Cruising Life

How To Use AIS Symbols on Charts

By co_admin on April 30, 2023 Cruising Life

Here’s some great advice from Skipper Tips about how to use AIS symbols on charts to help you cruise safely: Imagine cruising into a new channel, scanning the chart, and finding some buoys have a magenta circle around the buoy symbol. What does this mean, and how can you use these navigation markers to boost cruising safety? Most cruisers already know the value of the Automated Identification System, or AIS, and how it helps prevent collisions at sea. Some buoys and beacons are also equipped with AIS transmitters which give the position, description, and purpose of the aid. Three types…

Northcoast Unveils New 415HT Flagship

By Peter Janssen on April 27, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Northcoast Boats in Bristol, Rhode Island, just announced that it’s building a new flagship Northcoast 415HT that the company says is “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” The new Northcoast carries traditional, no-frills New England lines and a dedication to seaworthiness and performance. “Our goal is to satisfy the most experienced mariners who choose to own a real boat with a timeless practical design, clean and simple,” said Jose Daponte, owner of Northcoast Boats and C&C Fiberglass Components, Inc. Powered by four 300-hp Yamaha outboards, the 415HD has a projected top speed of more than 50 mph. The hull has a…

Formula’s Fast New 500 Flagship

By Peter Janssen on April 27, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Formula’s new 500 SSC is a 60-knot flagship that will serve well as a platform for an afternoon picnic on an island beach or a week-long cruise in the Bahamas (or anywhere else). Formula has always managed to pack in a lot of amenities and comfort in its smaller boats, as well as a turn of speed based on its double-step FAS3Tech hull. The new 50-footer simply carries these virtues to a new level, where both the living and the ride are easy. Power for the 500 comes from four 600-hp V12 Mercury Verado state-of-the-art outboards. These not only produce…

A satellite image shows a miles-long blob of Sargassum off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. Image from University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Laboratory.

Record Blob Closing in on Florida

By Peter Janssen on April 26, 2023 Cruising Life

The giant blob of Sargassum that stretches 5,500 miles across the Atlantic from Africa grew larger than ever last month, scientists report. It’s already hitting beaches in Florida and Mexico, and much more is on the way. Researchers from the Optical Oceanography Laboratory at the University of South Florida have been studying satellite images of the blog, taken by NASA and other agencies, and measuring its size and direction. They report that it weighed in at 13.5 million tons in March, an all-time-record for that month. “These blooms are getting bigger and bigger and this year looks like it’s going…

BMW Planning Electric-Powered Boat

By Peter Janssen on April 25, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

BMW and Tyde, a high-tech German startup, just announced that they’ll unveil a new luxury electric-powered boat at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17. The two companies said they have developed the new boat under “strict secrecy” and would not divulge any details, except to say that its name is Icon and that it would have zero emissions. Icon, it turns out, was developed by BMW’s Designworks studio, and it will have a futuristic look. It also will take some cues from BMWs i car line, using BMW’s green technologies. The new boat will be designed to the highest…

90-Foot Yacht Is Sold, Sinks

By Peter Janssen on April 25, 2023 Cruising Life

The Astor, one of two Vitech 90s ever built, sank off the East Sussex coast of the UK recently, just a few months after it had been sold. The yacht, described as the flagship of the Vitech fleet when it was launched in Taiwan in 1993, had spent the past decade at the Brighton Marina. It was sold in January, and the new owner reportedly was moving it earlier this month for refurbishing. The asking price had been the equivalent of about $186,000. The British Coastguard rescued the crew of two people by helicopter when the Astor started to sink.…

Mochi 44: New England Lines, Italian Style

By Peter Janssen on April 25, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Mochi-Craft 44, the Italian version of a New England lobster boat, was first launched almost two decades ago. But the new version, with its Coral Red hull and twin 600-hp Cummins diesels, is still turning heads on both sides of the Atlantic. Mochi dates its origins to the early 1960s and the port of Pesaro on the Adriatic. For a while it made flybridge yachts, but in 2001 the Ferretti Group bought it, moved it to nearby Forli, and launched a new line called the Dolphin. Today, the Mochi-Craft line runs from the 44 up to a 74. The 44…

Credit: Pantaenius Yacht Insurance

How Safe Are Lithium Batteries?

By Peter Janssen on April 24, 2023 Cruising Life

How safe are lithium batteries on boats? That is a question that is becoming increasingly important as more and more builders around the world are using lithium-ion batteries to power solar/electric vessels, and as more and more boat owners and guests are bringing small lithium-powered devices on board. A symposium of marine industry experts recently met in the UK to try to find some answers, and to judge the fire risk that lithium-ion batteries pose on boats big and small. Their conclusions, as reported in Motor Boat & Yachting, the British publication: The technology is safe, but the risks increase…

Archipelago Launching Methanol-Powered Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on April 23, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Archipelago zero.63, built by Chartwell Marine on the Isle of Wight, aims to become the first expedition-class, recreational boat using methanol power. A relatively new British company, Archipelago launched its first boat, an aluminum-hulled 47 power cat with twin 420-hp Iveco diesels, a 30-knot top speed and a 3,000-nm range, just last summer. Now it wants to bring the methanol-powered version to market, estimating it will have a 20-knot top speed and a 4,000-nm range. The new cat will be powered by a combination of a methanol-reforming system and a methanol combustion engine. It will have a dedicated…

A New Look at U-Boat Worx’s 123-foot Sub

By Peter Janssen on April 19, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

We usually deal with boats that go on top of the water, and cruising boats that are owner-operated, to boot. But U-Boat Worx, the Dutch submarine builder, just released some renderings of its 123-foot Nautilus, and they’re just too good not to share. U-Boat Worx says that Nautilus is “the ultimate adventure vessel” because it’s both a luxurious superyacht on the surface and a submarine that can dive down to 650 feet below the surface, carrying up to 10 passengers and seven crew. Power comes from a series of diesel/electric motors ad a 1,200kWh battery pack. Nautilus was designed in…

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