Cruising Life

Garmin Unveils New, Faster, Chartplotters

By Peter Janssen on September 12, 2023 Cruising Life, Electronics

Garmin just introduced its new flagship GPSMAP 9000 chartplotter series, with 4K resolution, edge-to-edge clarity and a processor that’s seven times faster than previous versions. The new touchscreen chartplotters come in 19-, 22-, 24-, and 27-inch displays, representing the largest size in recreational boating. Prices start at $9,999. They will be available next month. The new GPSMAP 9000 MFDs work with Garmin’s BlueNet gigabit network to provide comprehensive connectivity throughout the boat, connecting multiple chartplotters, radars, cameras and sonars. They also provide multimedia streaming and video, so users can play and hear the same video and audio over multiple screens…

Latest CLB72 Makes Newport Debut

By Peter Janssen on September 11, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

CL Yachts is showing its latest CLB72 cruiser at the Newport Show. With twin 1,000-hp Volvo IPS1350 pod drives, the four-stateroom, three-head yacht tops out at 31 knots, a more-than-respectable speed for a luxury motoryacht. The CLB72 has smooth lines and a sophisticated interior; the idea is to convey simple elegance. There are many social areas inside and out, ranging from al fresco dining on the aft deck to relaxing on lounges on the foredeck. CL says the flybridge on the 72 is one of the largest in its class; it houses the upper helm, lots of seating and a…

American Tug Displays 395 in Newport

By Peter Janssen on September 11, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

American Tug is displaying its 395 Esmeralde at the Newport show this week, the first show since the Kadey-Krogen Group bought American Tug in May. The 395 is one of American Tug’s most popular models, available in a one- or two-cabin configuration with one head. Standard power is a single 380-hp Cummins diesel, producing a top speed of about 14 knots and a range of about 1,000 nm at a displacement speed of about 7.5 knots. An optional 550-hp Cummins boosts the top speed to more than 18 knots. Based in LaConner, Washington, just above Seattle, American Tug was started…

ATF: Conception Fire Started in Trash Bin

By Peter Janssen on September 11, 2023 Cruising Life

Here’s the latest on the fire on the Conception dive boat that killed 34 people off Southern California on Labor Day weekend, 2019, from The Maritime Executive: After carrying out a painstaking recreation of the fire aboard the dive boat Conception, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has determined that the blaze likely began in a plastic trash can on the main deck level – not in a stack of charging lithium-ion batteries, as originally suspected. ATF investigators built a mockup of the main deck level of Conception to test out various scenarios for the fire’s starting and…

Solara Launches New 310 Sport Coupe in Newport

By Peter Janssen on September 10, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Solara is making a big splash with its new S-310 Sport Coupe, displaying it this week at the Newport show and then next month at both the Annapolis and Fort Lauderdale shows The S-310 Sport Coupe is the newest model from Solara Boats, a company that was started just last year by Fluid Motion, the Kent, Washington, builder that makes Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats. “Solara is our new luxury adventure line of boats that are fast, fun, and ready for action,” John Livingston, the president of Solara (and Fluid Motion), said at the time. The new 310 Sport Coupe…

No Transatlantic Crossing for Reza Baluchi

By Peter Janssen on September 10, 2023 Cruising Life

Reza Baluchi, a 51-year-old adventurer who now lives in Florida after being granted asylum from Iran, isn’t going to make it across the Atlantic after all. The Coast Guard stopped him last week, 70 miles east of Tybee Island, Georgia, as he was trying to pedal his homemade hamster-wheel-like vessel from Pompano Beach to London. It was at least Baluchi’s third attempt to do so, and it probably will be his last, since he now faces federal charges of obstructing the Coast Guard, among other things. The Coast Guard cutter Valiant came across Baluchi on a routine patrol as he…

Charges of Drugs, Guns on Nantucket Yacht

By Peter Janssen on September 10, 2023 Cruising Life

Here’s a story involving a doctor and charges of drugs and guns on his 80-foot yacht in Nantucket, from Fox News: Just what the doctor ordered — cocaine, ketamine, guns and prostitutes on a multimillion-dollar, 80-foot luxury yacht moored in Massachusetts’ Nantucket Harbor on Tuesday. Police responding to a call to dispatch about a woman’s possible overdose aboard the Jess Conn, a “petite superyacht” built by Nordhavn in 2021, have arrested its owner, a former physician from Colorado who retired to Florida. Scott Burke, the yachtsman, faces a dozen drug and firearms charges following the encounter and a search warrant…

New Rio Daytona 50: Style and Performance

By Peter Janssen on September 9, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

It’s no surprise that with the Italian-built Rio Daytona 50, style is important. That’s why the three 450-hp Mercury Racing outboards are hidden aft; Rio didn’t want the outboards to interrupt the graceful lines of the hull. But not to worry. Push a button and the engine compartment lifts up so you can access them any time you want. The new 50 is at the top of Rio’s Daytona lineup; there’s also a 34 and a 46. Rio itself was started in Lombardy in 1961, making mahogany motorboats. It launched the Daytona line with the 34 at the Genoa show…

New Rossinavi with Artificial Intelligence

By Peter Janssen on September 6, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

This was bound to happen. Artificial intelligence now is taking to the water, theoretically helping a new luxury yacht cruise more efficiently under electric power, while also keeping tabs (in not quite defined ways) on the crew to make sure they are embracing the new green technology to the full. All this is built into a new 164-foot Rossinavi hybrid named No Stress that was launched last spring and delivered to its owner last week. It’s the first in the Italian builder’s Blue line of hybrid yachts. No Stress has sleek, super-modern lines and an aluminum fast-displacement hull that has…

Lancia Aprea 52 To Debut in Cannes

By Peter Janssen on September 5, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The historic Cantieri Aprea builders in Sorrento, Italy, will unveil their all-new Lancia Aprea at the Cannes Yachting Festival, starting Sept. 12. With its elegant, classic lines, the new 52-foot Lancia Aprea is bound to get a lot of attention there and in the U.S. later on with a special outboard version. The Lancia Aprea line is the latest generation of boats from the Cantieri Aprea builders who date to the 1890s. They started with fishing boats and gained fame in the 1950s by building boats for movie stars who wanted to cruise between Sorrento and Capri. The company says…

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