Author Peter Janssen

Boat Reviews
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Sargo Launches New All-Weather 45 Explorer

Sargo Boats just launched its new 45 Explorer, the Finnish builder’s largest yet, a safe, tough, all-weather cruiser, just like its predecessors. The new 45 features wide doors on both sides of the light-filled, modern wheelhouse for easy access to the high walkaround decks, a forward raked windshield, a large sliding sun roof, and social areas fore and aft. Sargo’s new flagship comes with either two or three cabins, sleeping four or six people, and two heads below. Sargo offers several Volvo power options for the 45: twin 440-hp stern drives; twin 440-hp IPS600 pod drives, or twin 480-hp IPS650…

Cruising Life
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Fiona Tracking North; Destructive Storm Surge

After devastating Puerto Rico and the Turks and Caicos, Hurricane Fiona was set to sideswipe Bermuda as a Category 4 storm with winds of up to 73 mph and then continue churning north toward Nova Scotia and the Canadian Maritimes. The Atlantic hurricane season got off to a slow start this year, but Fiona made up for lost time. It killed at least five people in the Caribbean as it tore through last weekend, including one in Guadeloupe, two in Puerto Rico, and two in the Dominican Republic. (It slipped past the Virgin Islands.) Fiona hit Puerto Rico as a…

Cruising Life
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MIT Develops Portable Push-Button Desalinator

A group of scientists at MIT has developed a portable desalination unit that turns seawater into drinking water at the press of a button. The new unit weighs about 22 pounds, is the size of a small suitcase, takes less power to run than a cellphone charger, and can be run by a portable solar panel. The scientists, from MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics, published information about the desalinator in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. The new desalination unit does not use filters or high-pressure pumps that are found on most portable desalinators today. Instead, it uses electrical power…

Destinations
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Hampton, VA: A Cruisers’ Treat

For snowbirds heading south soon, an overnight (or longer) stay in Hampton, Virginia, offers one of the better treats on the entire trip. As the real estate people say, it’s all about location, location, location. And here, Hampton is pretty much at the top of the list. It’s almost next to Norfolk and Mile Zero of the ICW (the Julia Tuttle Causeway in Miami is at Mile 1,087), and it also offers a rich variety of marinas, history, museums, parks, restaurants, and things to see and do. By boat, Hampton is easy to get to. It’s a natural harbor at…

Boat Reviews
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New Cosmopolitan 66 Electric Cat

The aluminum-hulled Cosmopolitan 66 is a new player in the rapidly growing electric catamaran scene. Built by Cosmopolitan Yachts, a Spanish company, the 66 is designed for unlimited offshore cruising, with a focus on its sea-keeping abilities, electric technology and respect for the environment. The company founders, Christian Braun, a German entrepreneur and active yachtsman, and Ivan Salas Jefferson of Iddes Yachts, chose aluminum because of its ability to be recycled, as well as for its light weight. The new cat has foils between its hulls to provide lift and deliver a soft ride. The Cosmopolitan 66 has two propulsion…

Cruising Life
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New Mo-Jet: Five Toys in One

Choices, choices. So you can’t decide which water toy to take out today. Well, take a look at the new Mo-Jet and your problems are solved. It’s five toys in one. Made in Germany with Kickstarter funding, the Mo-Jet is based on a modular system, so you can add, or subtract, modules depending on what you want to do. You can configure it as a stand-up board, a ride-on electric surfboard, even an underwater scooter. It has a foil, so you can fly. You just swap out attachments in seconds. The Mo-Jet can be everything from a four-foot bodyboard to…

Boat Reviews
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Gagliotta’s Lobster 35 Heading for U.S.

Cantieri Gagliotta just introduced its Lobster 35, a luxury day boat, at the Cannes Yachting Festival. It’s due to be shown in the U.S. at the Fort Lauderdale show at the end of October. Gagliotta’s Lobster 35 is just the latest iteration of the worldwide trend to produce contemporary versions of Maine’s iconic lobster boats. The Gagliotta 35 has the look of a lobster yacht, but you’d be hard pressed to find a Maine lobsterman pulling many traps on one. Gagliotta started making boats in Naples in the 1950s. Since then, it’s produced a series of race boats, fishing boats,…

Boat Reviews
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Williams Unveils New, Improved DieselJet Tenders

Williams Jet Tenders just announced it was upgrading the two largest RIBS in its DieselJet range, and launched one, the 565 model (pictured here) that’s more than 18 feet long, at the Cannes Yachting Festival. The larger 625 model will be launched soon. They both have a new look and layout with all-new decks optimized to provide more space. The layouts also make it easier and more comfortable to walk around the boats. Mathew Hornsby, the commercial director of Williams Jet Tenders, says the new models have a host of improvements and upgrades “which not only enhance the performance but…

Boat Reviews
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Front Street Launches 41-Foot Custom Hunt

The Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, Maine, just launched a new 41-foot custom dayboat named Blue Chip that it made in collaboration with Ray Hunt Design. The new boat, with its classic Down East lines, low profile and long sheer represents an iconic Hunt design, with the deep-V hull that C. Raymond Hunt first developed for its superior blue-water performance more than 60 years ago. The boat is powered by twin 480-hp Volvo IPS650 pod drives, with a top speed of 38 knots and a cruising speed of 32 knots. The topsides and deck are cored fiberglass with vinylester resin for…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Grand Banks Launches New Eastbay 60 in Newport

GB Marine Group just introduced its new Eastbay 60, an elegant, three-stateroom sedan with the company’s patented V-Warp hull and a top speed of 38 knots, at the Newport show. The new cruiser is the eighth model in the line since Eastbay launched its first boat, an Eastbay 38, in 1993. That boat had a C. Ray Hunt hull. Now all of the yachts in the GB Marine Group – Grand Banks, Palm Beach and Eastbay – have the V-Warp hull for comfort, range and speed. And they are all made at the rapidly expanding GB Marine Group yard in…

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