Thursday, March 28

Browsing: Cruising Life

If you want a different kind of cruise this summer, one where you can relax while someone else does the driving, cooking and planning, you might want to take a look at the Belmond River Cruises in France. They’re luxurious, relaxed, and they wind through some of the most beautiful parts of the French countryside. Belmond, a luxury hotel and river cruise operator, has a fleet of seven barges in France, offering a variety of routes and experiences. The Hirondelle, pictured above, has four staterooms, all with en suite heads and showers, and it cruises through the heart of the…

The Beneteau Swift Trawler 35 (pictured above), the Tactical T-40 and Raymarine’s ClearCruise Augmented Reality all just won Best in Show awards at the Vancouver International Boat Show in British Columbia. The awards, now in their fifth year, were given by Pacific Yachting magazine. Beneteau’s Swift Trawler 35 won the award for Best Powerboat 39 Feet and Under. The judges said it seemed larger than its 35 feet and liked its innovative use of space, particularly the head with enclosed shower and the walk-around forward berth. They noted that the 35 was Beneteau’s effort to improve its most popular model, the…

If you’re worried about your boat looking like everyone else’s boat, think about the Jet Capsule. It may look like an egg, but the new Royal Version 001 is 26 feet long, 12 feet wide, can carry up to 12 people, and tops out at 62 knots, according to the company. The new Royal Version 001 is a larger, faster and more luxurious version of the original Jet Capsule pod craft. A carbon-fiber door at the rear, opened at the touch of a button, leads to the teak-trimmed interior, with a head, a wet bar and leather seats. The futuristic Jet…

Here’s a thorough – and thoroughly chilling – account from ProPublica of two separate collisions in the far Pacific involving the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain, both Navy destroyers, causing the death of 17 American sailors and injuries to many more. It’s called: Years of Warnings, Then Death and Disaster. How the Navy Failed Its Sailors. Read it here: When Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin was elevated to lead the vaunted 7th Fleet in 2015, he expected it to be the pinnacle of his nearly four-decade Navy career. The fleet was the largest and most powerful in the world,…

Catalina Yachts, which has been making sailboats for the past 50 years, just bought True North Powerboats as an entry into the growing Downeast-styled powerboat market. Catalina also said they would introduce a new True North 38 with twin outboard power to go with True North’s 34 Outboard Express model (pictured above). Sharon Day, the vice president of sales and marketing for Catalina, said the sailboat maker had been talking to its dealers and owners and found that “the True North line is a brand that appeals to sailors, making it a good fit for Catalina yachts.” True North was…

If you want to get some exercise on you next cruise, take a look at this new Schiller water bike. It’s essentially a portable bike sitting between two inflatable pontoons, and it looks like it’s a lot of fun. The Schiller water bike is easy to assemble, use and store. You can put it together in about ten minutes, and that includes inflating the two pontoons. Once it’s launched, you pedal it, just like any other bike, except that you don’t have to worry about tipping over; the two pontoons will keep you upright. When you’re done, you can store…

So you’ve finally reached that dreamed-of cove or anchorage, you’ve dropped the hook, and you’re ready to relax. But is the anchor really set? Will it hold if the wind or current change? Will you have to get up in the middle of the night (we’ve all been there) to reset it at zero dark thirty? The best thing to do before you call it a day and totally relax is to check to make sure the anchor is set and not dragging. Any anchor will drag at one time or another, and then it’s not fun. So once you’ve…

Torqueedo and Zodiac have just launched a 31-knot, all-electric Avon eJET 450 tender, powered by a Torqueedo Deep Blue 55kW motor and a BMW i3 battery. The new Avon is quiet and does not use any fossil fuel. It is designed to appeal to the yacht market, where owners would not have to worry about carrying fuel or oil for the tender, but it serves equally well as a sport boat or a runabout. The eJet 450 has head-snapping acceleration from the Torqueedo’s instant torque, and benefits in speed and range from proprietary Hydrojet technology developed specifically to work with…

In a bow to the ever-increasing move to outboard power in cruising boats, Jeanneau is introducing its new Leader 33 Outboard, with twin 250-hp Yamahas, at the Miami boat show starting Feb. 14. It is designed to be a faster, quieter and easier-to-service version of the previous Leader 33, which had inboard engines. It also can cruise into thinner waters or serve as a picnic boat on a beach; just tilt up the outboards. The new Leader 33 Outboard is a twin-cabin, one-head cruiser, with an open, light-filled salon and a cockpit that simply invites entertaining and lounging in the…

If you want to get in the mood for Valentine’s Day on Feb.14, take a look at what Forbes calls the most romantic island resorts in the world. Here are ten, from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, where you can relax with your Valentine at any time of the year. The amenities range from Robinson Crusoe-type spare to over-the-top luxurious. Take a look, and start packing your bathing suit. If you want to go far afield, the Anantara Medjumbe Island Resort in Mozambique in the Indian Ocean offers some of the most beautiful water on the planet. Here you’ll find…

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