Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Dead Whales Washing Up on Outer Banks Beaches. At Least One Hit by a Ship

A growing number of dead whales are washing up on beaches on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Some appear to have been hit by ships, but others have died of still unknown causes. The latest incidents involve four dead whales found on beaches in the Outer Banks in just two weeks earlier this month, part of a rising death toll over the past two years. One humpback whale was found on a beach in Corolla, which is on the Outer Banks between Kitty Hawk and Virginia Beach. Another, also a humpback, was found the same day not far away…

Cruising Life
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Coast Guard Faces Backlog of Repairs, Grounded Planes, After Shutdown

Here’s a sobering story from The New York Times about how the government shutdown has affected the Coast Guard. It’s a story about grounded aircraft, postponed repairs and reduced missions. Read it here: WASHINGTON – The government shutdown that ended last month has taken a lasting hit on the Coast Guard, which has grounded aircraft, stopped ship repairs and will leave parts of an air station in Puerto Rico without emergency generators for the start of hurricane season because of a backlog that will take months to process. Internal documents obtained by The New York Times show that the Coast…

On Watch
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Miami Recap: More Energy, More Enthusiasm, More Innovation

It’s easy to sum up the just-ended Miami boat shows with one word: Energy. There was so much going on, between the boat show on Virginia Key and the yacht show downtown, that the energy was almost palpable. The logistics of traveling between the shows was not easy, but once you arrived there were new boat intros just about everywhere, new hull shapes (foils, anyone?), boats with seven outboards (yours only has two?), boats with hybrid power to keep your cruising quiet, green and potentially unlimited, and  boats with artificial intelligence that prevents you from running into the dock (you…

Cruising Life
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Ocean Alexander’s New 45 Divergence: A Fast, Creative High-End Day Yacht

I knew the Ocean Alexander 45 Divergence was a different kind of boat, but I didn’t realize how different it was until I stepped on board at the Miami Yacht Show. Many builders are now making large day boats, high-end sport boats and larger and larger center consoles, all with more and more powerful outboards. The Divergence turns that market on its head. Ocean Alexander is a luxury yacht and megayacht builder with a lineup from 70 to 155 feet. It created the new Divergence line for people wanting a high-end, yacht-quality day boat. “Yes, you can look at the…

Cruising Life
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Dream Boat Clubs To Open Across U.S., Offering Low-Cost, Worry-Free Boating

Here’s something that seems like the right idea at the right time. Riding the wave of a sharing economy, Dream Yacht Charter just announced that it will start the Dream Boat Club in the United States, offering members access to a wide variety of powerboats at a reasonable price. In the announcement at the Miami Boat Show, Dream Boat Club said it would partner with Zodiac and Beneteau to roll out clubs in the U.S. Dream Boat Clubs were started just two years ago in Marseilles, France, and have proven popular in Europe. They give people access to boating without…

Cruising Life
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Elegant New CL Yachts 72, a 31-Knot Cruiser, Makes a Debut in Miami

CL Yachts, a new brand under the Cheoy Lee Shipyards umbrella, unveiled its first two yachts at the Miami Yacht Show – a CLB76 and a just-sold CLB72. The new owner of the 72 celebrated the sale with a champagne toast for his family and friends; he plans to cruise in Florida and the Northeast. The new 72 (pictured above) is a four stateroom, four-head cruiser, with a two-berth crew cabin and head aft. It carried a listing price of $3.95 million. Powered by twin 1,000-hp Volvo diesels with IPS1350 pod drives, it has a top speed of 31 knots…

Cruising Life
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Last Seen Off Cape Cod, Salty the Great White Shark Now Swims with Divers Off Jupiter, Florida

Salty, a great white shark, gets around. He was tagged swimming off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in August, 2012. Now he’s been photographed swimming with some freedivers off Jupiter, Florida, where he was identified by shark experts who saw his picture on the internet. Salty was last seen by a group of friends who were spearing fish in about 60 feet of water off Jupiter. They were diving off a local wreck, and one of them had just speared a cobia. The shark wasn’t particularly interested in the cobia or the divers, they said. It was just swimming big loops around…

Cruising Life
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Coast Guard Dogs Complete Helicopter Training: Great Video

The Coast Guard Auxiliary just reposted this great video from ABC News showing two Coast Guard dogs completing helicopter training in San Francisco Bay. It was taken a while ago, but it’s very cool. How many dogs complete helicopter efficiency training by getting lowered from a Coast Guard helicopter? The dogs, Evy and Ricky, are explosive detection dogs and have been working with the Coast Guard for many years. In this training, they had to jump on board a Pave Hawk helicopter and perform several hoists, working with a Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team. Called “canine Coasties,” they…

Cruising Life
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TowBoatUS Captain Saves Boat Owner from Drowning, Crocodiles

The owner of a 40-foot Silverton owes his life to the fast thinking of Captain Lee Hartman, who drives a TowBoatUS vessel out of Black Point Marina south of Miami. We know that Hartman definitely saved the owner from drowning; he probably saved the man from being attacked by the saltwater crocodiles who live there. Hartman was just honored at the annual BoatUS Towing Conference in Arlington, Virginia. He happened to be in the right place at the right time, but his refusal to give up saved the owner’s life. Black Point Marina is the largest public marina in Miami.…

Cruising Life
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Aquila, Beneteau, Introduce Foils on Cruising Powerboats

Foils, it seems, are coming to powerboats. Introduced on America’s Cup and other racing  sailboats a few years ago, they are now being tested and launched on recreational powerboats. At the Miami boat show, Aquila announced it would offer foils as a $27,000 option on their 36-foot cruiser, while in France, Beneteau announced that they had just tested foils on a 31-foot prototype. In Miami, Lex Raas, the president of Aquila (part of MarineMax), displayed a model of the foil that sits between the hulls of the Aquila 36 catamaran. There’s a relatively large foil in the middle of the…

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