MEET THE WRITERS
Hundreds of years of experience on the water Unlike many cruising guides, Waterway Guide relies on avid and experienced boaters who actually cruise the waters they write about.
....................................................................  George Danner - An avid boater whose home port is Galveston Bay, TX, George Danner is Waterway Guide's cruising editor for the ICW from Mississippi to Brownsville, TX. He began serious cruising several years ago by trailering his 26-foot Monterey express cruiser to Chesapeake Bay, Key West, Destin, FL, and the Carolina coast from Charleston to Hilton Head. Now with a 2006 Silverton 34C, La Mariposa, recently added to the fleet, George focuses on Gulf excursions from Galveston to Mississippi and southern trips to Corpus Christi and South Padre Island. The western Gulf region is home to some of the finest cruising grounds in the country and the Danner family frequently explores its coastal waters for new land and sea-based adventures. Out of the water, George is president of a corporate strategy consulting firm in Houston.
....................................................................  Bob Kunath - Bob and Carol Kunath have owned about a dozen sail and powerboats over the past 40 years. They've ranged from small-lake open boats to those equipped for offshore shark and tuna fishing, to sail and powerboats on Lake Michigan, where they have been cruising for the past 15 years. During those years they have cruised extensively throughout Lake Michigan and the North Channel of Lake Huron. Both are past commodores of the Bay Shore Yacht Club in Illinois and members of the Waukegan, IL, Sail and Power Squadron, where Bob has served as an officer and instructor. He has also contributed to the U.S. Power Squadron national magazine, Ensign, and holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master's license. During 2005, Bob and Carol completed a two-year cruise of the Great Loop in their Pacific Seacraft 38T trawler, Sans Souci, logging 9,000 miles on the Loop and many of its side trips. Recently they have resumed cruising all of Lake Michigan, but have plans to expand that area, perhaps back into the rivers of the Midwest or canals of Canada. Bob has also been a seminar presenter at West Marine Trawler Fests over the past four years, sharing his knowledge of Lake Michigan. For 2009, Bob and Carol cover Lake Michigan for Waterway Guide, including Green Bay and Door County.
....................................................................  Elbert S. (Mack) Maloney is the author of "Chapman Piloting and Seamanship," which he has continued to update regularly; he also wrote the last two editions of "Dutton's Navigation and Piloting." A retired United States Marine, he lives with his wife, Florine, in Pompano Beach and aboard their 38-foot Present trawler. He began writing about his avocation in 1959, publishing a series of articles in MotorBoating magazine. He first contributed to Waterway Guide in 1965, when he covered the Okeechobee Waterway. The Maloneys have owned several boats throughout the years, including a 47-foot Chris-Craft Commander and a 36-foot Willard trawler, pausing to stay ashore only twice, once so that Mack could serve a small college as its president and again so that he could write books for the Naval Institute in Annapolis. "I have never been happy very far from saltwater," he explains. Still actively involved with the U.S. Power Squadron, he has been a member since 1954 and served as national Director of Education between 1971 and 1976. He also served as Chief of the Department of Education, National Staff, of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary for several years.
....................................................................  Wally Moran, Waterway Guide's cruising editor for Georgian Bay, the North Channel, the St. Marys River and Lake Huron, is a former newspaper publisher who has sailed these favored cruising grounds since honeymooning there in 1978. His more recent travels have taken him from Chesapeake Bay to Tampa Bay, then back to Canada via Lake Huron and Lake Erie, the Erie Barge Canal, the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, the Intracoastal Waterway and offshore. Wally's next planned cruise will see his completion of the Great Loop into the Gulf of Mexico and on into the Caribbean, before returning to Canada. Wally sails his Dufour 34 Gypsy Wind throughout the Georgian Bay area, which he assures Waterway Guide readers is the "best freshwater boating in the world" and encourages all boaters to visit.
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Ruth and Larry Smithers are Waterway Guide's cruising editors for our Northern edition from Cape Cod through Maine. They have boated since the early 1970's. Serious passionate boating gripped them with the acquisition of Back Dock, their 56-foot Vantare pilothouse motoryacht. They quickly discovered that work got in the way of boating. Bidding their land life adieu they sold their practice, leased out their home in Wisconsin, packed up and moved aboard to cruise full time in pursuit of high adventure and sunsets worthy of the nightly celebratory conch horn serenade. The Smithers have completed the Great Loop, cruised the Bahamas and, as always, look forward to continue exploring new territories. ....................................................................
 Bud and Elaine Lloyd
are the cruising editors for South Florida, the Keys and Okeechobee Waterway. After being long-time sailors (they had several sailboats over the years), the Lloyds decided that in order to do the type of cruising they dreamed of they needed a trawler. Diamond Girl is a 36-foot 1990 Nova/Heritage East Sundeck. From their home port of Long Beach, California, they cruised all over Southern California and parts of Mexico extensively for over 30 years. After retiring from the printing business in 2005, they decided that it was time to get serious about fulfilling a life-long dream of cruising the Chesapeake Bay and ICW. So in December 2005, they put Diamond Girl on a ship and sent her to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They have now been cruising on the East Coast for almost 5 years and have found the experience even more rewarding than they ever imagined. They have made several trips up and down the ICW, have spent the summers cruising on the Chesapeake Bay, and have made numerous crossings of the Okeechobee Waterway. Bud and Elaine are full-time liveaboard cruisers and can't wait to see what awaits them over the next horizon. Now the Waterway Guide has given them the opportunity to write about what they enjoy most...cruising!
.................................................................... Waterway Guide is looking for experienced cruisers to write about and photograph their favorite cruising grounds.
Waterway Guide's cruising correspondents receive compensation to help offset the cost of cruising. For more information, please contact Waterway Guide Publisher Jack Dozier.
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