enry Krzemien is one of the most notable adventurers out there today. He enjoys everything from hiking, kayaking, cycling, and sailing, to everything in between. But most notably, he has taken on the Great Loop and completed the 10-month-long journey in 2017. He made the entire loop aboard a 22-foot weekend coastal sailboard, a Spindrift 22 designed by Jim Taylor that Henry owned for 28 years prior to casting off from Cedar Point Marina in Sandusky, Ohio, to start the loop. And with an extra 9.8hp outboard motor and a shoal keel and centerboard to give him better maneuverability, he got to know her intimately well as they fought the inevitable storms and nasty weather across the 5,277 miles up the Great Lakes, down the mighty inland rivers, up the Gulf of Mexico, through the state of Florida, up the east coast and the Chesapeake Bay, and up the Hudson over the Erie Canal back to Lake Erie’s western basin to cross his wake.
“I should mention I did have a constant companion along: a reluctant stray kitten I named Mickey,” Henry said.
It wasn’t originally part of his master plan. Henry had a neighbor willing to watch the cat, but a few days before departure the neighbor was unable to care for him, so Mickey became his crew. It’s safe to assume that Mickey the cat has seen more of the country and its vast waters than most people. And it turns out that the rascal of a furball had adventures of his own. There were many nights Henry’s first mate would be off on unauthorized shore leave where Henry had to go out and look for him. Somehow, they both managed to get through unscathed.
“I’ve seen it once and was awestruck by her small size. That may have been the seed that was planted in my mind,” Henry recollected.
As for the Great Loop, he had heard of the venture among the boaters online in various Facebook groups, but the idea didn’t get serious until his wife, Colleen, passed away in 2015.
“We had 42 years of wedded bliss, and in a quick moment she was gone,” Henry elaborated.
Henry says that trying to put his life together was difficult. One snowy evening, he recalls doing the dishes and looking out the window when he thought he heard his name being called by the sailboat which was under a snow-covered tarp in the backyard. And just like that, the seed that was planted years ago began germinating.
It may be worth mentioning the sailboat was named after Henry’s wife. Her first initial was C and her middle name was Marie—the Sea Marie. The Sea Marie is a gracious lady that Henry says will always be a part of him.
“The Spindrift 22 was manufactured in Florida back in 1984. Wouldn’t it be nice for this old girl to visit the home of her creation? Perhaps to meet other sailors who had Spindrifts. Sounds like a good reason to go,” Henry remembered fantasizing.
As for sailing experience, Henry was just married and in his early 20s, and his brother-in-law had a runabout inboard outboard that he spent a few summers learning to water ski with. He then took some boating classes from the Coast Guard Auxiliary that paved the way to joining the flotilla. But he was active for only a few years when life got in the way. New wife, new kids, a new house, and a new job. Still, Henry found time to volunteer with the Boy Scouts and was an advisor for Explorer Post 101, a first aid and communication post. While out at Put in Bay doing first aid for a Sea Scout Rendezvous, he had the opportunity to sail a small mirror dinghy and was hooked. He honed his skills racing J22s out of Edgewater Yacht Club, which led him to buy the Sea Marie in 1988 from a repo lot. The family got involved and learned to sail around the Cleveland area, and on occasion, did solo voyages to the Islands and Sandusky Bay some 60 miles away.
Henry knew the Sea Marie well and knew she would take good care of him out on the Great Loop.
“Coordinating my medications and finding participating pharmacies was just another box on my checklist to check off,” Henry said, explaining how he looked at the circumstance.
It has been several years since his completion of the Great Loop with his trusty cat deckhand, but his mind is fresh with the memories and experiences. He has even started to write a memoir using the daily posts he placed on Facebook and adding his private thoughts from a journal he kept separate.
“I am grateful to have experienced the joy and wonder of faraway places. The experiences ran the full gamut from feeling self-actualized to fighting for my life on several occasions. I am ready now to tell my story, stories that seafarers have told and retold for centuries,” Henry opened up. “There is a certain sense of satisfaction when traveling alone whether by sea or overland. I learned to become my own best friend. It’s true, I traveled by myself but I was never really alone.”