The Great Loop (or Great Circle) is a 6000 mile waterway journey that connects the eastern seaboard, Hudson River/Erie Canal/Canadian Canal systems, Great Lakes, Illinois/Mississippi/Ohio/Tennessee, Tennessee-Tombigbee (the western rivers) and the Gulf of Mexico together. There are a number of alternate and side routes too; the Canadian Triangle, the Ohio River to Pittsburgh, the Tennessee River to Knoxville, the Keys or the Lake Okeechoobee canals. the Bahamas, Cuba!
The America's Great Loop Crusiers Association (AGLCA) is the primary organization that links recreational boaters together that are doing or interested in "The Loop" and we generally refer to ourselves as "Loopers". Many loopers make the whole trip in one season, coming up the east coast in the spring, getting to the most northern parts of the Great Lakes by summer and then heading down the western rivers in the Fall. Many other folks take longer doing segments of the Loop as they have time/interest.
As a general distinction, there are "Go Fast" Loopers and "Laid Back" Loopers*, but there are radicalized versions of both. Some Go Fast Loopers who have fast boats take multiple years to complete The Loop ("crossing your wake", in Loopereze) and there are undocumented reports of Laid Back Loopers with behavior less than, well you get the idea.
*ibid. Eddy Johnson/Spiritus
Loopers come in all shapes and sizes. There are folks doing the Loop in million dollar ocean going trawlers and there is a group of jet ski's doing the Loop right now. Tending dock lines is one way to get insights into what kind of Looper might be aboard.
There are sailboats and powerboats doing the loop. The "water" draft (how deep your keel is) and "air" draft (what the highest fixed part of your boat is) can be a limit on certain parts of the loop. Being a Looper is a state of mind thing, just ask Bruce Willis or Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
AGLCA organizes two Looper "Rendezvous" every year, one in the spring in Norfolk, VA and one in the fall in Rogersville, AL. The events are timed to catch as many folks doing the Loop as well as connect others/wannabes to share experiences and knowledge................ well and to drink a bit and tell stories. We attended our first Rendezvous in Norfolk as wannabes a few years ago and timed our departure from Tennessee to be at the Fall Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park this year. Rendezvous agendas include travelogues, regulatory and safety updates (we can go to Cuba now!) and afternoon "docktails", where folks have open house on their boats and have further, detailed follow up conversations, etc.............
This year we got filmed coming in to the Rendezvous by a drone! (sorry if there's no YouTube link here I'm new at this. Looks like it shows up on a desktop but not the mobile phone app). If you can't see the link try cutting and pasting this into your browser:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BV8Vddd4rjo