Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Oligarchs Saying Do Svidaniya to Yachts

The U.S. and many European nations are seizing Russian oligarchs’ megayachts as part of the sanctions imposed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So far, authorities have seized (or tried to seize) oligarchs’ yachts in France, Italy and Germany, among other places. They are acting under both European Union and American sanctions. Addressing the oligarchs in his State of the Union speech, President Biden said “We are joining our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets. We are coming for your ill-gotten gains.” The French Customs Service made one of the first seizures,…

Cruising Life
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Sergio Davi Reaches Colombia on 36-foot RIB

Sergio Davi, the 65-year-old Italian adventurer, just arrived in Cartagena, Colombia, the ninth stop on his 10,000 nm voyage from Palermo, Sicily, to Los Angeles on his 36-foot RIB. Davi tied up at the Club Nautico Marina in Cartagena (see picture at top), after a 26-hour, 443-nm trip from Curacao, the Dutch island in the Caribbean. He has been skirting the coast of South America ever since he arrived in French Guyana on Feb. 10. That was after the longest leg of his entire expedition – 1,770 nm from Cape Verde – and  took six hours and eight days. It…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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All Eyes on Palm Beach Show, Starting March 24

The 40th annual Palm Beach show that starts March 24 will be getting an extra amount of attention this year, as many people are waiting to see if all the record-setting performance of the past year, and the Miami show last month, will continue or will be hobbled by a host of recent events. For its part, the Miami show was a huge success, drawing more than 100,000 visitors to its five locations, and may boat companies reported record sales and profits. Dave Foulkes, the CEO of Brunswick, the largest boat builder in the U.S., said the show was “outstanding.”…

Boat Reviews
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Lyman-Morse Completing Hood 35 Hardtop Express

Hull number one of the instant-classic Hood 35 Lyman-Morse Hardtop Express is nearing completion in Thomaston, Maine, and will be launched this summer. And Lyman-Morse is already working on hull number two, a flybridge version, that will be ready next year. (The boat is also offered in a soft top version as a day boat.) In any configuration, the new 35 has the elegant, Down East lines that never go out of style. And it has superior performance from twin 440-hp Yanmar diesels with Hamilton water jets. The water jets, of course, offer a safety factor and low draft of…

Cruising Life
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Ship Carrying New Porsches, VWs, Sinks Off Azores

The cargo ship carrying thousands of VWs and Porsches from Germany to the U.S. that caught fire almost two weeks ago off the Azores just sank in the Atlantic. The 650-foot Felicity Ace was battered by waves and “lost stability and sank,” according to the Portuguese Navy, while it was being towed by a large salvage tugboat. The ship sank 253 nm off the Azores on Tuesday morning. It tilted about 45 degrees to starboard, and then went down in more than 9,000 feet of water. The Felicity Ace was carrying 3,965 new cars from the Volkswagen Group from the…

Cruising Life
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Climate Change Increasing Too Fast: UN Report

Climate change is happening so fast that we may not be able to turn it around, according to a new report by a global group of scientists working with the United Nations. Rising sea levels are a particular concern, along with increasingly intense storms, particularly on the Gulf and East Coasts of the United States. By 2050, sea levels could  be as much as 10 to 12 inches higher than they are today, affecting metropolitan areas, waterfront communities, power plants and oil refineries. The report, issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, involved 270 scientists from 67 countries. It…

Cruising Life
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Autonomous Ferry Cruises 149 Miles, Docks Itself

What claims to be the world’s first autonomous ship has completed a 149-mile trip and then docked itself, without any human intervention. The 728-foot, 15,000-ton Soleil ferry navigated Japan’s Seto Inland Sea with a cargo of cars and reached speeds of 26 knots entirely on its own, setting a milestone for autonomous boating. Autonomous boating is still in infancy stage and has to operate under international regulations. Soleil had crew of seven on board for its autonomous run but they didn’t do anything. Mitsuyuki Unno, executive director of the Nippon Foundation, said, “I hope this will lead to further development…

Boat Reviews
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CL Yachts Launching New 65 Family Cruiser

CL Yachts, the luxury brand from Cheoy Lee Shipyards, is expanding its B Series of family-friendly cruisers. A freshly designed CLB88 was on display at the Miami show last month, and the Hong Kong-based company just announced that its brand-new CLB65 will be ready for its debut at the Newport International Boat Show in September. The 88 is notable for its design. Indeed, it won a Good Design award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. The new 65, designed by veteran naval architect Howard Apollonio with Interiors by Carmen, will try to follow that success. A flybridge…

Cruising Life
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Ukrainian Sailor Tries To Sink Russian’s Yacht

A Ukrainian sailor, upset about Russia’s invasion of his homeland, just tried to scuttle a 156-foot yacht owned by a Russian oligarch in the harbor of Port Adriano in Mallorca. The sailor, identified as Taras Ostapchuk, 55, was the chief engineer on the Lady Anastasia, a 476-ton superyacht owned by Alexander Mikheev, the CEO of a Russian arms export company and the former head of the Russian helicopter federation. Ostapchuk got angry when he saw a video of Russian missiles hitting Kyiv, his home town. He thought that Mikheev’s company supplied the missiles to the Russians. He went below and…

Charter
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Yanmar Invests in GetMyBoat Rental Business

Yanmar just announced that has bought a majority stake in GetMyBoat, which it says is the world’s largest boat rental marketplace. All told, Yanmar America, a subsidiary of Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd, invested $21 million in GetMyBoat. The money will be used to expand GetMyBoat and accelerate its  international growth as travel markets reopen after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yanmar, with headquarters in Osaka, Japan, has been working with GetMyBoat since an initial investment in 2018. Despite the pandemic, Yanmar says GetMyBoat has exceeded a 10 times growth in revenue since 2019. Launched in San Francisco in 2013,…

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