S.L.O. DANCER DOES THE CAN CAN

4 OCTOBER 2021

Here’s a fun story about the trip we made from Beardstown to Grafton, Illinois several days ago. We’d been cruising with 4 other couples for several days and enjoying each other at two different marinas, but realized we had to wait for some fuel to be delivered to the Logsdon Tug Company before we headed south. The others took off (reluctantly, but with our good wishes), anchored that night at Willow Island before heading to Grafton, making the 88-mile trip in the customary two days of cruising. We ended up having to stay in Beardstown a second night and really missed being with our Looper buddies—they were beginning to feel like our boating “family” and everyone else felt that way too.

The next morning, the winds had died way down, the Illinois River was very smooth, the bald eagles were soaring overhead and Captain Gary got a look in his eye that said, “Let’s go for it Let’s catch up with our friends in Grafton!”

So off we went, taking our awesome boat from its usual cruising speed of 9.2 knots (about 10mph) up to 25 knots. It’s as if she could hardly wait to finally show her stuff. {We had gone that fast on Lake Michigan several times because Caterpillar diesel engines are built to go hard and fast, and we knew she was capable of going over 35 knots (done at her sea trial before we bought her).}

We had a blast! We slowed respectfully when passing a barge or a fisherman, but otherwise, we were zipping along and loving every minute. The biggest difference we noticed at this speed was that the buoys (channel markers) were going by faster and faster.

When going downstream, the buoys on the left side of the channel are red, cone-shaped on the top and are called “nuns.” The buoys on the right side of the channel are green, are square on the top and are called “cans.” Sometimes we’d see just one buoy, some times two, and, on the curves there were several in a row that were the same, guiding us away from obstacles or shallower waters. So, as we zipped down the river, I was helping Gary identify each channel marker and started saying “Nun! Nun! Nun!” And then “Can! Can! Can!” And after several wide curves, I sung out to Gary that “S.L.O. Dancer was doing the Can Can!”  Wish you could have seen us grinning.

Our buddies were in Grafton by 11am that morning and couldn’t believe their eyes when S.L.O. Dancer appeared at the Grafton fuel dock at noon. It took everyone else 2 days to go those 88 miles and we did it in FOUR hours!

We later discovered we were the talk of the Looper community that day. No one could believe what we did! (Keep in mind that many Loop boats can go no faster than 7-8 knots and few can get over 15.)  We don’t plan to do that very often, but it is nice to know we can go faster if necessary (or for fun!).  That night all of us went to dinner and, as an acknowledgement of our speed run, dear friends Karen and Greg presented “The Captain of Grafton” with a very tacky and adorable pirates’s treasure chest bank to begin saving for his next fuel bill! A good time was had by all and we enjoyed several nights in both Grafton and Alton with all these wonderful people!

We still grin every time we think about those exhilarating four hours and will be ever grateful that S.L.O. Dancer can do the Can Can!