Fulfilling dreams and cultivating creativity through America’s Great Loop.
Last year, nautical book publisher Seaworthy Publications released a slender tome titled “Exploring America’s Great Loop: Artfully Cruising the Rivers and Canals of North America.” This little book, distinctive with its hand-drawn cover art, tells the story of James and Jill Iverson, the trawler Alvin James and a yearlong exploration of that celebrated waterway.
This isn’t a typical Looper narrative, however. While most cruiser-authors focus onpreparations and how-to advice, the Iversons took a different approach.
“We wanted to focus on the experience itself,” James says.
The result is a true journey of discovery. Through their captain’s log, emails, journal entries and one remarkable sketchbook, the Iversons bring the Great Loop to life in a way that is uniquely their own.
The water calls
James was born in Athens, Greece, where his father was stationed with the U.S. Army after World War II. The family returned to Chicago, where the blue expanse of Lake Michigan was a constant source of inspiration for young James. In his author’s note, he writes that he wanted a boat and to have adventures on the water since he was a little boy.
“Even though my family had no nautical history and very little money to invest in anything as frivolous as a boat, the dream persisted,” he writes. “In adulthood, I read everything I could about small boat voyaging.”
Jill, on the other hand, grew up on the water. Her parents were educators, and their family split their time between the school year in the United States and summer break at remote fish camps in Canada.
“I never spent a single summer in the U.S. until after college,” Jill says with a laugh. “We didn’t have electricity. We used a generator to pump water. We were very close to nature, and I grew up boating — not sailing, but powerboating and fishing.”
James met Jill in 1980. He told her he had always dreamed of owning a boat.
“I wanted to help make that happen,” she says.
After eight years in the Florida Keys — and enduring Hurricane Andrew in 1992 — the Iversons returned to their beloved Lake Michigan, settling near Milwaukee. They took sailing lessons at the nonprofit Milwaukee Community Sailing Center and purchased a 19-foot trailerable sailboat.
“We sailed on Lake Michigan, and we trailered the boat to the North Channel for a week’s vacation,” James says. “The next year, we did it again, and then it was time to move up to a 24-footer.”
Upon retirement, the couple purchased a Spray 40 steel sailboat that would allow them to spend the entire summer in the North Channel. They named the boat Joshua after Joshua Slocum, the first person to complete a solo circumnavigation, and his celebrated sloop Spray.
Now the Iversons could enjoy adventure in spades. They spent summers in Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay and North Channel, and they explored the Caribbean islands during the offseason with friends aboard their boat.
James also undertook transatlantic crossings, sailing eastbound from Norfolk, Virginia, to Portugal in 2014, and westbound from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia in 2016. Yet something was still missing.
“Jill wasn’t interested in weeks at sea without seeing land, and I wanted a big adventure that I could share with the love of my life,” he says.
A grand adventure begins
That big adventure started with a new boat, although the Iversons didn’t realize it at the time. Friends in the North Channel had a trawler for sale, so they went to take a look at it.
They fell in love.
Named for James’ father, Alvin James is a 1985 Great Lakes 33, a classic 33-foot trawler built by Canadian sailboat manufacturer Ontario Yachts. Founded in 1961, the company is best known today for its production of International Etchells racing sailboats.
“She’s a powerboat that was built by sailors for sailors,” Jill says. “That appealed to us.”
“Isn’t that the progression?” James interjects, chuckling. “Sailboat to trawler to old folks’ home?”
Comfortable, seaworthy and user-friendly, Alvin James carries one turbo-charged, six- cylinder Volvo diesel engine. She can deliver a cruising speed of roughly 7 knots.
“You might get 9 or 10 knots if you push it, but you’ll also burn three times the fuel,” James notes.
He and Jill discussed what they might be able to do with this new vessel. The question of the Great Loop arose.
They had the perfect boat, especially since Alvin James draws just 3 feet, 2 inches. The trip would strike the ideal balance between rivers, lakes and ocean, and between voyaging and harbor-hopping.
They also had the time. They could take a full year to enjoy the wild places and waterfront communities in America’s heartland, along the Gulf Coast, through old Florida and up the eastern seaboard.
Alvin James left the Iversons’ current hometown of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on September 3, 2021. After more than 6,000 miles and a year of continuous voyaging, she crossed her wake, returning to Manitowoc on September 10, 2022.
In the beginning, Jill says she didn’t understand the significance of the Great Loop.
“We’d been cruisers for a long time, so this was just another big cruise,” she says. “I came to realize the Great Loop really is special. It is pretty darn cool.”
“The epic part of it really sank in after about six months,” James adds.
Their cruising experience came in handy as they navigated the various stresses of life along the Loop, from busy river traffic and sneaky sandbars to crab pots, wind and fog. They also were grateful to Alvin James; its shallow draft allowed easy access to anchorages, especially along the river system, and its size was manageable for them as a couple.
“Plus, fuel prices were spiking,” Jill remembers. “People often confided that they wished they had a smaller boat.”
The business of operating and maintaining Alvin James and planning for the next port of call kept the Iversons busy, but they made a concerted effort to stay connected with the outside world. James kept a detailed captain’s log and sent email updates to family and friends weekly, while Jill shared social media posts with her photography.
