Hi again, A little bit ago there were questions concerning the number of Loopers and I said I would take a look at the sign-in sheet at Waterford Visitors Center at the start of the Erie Canal. Now while not every Looper stops at Waterford (and they should!) a significant number do. So here is the "un-official" count from the sign-in sheet May 1 to June 22 this year (the Visitor Center opened May 1): 1 May to 31 May: Number of boats: 113 Number of Loopers: 15 1 June to 22 June: Number of boats: 108 Number of Loopers: 38 In addition I saw 2 Looper boats go by that did not stop, so that brings the total to 55. Total boats stopping in Waterford to date: 221 with probably 55 being Loopers. Now for the caveats: - the sign-in sheet does not specifically ask if you are a Looper, only route/destination/etc. - if someone stopped and left before signing in, they are not in the count - it is my "estimation" of the number of Loopers based on the sign-in data, I did not try to correlate boat names to the AGLCA membership, etc. - but I did recognize some of the folks as Loopers - obviously not included are folks who are in other areas of the Loop, ie. taking several years to do the Loop and spending time else where this year like the Chesapeake or on the River system - and how do you count folks like us who completed the Loop and are still cruising? Now for a few other observations: - a significant group in May was Canadians heading home after wintering south, probably about 40% to 50%, the next biggest group was local NY boaters. - June had a larger number of cruising boats with more Loopers showing up as expected. Again a number of boats were returning from wintering in the south and heading home for the summer. So if inquiring minds wanted to know there is the data. YMMV Bob & Lynn Williamson On Legrace at Lock 8 on the Erie Canal