Looper-palooza 2026

Tsali & Jacque Bentley

Platinum Loopers

Crossing their wake in 2022 and again in 2024, Platinum Loopers Tsali and Jacque Bentley have cruised over 15,000 nautical miles around the Great Loop.  As lifelong sailors, Tsali sailed across the North Atlantic Ocean aboard a Hylas 49 in 1997.  Leaving sailing behind, they attended their first Rendezvous in 2019 where the Looper Crawl provided the perfect showcase in determining the best Looper boat to fit their needs – a Mainship 400 trawler named COMPASS ROSE.  Tsali and Jacque continue to 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 AGLCA Harbor Hosts.  Veteran AGLCA speakers, they present route sessions on the North Channel, New Jersey coastline, New York City Harbor, Hudson River, Florida Panhandle, Florida’s west coast, and the Florida Keys.  They also present Looping 101 sessions titled Locking around the Loop and A Day in the Life of a Looper.  Tsali writes the daily weather publication of You Make the Call which supplements weather information for captains deciding to cross the Gulf.  He has also written for the Great Loop Link e-Magazine.  The Bentley’s can be found on several AGLCA podcasts from Women on the Loop to Looper Lore.  Tsali and Jacque 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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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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Rio & April DeGennaro

Gold Loopers

Rio, April, and Juno completed the loop on May 16, 2025. They have attended many AGLCA events in the 5 years of being a member but are excited to finally be part of the Gold Looper reunion! The best part about AGLCA is the lifelong friends they have made and the blessings of living life on the water. Rio, April and Juno plan to start the loop again in April of 2026 from their home overlooking the Pamlico River just off the AICW in North Carolina.

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Eric & Muffet Frische

Gold Loopers

Eric and Muffet Frische completed the Loop in 2024 and are excited to Loop again this year! Along with being full-time cruisers, Eric is a product developer and a technical consultant for numerous tech startups, and Muffet is an author and screenwriter. Both of these are successfully done from their trawler, Texas Trails. In 2023 as new full-time cruisers, they attended Looper-palooza to simply learn about boating, but left inspired to do the Great Loop! The year-long adventure taught them many tips and tricks for making cruising less stressful which they love sharing with others!

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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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Alison Major

Gold Looper

TBD

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Mike Bell & Marilou Zachary

Gold Loopers

Mike Bell retired after a career working for the U.S. Navy and Lockheed-Martin in military aircraft systems engineering.  His wife, Marilou Zachary, also retired from a career as a hospice social worker and airline flight attendant.  Both are graduates of Columbia University in New York.  They have lived aboard their boat Inshallah, a DeFever 48 since 2017.  Mike holds ABYC certification for marine electrical systems and a 100-ton USCG Masters license for near coastal areas.  Mike and Marilou became lifetime members of AGLCA after completing the Great Loop in 2019/2020, and they actively cruise the east coast from the Chesapeake to the Keys and the Bahamas.  Together with their ferocious dog Sinbad they have cruised over 30,000 miles.  Mike is a volunteer “surveyor” for Bob Sherer (bob423) collecting depth data on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to assist Bob in developing tracks for safe passage.  He is also the engineering director for Marine Trawler Owners Association (MTOA) and contributes articles to the MTOA magazine, Turtle Times, and the DeFever Cruisers magazine.  Marilou manages the pin and award programs for MTOA.  Mike and Marilou are also active participants in the Boaters’ Rights Advocacy Coalition, a joint effort of AGLCA, MTOA, Seven Seas Cruising Association and DeFever Cruisers, advocating for boating and anchoring rights.

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Keith & Malinda Martin

In Progress Loopers

Malinda and Keith Martin have been around water and boats most of their lives.  Malinda, being a Navy “brat”, living on both the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts.  Keith, living mostly on the Louisiana Gulf Coast, fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and inland marshes.  They heard about America's Great Loop approximately 14 years ago and made it one of their “bucket list” adventures.  They purchased a 1987 43’ Hatteras MY, Sea Cottage, in 2021 cruising their home waters, the Tennessee River near Huntsville, Alabama.  Malinda and Keith started their Loop December 1, 2023 and crossed their wake on October 1, 2025, enjoying a very leisurely adventure – making it their own.

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Kim Russo

Gold Looper, AGLCA Director

Kim Russo has been involved with AGLCA for over 15 years and has been the Association’s Director for 10 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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Aubrey & Terri Smoot

Gold Loopers

Aubrey and Terri have over 45 years of boating and cruising together and now reside on the Chesapeake Bay with their powered catamaran, the Shorebilly Too, docked in their backyard.  Aubrey got his first sailboat when he was 8 years old and was an avid sailor up until the mid-90s when he converted over to power.  His marriage proposal to Terri was aboard an O'Day Mariner.

The Smoots traveled the Great Loop with the 2023/2024 fleet, crossing their wake on April 26th. Their trip encompassed 8,239 miles with multiple side trips including Quebec City, both shores of Lake Michigan, Chattanooga, Florida Keys and the Bahamas. They traveled with their Vizsla, Yudee, on a 2022 Aspen C108 power catamaran.

Eager to take on the next adventure, the Smoots embarked on the DownEast Circle Loop June 2025 and completed September 24th of the same year.  This route was 4,317 miles long encompassing the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Canadian Maritimes and the U.S. Northern Coastline.

These days they spend their time running around the Southern Chesapeake enjoying the small towns, tiki bars and restaurants that line the water. Loopers are always welcome at their dock and encouraged to stop if able.

 

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Ben Stein

Gold Looper

Ben Stein is the editor and publisher of Panbo.com, the marine technology hub. Ben and Laura have boated for over 19 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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Tim & Diane Vandersall

Gold Loopers

Tim and Diane Vandersall hale from Northeast Ohio where they lived most of their lives and raised their eight children.  Discovering the Great Loop in 2014, they slowly began to turn the dream into reality.  They bought their Loop boat, Wilma May, in Alabama in 2020, retired, sold nearly everything they owned including their home, cars and possessions in 2022, and moved their remaining things to Wilma May in August of that year. They set sail on the Great Loop on the Tennessee River on November 1, 2022 and finished 366 days later.  They currently live aboard while cruising the east coast and beyond.

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Eric Weatherly

New Point Marine

Eric grew up on the western shores of the Chesapeake Bay and began cruising in the 1990s.  After a career in public safety, he ran away from home–setting sail in search of adventure.  Eric traveled up and down the East Coast, from Key West to the Chesapeake Bay, working in boat yards, with a boat builder, and for charter and dive boat companies, before eventually washing up in Jacksonville, Florida.  Eric dropped anchor after meeting his soulmate and starting a family.  In 2013, Eric and his wife launched their business, New Point Marine, to serve the boating community in the Northeast Florida area.  

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Kevin & Edie Williams

Gold Loopers

Kevin and Edie Joy Williams became full-time live aboards on their Mainship 400 in January of 2023.  They departed Bradenton, FL in February of 2024 and completed their Loop in March of 2025.  They kept cruising as a lifestyle for a period of time and their nomadic adventures now continue as they’ve transitioned to full-time RVing.  They travel with their Hahns Macaw “Olive” and their Black Mouth Cur “Willow”.  Kevin enjoys helping Loopers achieve increased fitness so they can enjoy the Loop more while Edie enjoys painting rocks and bringing joy to those who find them in towns along the way.  Both Kevin and Edie derive great pleasure in helping others dream, plan and pursue the Great Loop.

 

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