By Rubin E. Grant
Stan and Barbara Nelson are in their 70s, but the Hoover couple didn’t let a little thing like age prevent them from completing an eight-month, 6,000-mile waterway adventure.
Stan Nelson’s longtime friend Jim Hughes, who lives in Chattanooga, had brought the idea of doing America’s Great Loop to their attention three years ago.
Boaters doing the Great Loop go on a 6,000-mile journey that circumnavigates the eastern part of the United States and Canada, cruising up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, through the New York State Canals, into the Great Lakes, down the inland river system, across the Gulf of Mexico, and around the southern tip of Florida.
Approximately 150 boats complete the Great Loop each year, making it a feat more rare than swimming the English Channel or climbing Mount Everest.
Stan, 77, and Barbara, 76, figured they would take on the challenge because, after all, they had been on other adventures in their 54 years of marriage, including a 900-mile sailboat trip to Trinidad.
“My wife and I went to a rendezvous with America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association in Norfolk, Virginia, in May of 2022,” Stan Nelson said. “We really got interested then.
“We sat at a table with a couple from Australia who were on the Great Loop and we asked them if they would sell their boat after they finished. They said it was already under contract.
“Jim and I went on a motorcycle trip to Alaska and when we got back on Oct. 1 (2022), we thought we’d check with that Australia couple about the boat again. They told us the deal fell through ‘cause the guy couldn’t get insurance for it. So, we bought the boat on Oct. 5, sight unseen. We thought it was the perfect boat for the loop.”
It was a 1982 Marine Trader 38-foot double cabin power boat, Bushranger. They moved it to the Goose Pond Colony Marina in Scottsboro, got it shipshape and learned how to operate it because neither Stan nor Barbara had operated a boat that size.
First Stop, Guntersville
They began their Great Loop journey along with Hughes on Feb. 28 this year, traveling to Guntersville to meet some friends and have a party.
On Day 2, they traveled to Riverwalk Marina in Decatur, and a tornado almost ended their adventure just after it had begun.
“We were on the boat, tied up at the marina,” Stan Nelson said. “We saw the tornado coming and we thought it would lift up the boat. We were on a covered strip at the dock and it destroyed everything else. We were lucky ‘cause all we lost was a canvas and flag.”
The Nelsons and Hughes navigated the Tombigbee River to Mobile Bay, to the Florida Panhandle, to Key West, Florida, and then up the East Coast.
Throughout this trip of a lifetime, the Nelsons, as do other boaters, relied on the AGLCA to provide them with information and assistance vital to the successful completion of their journey.
In addition to facing the challenges inherent to long-distance cruising, the couple enjoyed unparalleled views of the U.S. and Canada from the distinct vantage point of the water’s edge.
They reached New York Harbor on the Fourth of July.
“We especially enjoyed being anchored out at the Statue of Liberty on July 4th to watch the fireworks,” Stan Nelson said.
Waylaid
Barbara Nelson wasn’t there to enjoy the spectacle. She had sustained a serious injury in a boating accident while they were in St. Augustine, Florida.
“When we were in St. Augustine, coming out of the marina, a current grabbed the back of our boat and pushed it around to the front of another boat that was anchored with a big anchor,” Stan Nelson said. “We hit the boat, the dinghy went up and pulled off, and a rope that was going to the top of the mast came down breaking the davit, which lowered the gin pole and it hit the top of Barbara’s head.”
The impact created a sizable bloody gash in Barbara Nelson’s head, which required 20 stitches, and it broke her neck in two places. She was taken by ambulance to a trauma unit at a hospital in St. Augustine but had to be transported to the trauma center in Jacksonville, Florida, because of the seriousness of her injuries.
“She had to lay flat on her back for four days,” Stan Nelson. “They were amazed she wasn’t paralyzed. They decided not to do surgery if she would wear a collar.”
When she had stabilized enough, Stan Nelson rented a car and drove them back to their home in Riverchase. They met with a doctor in Birmingham and he agreed with the decision not to do surgery, but Barbara Nelson could wear a neck brace to heal.
She was in the collar for three months, remaining at their home.
“I survived and I’m OK,” Barbara Nelson said. “It could have been worse. The doctor told me that 82 percent of the people who have that kind of broken neck are paralyzed. I’m glad I wasn’t in the 82 percent.”
Stan Nelson stayed home with Barbara for two weeks then went back to the boat, which was still docked at St. Augustine. After getting it repaired, he and Hughes continued the trip.
Finally in Toronto
Barbara flew to Toronto in August to rejoin them and finish the loop, donning her neck brace whenever they hit rough water.
“I decided I had started something I wanted to accomplish,” Barbara Nelson said. “Plus, Stan and Jim told me I could be the queen and I wouldn’t have to do anything on the boat.”
The Nelsons finished the loop on Oct. 26 and received their BaccaLOOPerate degree from AGLCA. The degree is given in recognition of completing America’s Great Loop. They also received a golf flag after beginning the trip with a white flag.
“I thought it was a great trip,” Stan Nelson said, “but my wife was glad when we finished so she could see her girlfriends.”
Barbara Nelson said she had fun doing the loop and it ranks near the top of the adventures she and Stan have had together, but she was glad when it was over.
“We weren’t experienced boaters when we started, but we got more experience along the way,” she said. “We saw a lot of interesting things and met a lot of interesting people. Jim, Stan and I got along fine.
“I was happy I did it, but I missed my friends,” she said, adding with a hearty laugh, “I wanted to talk about girlfriends stuff instead of boats.”
