Cruising Life

How To Read a Chart: What Are Those Lights Telling You?

By Peter Janssen on June 10, 2019 Cruising Life

Sooner or later, your ability to read a chart, whether it’s on paper or on an electronic display, will directly affect the safety of your boat and your crew. That’s particularly true at night or during times of restricted visibility. Here’s a good, clear refresher story from Skipper Tips about how to read the markings for night lights that will help keep you on a safe course: Imagine that your GPS has been unreliable for the past several hours. You approach the coast as the sun dips below the western horizon. An overcast promises a black night without the benefit of starlight.…

Volvo Inroduces New, More Powerful and Efficient D4 and D6 Engines, Plus Updated IPS and Vessel Control System

By Peter Janssen on June 5, 2019 Cruising Life

Volvo Penta just introduced the next generation of its D4 and D6 diesel engines, the first major changes since they were first introduced in 2003. The new engines will deliver more power and will be more reliable and more economical; indeed, they can cut operating costs by one-third. Beyond the newly redesigned engines, Volvo also is introducing an updated IPS pod drive and an upgraded Electronic Vessel Control System. So far, Volvo has delivered more than 100,000 of the D4 and D6 engines in three applications: IPS, Inboard and Aquamatic sterndrive. The new engines have been reengineered to deliver more…

New Cruisers Cantius 46: Easy Cruising, Easy Entertaining

By Peter Janssen on June 5, 2019 Cruising Life

The new Cruisers Cantius 46, the latest in the Wisconsin builder’s coupe series, makes cruising comfortable and easy. It’s a two-stateroom, two-head cruiser with a 31-knot top speed, and it’s designed to be used by a couple or a family and it invites entertaining, either underway or at the dock. One of the major social features of this new Cruisers is the grill station under a hatch in the transom. It’s meant to be used from the wide, hydraulic swim platform, and it has an electric grill and fridge, serving as an al fresco barbecue station. The cockpit itself has…

Florida Charter Captain Arrested, Accused of Getting Drunk, Firing Handgun and Refusing To Return Passengers to Shore

By Peter Janssen on June 5, 2019 Cruising Life

By ABC7 Staff | June 4, 2019 at 5:07 PM EDT – Updated June 5 at 8:22 AM SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – A charter boat captain was arrested on Sunday, accused of getting intoxicated on his boat, firing a handgun and refusing to return his passengers to shore. Shortly after midnight on June 2, Sarasota Police and the U.S. Coast Guard responded to 2 Marina Plaza in Sarasota after receiving calls from passengers aboard a charter ship saying the captain, 36-year-old Mark Bailey, was intoxicated, had fired off rounds from a handgun and was refusing to bring them to shore.…

Act Now To Save on Great Charter Specials from The Moorings

By Peter Janssen on June 4, 2019 Cruising Life

The Moorings, the worldwide chartering powerhouse, has some special offers that may be too good to pass by. Sure, you can always book your special charter, with your family or a group of friends, in the British Virgin Islands or the Abacos for next February, when everyone else will be at home shoveling snow. But you also can have the same charter vacation in the same place on the same boat for a special price if you act now. Here are just two examples: In the Summer Cruising Special, you can save up to 15 percent by chartering in some…

New All-Electric, Swedish-Built, Eelex 8000 Hits 40 Knots, Can Go 100 nm

By Peter Janssen on June 4, 2019 Cruising Life

One of the newest all-electric boats, the 26′ 2″ Eelex 8000 comes from X Shore a groundbreaking company in Stockholm, Sweden. The company says the Scandinavian-designed boat, with a flat bow and an open transom, has a top speed of 40 knots. At 25 knots, it has a range of 50 nm, and in the 8-knot area it has a range of 100 nm. X Shore was founded by Konrad Bergström, an entrepreneur from a boating family who was worried about increasing plastic and pollution in the water. He wanted to make a green boat that left no carbon footprint,…

New Argos Nautic RIBs: High-End, High-Performance Tenders for Cruising Boats

By Peter Janssen on June 4, 2019 Cruising Life

The new Argos Nautic Yachting series, with a 10-foot RIB and a larger 13’ 6” RIB, offers a combination of style, comfort and performance in a tender designed for cruising boats. The new RIBs are highly customizable; you even can have them painted to match your larger boat. The smaller Argos Nautic 305 model (in picture above) can hold four adult passengers, while the larger 396 mode (in top picture)l can hold five. In either one, you’ll feel like you’re getting behind the wheel of an Alfa or a Ferrari on the water. (The steering wheel itself comes from Isotta.)…

Jacob Adoram, Former Air Force Fighter Pilot, Sets Record Rowing Non-Stop Solo from Washington State to Australia

By Peter Janssen on June 3, 2019 Cruising Life

Jacob Adoram, a former Air Force fighter pilot and lifelong adventurer, left Neah Bay in Washington State last July 7, starting an epic 7,145 solo, nonstop row across the Pacific to Cairns, Australia, without any support at all. He’s already set the world’s record for the longest time at sea on a solo rowboat (313 days) and that was last month. He’s almost within sight of Cairns now, making 1.3 knots, and he should land any day now. In the selfie picture at the top, Adoram has just cut his beard. It was getting in his way. That was day…

Cruise Liner Hits Dock and a Tourist Boat in Venice. See Video

By Peter Janssen on June 2, 2019 Cruising Life

Rome, Italy (CNN) A cruise ship crashed into a Venice dock on Sunday, hitting a moored tourist boat and sending onlookers running for safety in what one witness said resembled a “scene from a disaster movie.” The cruise ship, MSC Opera, rammed into the San Basilio terminal, and hit a smaller tourist boat — the River Countess — that was docked there, the local port authority told CNN. Four people suffered “light injuries” in the accident, it said. The incident happened at around 8.30am local time on the Giudecca canal, one of the busiest in the Italian city which is hugely…

How To Tell If a Shark’s In the Water. First, Take a Spoon…

By Peter Janssen on June 1, 2019 Cruising Life

Here’s some advice – with a grain of salt – from Country Living: During a family vacation to Edisto Beach, Josh Rinder of Aiken shared a one-minute instructional video on Facebook for his foolproof shark detection method. Even the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has put its weight behind the hack, calling it a “great trick to detect nearby sharks.” In the video (below), Rinder, 33, stands at the ocean with a big spoon. It’s the flavor of the water that’s the key, he explains. First, he says, you scoop up some of the water from the ocean. Then put it…

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