dog Captain, cruising abut on their dinghy checking out the other boats. Ken is not just an insurance agent that sits behind the desk pushing numbers. He brings to the marine insurance industry his unique underwriting experience as both an agent as well as a 45 years of boater.

He is passionate about boating and building long term relationships with his fellow boaters.

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Kim Russo

Director, AGLCA

Kim Russo has been involved with AGLCA for about 16 years and has been the Association’s Director for eight years. She has presented on the Great Loop at many of the nation’s largest boat shows, including Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and New England, as well as TrawlerFest and Cruisers’ University. Kim’s Great Loop adventure was finally realized!  She officially began her Loop in late February of 2022 from Fort Myers, Florida aboard The Perch and she crossed her wake there in February of 2024.

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Ray & Shelly Sirois

Gold Loopers

Shelly and Ray Sirois are originally from Maine, but they moved to Long Island, NY in 2015.  At that time, they had joined AGLCA, and started on their 10-year plan to start the Loop in 2025 for the first year of Ray's retirement.   Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, Ray learned he could successfully work 100% remotely.  No more taking the train into Penn Station NYC!   Then they figured out that they could actually start their Loop early, before retirement!   

So, they started their year-long Great Loop circuit on a 2000 39-foot Mainship 390 (slow trawler-style powerboat) in May of 2021 from Long Island, which was also a date when they decided to become full-time liveaboards... with no "dirt home".   For years, they had "virtually" lived on their boat during the summer months both up in Maine and on Long Island where the boating season was a bit longer than in Maine.   They knew they wanted to become full-time liveaboards, and they knew after their Loop, they would simply "follow the seasons" north and south on the Atlantic ICW.    They now boat all year round and don't plan on winterizing any systems ever again!

Besides Ray's job, another special challenge includes dealing with Shelly's Multiple Sclerosis.   "We are doing this because: WE CAN." 

Their advice:  "Don't wait too long before living your dream!"

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Ben & Laura Stein

Gold Loopers, Panbo.com

Ben Stein is the editor and publisher of Panbo.com, the marine technology hub. Ben and Laura have boated for over 17 years, first on Lake Michigan, then on the Great Loop 1.5 times, and now in SW Florida. The Stein family started their first Great Loop from Chicago in August of 2016 and finished in October of 2017. They started again in July of 2018 and landed in Ft. Myers in March of 2019. They traveled with daughters Molly and Madelyn. Prior to the Loop, they explored nearly all of Lake Michigan by boat. The Steins serve as AGLCA Family Ambassadors and Harbor Hosts. The Steins reside in Ft. Myers and are happy to help when you come through the area. 

 

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Curtis Stokes

Curtis Stokes & Associates

Curtis Stokes grew up on the water and around boats in Maryland and Delaware having spent many of those years fishing and hunting with his father and brothers throughout the Mid-Atlantic area. While attending Washington College, in Chestertown, MD, Curtis decided to obtain his real estate license and joined his father’s real estate firm, Anderson-Stokes Realtors. He became president of the firm after his father’s death and led the company through many phases of expansion before it was sold. Curtis then decided to pursue his real love of the water and made yachting his career. He has been associated with and enjoyed worldwide cruising on such well-known vessels as Excellence, Fiffanella, and Our Toy. Curtis also gained experience as sales manager at Hatteras Yachts in New Bern, NC, where he helped develop and sell new models and train and coordinate his dealer network. Curtis left Hatteras Yachts to pursue his ultimate goal of being an independent yacht broker. Curtis now enjoys working as a team with his wife, Gill, and holds an active USCG 3000 ton Master license and a PADI Divemaster certificate and is a certified professional yacht broker (CPYB).

 

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