Cruising Life

NOAA Hurricane Update: Not Good News

By Peter Janssen on August 8, 2021 Cruising Life

This year’s Atlantic hurricane season has gotten off to a bad start, and now NOAA says things may get worse. Indeed, in its annual mid-season update, NOAA now says there’s a 65 percent chance that we’ll have above-normal activity for the rest of the season, which ends on Nov. 30. “A mix of competing oceanic and atmospheric conditions generally favors above-average activity for the remainder of the Atlantic season, including the potential return of La Niña in the months ahead,” said Matthew Rosencrans, the lead hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. The center says the chance of a near-normal…

Numarine Launches 37XP with 6,000-nm Range

By Peter Janssen on August 8, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Numarine, the Turkish builder, just launched the first hull of its 37XP expedition yacht in Istanbul. It’s now on its way to the south of France for its showing at the Cannes Yachting Festival, starting Sept. 7. With a steel, full-displacement hull, the Numarine 37XP is powered by twin 800-hp CAT diesels, giving it a top speed of 14 knots and an ocean-crossing range of 6,000 nm at 8 knots (it holds 13,472 gallons of fuel). The 121-foot yacht is larger than what we usually cover, but I think it’s interesting to see what’s out there in the long-range, expedition…

Shipping a Nordhavn 59 from Florida to Mexico: Video

By Peter Janssen on August 8, 2021 Cruising Life

In June, Larry McCullough and his wife, Jamie, shipped their Nordhavn 59, Independence, from North Palm Beach, Florida, to La Paz, Mexico, and McCullough made a first-rate video of the entire experience. He calls it the good, the bad, and the ugly. It deals with the entire experience, including dealing with brokers, preparing the boat for shipment, and the condition of the boat once it arrived in La Paz. He told me he hoped that other owners could learn from his experience. The McCulloughs are experienced boat owners, and they bought Independence, hull number one of the Nordhavn 59 Coastal…

Network of Currents in Atlantic Breaking Down

By Peter Janssen on August 8, 2021 Cruising Life

The crucial network of currents in the Atlantic, including the Gulf Stream, is slowing down, and is now the weakest it’s been in more than 1,000 years, according to a new study published in the British journal Nature Climate Change. The slowdown is reaching a tipping point with dramatic consequences, including a more rapid rise in sea levels along the east coast of the United States, colder temperatures in Europe, reduced rainfall in parts of Africa, and even more monsoons in the tropics. The study looked at the circulation patterns of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, the conveyer…

Coast Guard Offloads Record $1.4 Billion in Drugs

By Peter Janssen on August 7, 2021 Cruising Life

The Coast Guard just announced its biggest drug haul in history, offloading more than $1.4 billion worth of cocaine and marijuana from the 418-foot cutter James in Port Everglades, Florida. The James was flanked by the 181-foot Royal Canadian Navy coastal defense vessel Shawinigan at a press conference announcing the offloading. The drugs, 59,700 pounds of cocaine and 1,430 pounds of marijuana, were seized by the James, the Shawinigan and eight other American and Dutch ships in 27 different seizures in the eastern Pacific off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America and in the Caribbean. “Interdicting these drugs…

Vripack Launches Luxury Version of California 52

By Peter Janssen on August 4, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Vripack, the Dutch yacht design studio that is working with Nordhavn for some of its larger yachts, just launched a semi-custom California 52 XT weekender in Ibiza. Built by Waterdream in the Netherlands, the California 52 XT is bound to turn heads anywhere in the world, and it has a two-tone paint job that matches the colors of a BMW M8. Waterdream, founded by Prince Bernhard van Oranje of the Netherlands, won the Best Innovation Award at the Cannes World Yacht Trophies with the California 52 last year. At that point, the Prince got the idea to make a special…

Vicem Offers Restyled 65 Classic in Fiberglass

By Peter Janssen on August 3, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Vicem, the highly regarded Turkish builder, is reintroducing its restyled and re-engineered 65 Classic yacht, but this time owners have a choice of building it in cold-molded wood (per the 2018 original) or in fiberglass. The company says it has moved to the fiberglass option for a faster build time, as well as for lower maintenance costs. It now has three of the new 65 Classics under construction, two in fiberglass and one cold-molded. The latest version of the 65, with its low profile, long sheerline, beautiful tumblehome and timeless Downeast-style looks, has a new full-beam master stateroom amidships. It…

Sessa Launches Innovative Fly 68 Gullwing

By Peter Janssen on August 3, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Sessa has launched its innovative, open Fly 68 Gullwing, with original glass doors that fold up from the sides of the salon. If they remind you of the iconic Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing (produced from 1954 to 1963), that’s not an accident. The Sessa gullwings create a large opening in the salon; they fold up and out of the way, providing immediate access to the wide side decks while flooding the salon with light and fresh air. With its raked-back windshield, low, open flybridge, windows all around and enormous sun pad on the foredeck, the new Sessa flagship is a…

“Best & Brightest” New Autopilots

By co_admin on August 3, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

Autopilots are becoming almost essential equipment on new cruising boats, but how to choose the right one? To help you out, the Marine Electronics Journal asked manufacturers to single out their Best & Brightest autopilots for review. These are not necessarily the latest models, or those with the most features, but ones that are the most popular or technologically advanced. Here are the replies from Garmin, Simrad, Raymarine, ComNav, Furuno, Octopus, SI-TEX, and B&G: Garmin’s Reactor 40 hydraulic autopilot (pictured at top) keeps you on course at cruising speeds, minimizes heading error, reduces power consumption and more, so you can…

Linssen Launches New 50 Coastal Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on August 2, 2021 Cruising Life

The brand-new Linssen 500GS is the largest open-cockpit boat the Dutch yard has built since it was founded in 1949. Although it was designed for cruising the inland waterways of the Netherlands and France (and anywhere else in Europe), the 500GS would be equally at home in coastal cruises in the U.S. or on the Great Loop. With its air draft of just 10’ 8,” the newest Linssen could easily slide under most of the bridges in Florida and the Southeast. The Linssen has a feature that could appeal to owners in colder climes, as well (not surprising, with its…

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