“We were laughing because people thought what we were doing was so dangerous,” Jill says. “We wanted to show them what life was really like. The posts and emails were about everyday things to put their minds at ease.”
“Then people started saying, you should do a book,” James says.
(Above image) Jill and James Iverson
The Iversons traveled the Great Loop aboard their boat, Alvin James, pictured above at an overnight tie-up on a Trent-Severn lock
A collage of Georgian Bay using vintage geological map and watercolor
Jill’s illustration of Fells Point, Baltimore
The ibis in the park across from the marina in Sanford, Florida, were super friendly
The inner journey unfolds
“Once we heard that,” Jill says, “we thought, ‘well, maybe we should!’”
Not only did they have access to the rich information contained in their captain’s log and email updates, but they had Jill’s photo library and journal as well. They also had Jill’s sketchbook — a priceless resource that would transform the manuscript itself into a work of art.
Jill is a lifelong artist, the granddaughter of a watercolorist and puppeteer who shared her talents and passion with Jill as a little girl, who reveled in the Canadian wilderness, unstructured play and unbridled creativity. Jill went on to study art in college but left it behind due to the demands of work and raising a family.
“Even after retirement, I was still so busy,” Jill says. “I was volunteering, still working for others.”
Embarking on the Great Loop aboard Alvin James was an inner journey for Jill as much as it was an outer one. She filled one drawer with art supplies and committed to a daily practice of creating one drawing every day.
“This was do-or-die time because I wouldn’t have the regular distractions on this trip,” she says. “My creative life was going to be non- negotiable, and the process was simple: Turn off the critical brain and draw for 15 minutes. On the first day, I created a drawing with six vignettes. I think my next book will be all about 15-minute sketching!
“I process life through drawing,” she continues. “With the sketches and my own journal, I am sharing what I remember, how I think and how I connected to what I experienced.”
Jill would go on to create between 350 and 400 sketches during their Great Loop adventure. She captured local landmarks, flora and fauna; memorable encounters like tail-dancing dolphins and a kayaker “drafting” in Alvin James’ wake; and local personalities and new friends, most memorably the three-boat flotilla affectionately called “Peggy’s Pack” after the family pet aboard the motor vessel Sabot.
“We insisted to the publisher that Jill’s artwork had to be in color,” James says. “To do that and hold the price point, we needed to limit our page count to 100-125. It was worth it.”
While the narrative flow of the book was relatively straightforward, the Iversons had a lot of material to organize. Yet just a year after their return to Manitowoc, Seaworthy Publications released “Exploring America’s Great Loop.”
Seventy of Jill’s sketches bring the narrative into full, vibrant color. Several others, previously unavailable to the public, are shared here exclusively for Lakeland Boating readers.
“We felt a quiet sense of accomplishment,” James says. “We don’t talk to people about the Great Loop all the time, because it’s just something we did — but it was interesting enough to document it, sharing both of our perspectives.”
And once it was done, it was done. Just three months after publication, the Iversons spent three months in Alaska in an RV.
“It was a relief to finish the book, and we still wanted to have adventures,” Jill explains.
To be continued…
James says he still thinks about the Great Loop from time to time, especially when he is enjoying his morning coffee with a view of Lake Michigan. He thinks about it, and he remembers his childhood dream.
“It’s all I wanted since I was 6 or 7 years old, and I never gave up that dream,” he says. “I’m very fortunate to have a partner who wanted to share the dream with me. Some people can’t imagine a year in a confined space with a spouse, but the Great Loop really did make our relationship stronger. Every day for a year, you’re driving, provisioning, problem-solving, doing everything together.”
As it turned out, James and Jill also cultivated creativity together through writing, photography and sketching. These daily practices became life skills over the course of their voyage, and the Iversons agree this has made them more resilient as individuals and as a couple.
“We went through COVID on the loop, so we learned we really could get through anything,” Jill reflects. “The Great Loop was one of the highlights of my life. We made some amazing friends, like Melanie and Justin on Sabot and all of Peggy’s Pack. That’s pretty special. And it sounds corny, but I have the best partner in the world. After 43 years together, our marriage definitely is stronger today.”
The Iversons aren’t slowing down in the wake of their Great Loop adventure, and neither is Alvin James. Jill says they’re toying with the idea of shipping the boat to the Pacific Northwest so they can cruise the Inside Passage.
Jill says, “When we were in Alaska last summer, James asked me, ‘Jill, do you think we’re too old to do this?’”
They laugh together with delight. Clearly, the next adventure is just around the corner.
Peggy’s Pack crosses the Gulf of Mexico together using the Rim Route
Beaufort, North Carolina, was a great spot to linger for a week and celebrate James’ 72nd birthday
BUY THE BOOK
“Exploring America’s Great Loop: Artfully Cruising the Rivers and Canals of North America” is available for purchase through Seaworthy Publications (SEAWORTHY.COM) as well as through online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Another option for purchasing the book is to visit BOOKSHOP.ORG, which works to connect readers with independent booksellers.
