Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Explorers Find Northernmost Island Off Greenland

A team of polar explorers just found a new island off the coast of Greenland that they say is the world’s northernmost point of land. And they named it Qeqertaq Avannarleq. No, that’s not a typo. It means “the northernmost island” in Greenlandic. QA, for short, is not very big. It’s only 30 meters across, but it’s big enough. “It meets the criteria of an island,” said Rene Forsberg, head of geo dynamics at Denmark’s National Space Institute. “This is currently the world’s northernmost land.” Read about it in this story from the BBC. In July, the scientists flew to…

Boat Reviews
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Fountaine-Pajot Launches New 36-Foot Power Cat

Fountaine-Pajot just launched its first MY4.S power catamaran. It will show the sporty looking cat, with a knife-like entry, low profile and lounging spaces all around, at the Cannes Yachting Festival starting Sept. 7, before bringing it to the U.S. At 36-feet, the MY4.S is the French builder’s new entry-level cat, replacing the popular 37; it has sold about 100 37s since it launched the model five years ago. The MY4.S is aimed at a younger buyer as well as at longer-range cruisers. Powered by twin 150-hp Yanmars, the new cat cruises at 16 knots, tops out at 22 knots,…

Cruising Life
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Fire Destroys 82-Foot Yacht in New Bedford

An 82-foot yacht caught fire at a New Bedford, Massachusetts, marina earlier this week and was totally destroyed. There were no reports of injuries. Local fire officials said they received a call about 5:30 p.m. on Monday saying that a yacht was on fire at Fleet Marina on Popes Island in New Bedford. The yacht was Miss Dunia, a 2007 Horizon, and it was carrying 500 gallons of fuel. The New Bedford fire department said the fire broke out below deck and then spread rapidly. “Long operation. Very complex operation. Manpower intensive,” said New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Krueger. Fire…

Cruising Life
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Brit Rows Wrong Way Across Atlantic, Solo

Ian Rivers, a 55-year-old veteran of Britain’s Special Air Service, just became the first person to row across the North Atlantic by himself, without any support, without using a GPS and navigating with a sextant. All told, Rivers rowed 3,100 nm from New York to the Isles of Scilly in 85 days on his 27-foot boat. This voyage is “the wrong way,” going against the prevailing winds and  currents. About 500 miles from the end, the boat capsized three times in a storm and Rivers was trapped upside down in the cabin filling with water. He suffered a concussion and some…

Cruising Life
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New Jaktar J-30: Go-Anywhere Explorer Boat

Jaktar, a new builder in Stockholm, just launched its J-30 explorer boat, designed for the far north, but capable of cruising everywhere from the near Arctic to the Great Loop. Indeed, Vripack, the Dutch firm that designed the Jaktar, says the brief called for a boat that was “to be ready to go anywhere, at any time.” The Jacktar J-30 is hand-built using marine-grade aluminum. It has a 46-knot top speed from two 300-hp outboards. (You also can order it with two 250-hp outboards for greater fuel economy and range.) The company says the J-30 was “built for performance and…

Boat Reviews
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Sunseeker Manhattan 55 To Debut at FLIBS

The new, aggressively styled Sunseeker Manhattan 55 will make its U.S. debut at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, starting Oct. 27. The British builder also will show its new 65 Sport Yacht there. They will be presented by Sunseeker’s U.S. distributor, OneWater Yacht Group of Fort Lauderdale. A luxury performance cruiser, the Manhattan 55 is marked by windows in all sizes and shapes in the hull and salon, with stainless-steel details, adding to its dynamic look. It’s designed as a comfortable family cruiser, with three cabins and two heads below, a beach club aft, a large open-plan salon, and…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Virginia Oliver: Lobstering at 101 Years Old

Three days a week, Virginia Oliver, 101 years old, gets up at 1:15 a.m., pulls on her boots and goes to work on her son’s lobster boat in Rockland, Maine. Her son, Max, is 76. Virginia’s father was a lobsterman; she’s been working on lobster boats, on and off, since she was 7. Her husband, who died 15 years ago, was a lobsterman. A long time ago, Virginia worked for a printer, but she quit. She wanted to go to work on the boat with her husband. Now, Max hauls the traps and Virginia measures the lobsters, tossing out the…

Boat Reviews
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Leopard Building New 46 Powercat

Leopard Catamarans just announced that they are building a Leopard 46 Powercat, modeled after the award-winning Leopard 53 PC. The latest in the South African company’s new generation of power yachts, the 46 PC will splash in Cape Town this fall and then have its world premiere at the Miami boat show in February. Built for comfort and performance, the Leopard 46 is a stand-alone design. It is not a spinoff of an existing sailboat catamaran. “We have managed to give the Leopard 46 PC a character of its own,” says Anthony Key, the company’s chief designer. “It stands proudly…

Boat Reviews
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Best-Selling BRIG RIBS Still Available in US

Despite Covid-related disruptions in supply chains and disappearing or already depleted inventories of boats around the world, some dealers still have some types of boats on hand. Northstar Yacht Sales in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, for example, has some high-quality BRIG RIBs for sale, and is expecting more in November. BRIGs are well known in other parts of the world. Indeed, the company says they are the largest producer of RIBs in Europe, and the biggest-selling brand in Australia, Sweden, Holland, Finland and the UK. BRIG made more than 2,500 boats in 2019, before the pandemic. They are made in Ukraine…

Destinations
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Montenegro: New Hot Spot on the Adriatic

The Balkan country of Montenegro, about the size of Connecticut, has become of one of the preferred yachting destination in the Med this season. On the Adriatic, between Croatia to the north and Albania to the south, Montenegro offers about 180 miles of gorgeous coastline where sheer mountains dive into the deep-blue sea, with new world-class marinas designed to attract yachts and yacht owners for long periods of time. The often-preferred spot within Montenegro is the Bay of Koto (locals call it Boka) on its northern end, a historic fjord-like spot with charming medieval villages. Lately the superyacht set has…

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