Feel free to post any comments.
We welcome any comments you may have about the CD-ROM and its content. Please enter your comments below on this post.
May 21, 2006
May 22, 2006
Ginny Harbison, Great Loop Cruiser
The Great Loop CD is great! I haven’t watched it all but the photos are so clear and beautiful I feel like I’m cruising again. The script is also well done & informative. I am enjoying seeing some of the side trips we missed.
MY Oil & Water
Cruised Loop 2003-2004
Eddy Creek Marina & Resort
http://www.eddycreek.com
Bruce MacDonald, Music City Power Squadron
I’ve watched several hour’s worth of the CD – excellent – enjoyable – easy to navigate – user friendly (especially for the non-computer savvy), great pictures and I enjoyed the running commentary (and the humor – blue lights and no wake zones). Having both Bob and Mavis provide the running commentary was a smart move – if a couple are thinking of doing the Loop and the wife is reluctant to go along, I think Mavis’ comments will help. The commentary about the sights-to-see (such as the river front of Savannah) as well as comments about how busy/commercial the river front/harbor is will be very helpful to both Skipper and First-Mate.
My wife, Jane, expressed interest in viewing familiar portions of the Great Loop CD – namely the 30,000 Islands region – so we sat together last evening, ate cheese and crackers, drank cocktails, and sat back to enjoy the Great Loop Cruise (on the lap top – while sitting at the kitchen table). By the time we stopped watching, we’d traveled from Parry Sound, past Mackinac, across Lake Michigan to well past Chicago.
The fact that was interesting to me about last evening’s experience, as we watched your CD, was Jane’s reaction. Long after we’d left the portion of the Great Loop that she knows so well (and only wanted to see at first), she wanted to keep watching and watching to see where you went next.
I think that experience should tell you something – namely that your Great Loop CD really held her attention – and this morning she was asking me how much time I thought we would need if we cruised from our cottage in Parry Sound to Mackinac and back (while spending lots of time in Killarney). She’s got the bug (now all I need to do is convince her that we need a Nordhavn 43 to get us there.)
I think you’re on to something with your Great Loop CD – we didn’t come across any glitches or technical problems – all ran smoothly and it’s easy to stop and start and go back over previous pictures/segments, etc.
My father’s birthday is coming up soon – we want to buy him a copy as a gift.
Garry Hornbuckle
I had my Mom look at Great Loop CD-ROM over the weekend. The content is *incredibly engaging* … once she started watching the content, I couldn’t pull her away. In fact, she watched the tour until she exhausted the battery in my Powerbook (almost 2 hours), and still wanted to see more. Later, when cousins stopped in for a visit, she insisted that I get the Powerbook out and show them parts of the tour as well.
Garry is an employee of Duthie Associates, Inc.
June 5, 2006
Pete Kopcsak, 1994 Great Loop Cruiser
This afternoon I clicked through all of your fine photos. Seems to me your account would have great value to anyone contemplating the trip and as a memory stimulator for those of us who have already done the trip. I walked through the photos and can appreciate the homework you did and the photographic attention you mustered. Navigating the CD was intuitive and I had no trouble with the viewing process, Your photos were wonderful and the trip segments were explained in clear detail.
I only had one observation on the informational side. When I was in the towboat business, we had the Coast Guard go measure the lowest bridge height for our towboat construction specifications to access Chicago and my memory says it was 19 feet 2 inches on a railroad bridge on the Sanitary Canal just outside Chicago (seems to me the charts were not correct). Another observation is that in 1994 the height restriction between Lake Champlain and the Hudson River was 17 feet. At both places I had to take down my mast on our trip as I had designed our boat to clear 16 feet with the mast down.
We who have made the trip are undoubtedly members, by default, of a small unique boating fraternity.
(Pete is the former CEO of Ingram Barge)
June 26, 2006
David Benson – Nashville Yacht Brokers
I love it. I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you Friday. I wasn’t finished yet. It was great. I think you had the right mix of water and history. I spent way too much time going through it. I thought it was very easy to navigate, and fast moving. It was educational and entertaining. It got my imagination going and made me want to go cruising. I see lots of possibilities. Good Work…
September 12, 2006
Fred Myers, Guide Book Author
. . . I congratulate you on a job well done. The photography is technically and esthetically solid. All too often, such a presentation is strong in one respect but weak in the other. But that doesn’t happen here. I was particularly impressed by the consistently good composition. Your pace and balance hit squarely in the middle. There’s something for everyone but not too much of any one subject. You keep things moving without hurrying too much or glossing over significant information and impressions. The give and take narration between you and Mavis is about right, too. Input from you both add what I consider a necessary dimension.
You skillfully and smoothly blended all information. Nothing grates or irritates. And after watching a segment, you know what you have seen and heard is an accurate portrayal of reality. If however, you do a revised version or “new and improved” version I suggest you check the following. And this applies only to the area I know best. Similar burrs may exist elsewhere in the program.
*I believe you mispronounced these place names: Kankakee, Joliet, Chillicothe, Beardstown, Pere Marquette, Portage des Sioux, Menard, Madrid, Aqua Yacht Harbor and Saltillo. *Many people mistakenly call a tow a barge. And you did it too. A barge is only a component of a tow. Or said another way, a tow is a number of barges pushed by a towboat.
*I’m nitpicking here, but rivers have banks and lakes have shores. To say otherwise, even if accurate, sounds awkward. And in the grammarian department when talking about distance, “farther” is preferred over “further”. *LBL is a national recreation area. But it isn’t a national park.
These imperfections, however, do little to detract. I will promote the program at every opportunity because I believe it’s the best available preview for anyone planning to cruise the Loop and will prove to be a most helpful companion when they finally get underway.
Powered by WordPress
