A longtime hairstylist from Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, Kasey Perella ran America's Great Loop alone, on a personal watercraft. She left home on May 29, 2025 aboard a touring Sea-Doo she called "Solo Ventures," and roughly 6,000 miles later — in under three months — she idled back into Sneads Ferry having closed the loop. She rode it to raise money for the Brothers In Arms Foundation, which supports wounded veterans and their families.
This is a completion milestone, not a speed record. Perella wasn't racing the clock — she was proving a small touring ski could carry one person around the whole Loop, safely, for a cause. The ratified PWC speed record on the Loop remains David Fries' 22d 5h 40m. We include her here because a solo woman circumnavigating the Loop by PWC is a genuine milestone in this sport's short history, and it belongs in the record book alongside the fast runs.
| Watercraft | 2024 Sea-Doo Explorer Pro 170 — a touring/adventure PWC built for range and load, not a stripped race ski |
| Fuel & range | ~100 miles on the 18.5-gallon main tank, plus roughly 20 gallons of auxiliary fuel carried aboard to stretch the legs between marinas |
| Daily plan | Around 200 miles a day, with marina stops every 30–50 miles to refuel, rest and check weather |
Riding a PWC around the Loop is a different discipline from running a boat: no cabin, no seat to stretch out in, no shelter from sun, spray or seas — just the rider, the ski and whatever she carried. Perella planned conservative days and frequent stops, but several stretches of the Loop simply can't be broken into short hops.
She completed the circuit and returned to her home waters at Sneads Ferry, finishing in under three months from her late-May departure.
Perella dedicated the ride to the Brothers In Arms Foundation, a charity supporting wounded veterans and their families — fitting for a rider based in a coastal North Carolina community with deep military ties.
Perella's ride came in through this site's tip form framed as "the first woman to solo the Great Loop by PWC." We couldn't independently confirm that superlative. The two write-ups we relied on — Topsail Magazine and The Watercraft Journal — describe her ride and her ski in detail but neither asserts a "first woman" record, and there's no governing body that ratifies a "first" of this kind. So we describe it as believed to be the first woman to solo the Loop by PWC, and we'll tighten or drop that wording the moment anyone can confirm or refute it. If you have documentation either way, send it in.