Cruising Life

MOB from Cruise Liner Rescued after 15 Hours

By Peter Janssen on November 27, 2022 Cruising Life

A 28-year-old man spent about 15 hours in the Gulf of Mexico after he fell off the Carnival Valor cruise ship before he was rescued. A passing container ship spotted him in the water, waving a sock over his head, and a Coast Guard helicopter lifted him to safety. The Coast Guard rescue swimmer said that the man, James Grimes, was at the end of his rope and probably had just minutes left to live. Grimes was on board the Carnival Valor with his parents and his sister for a Thanksgiving holiday cruise from New Orleans to Cozumel, Mexico. The Carnival…

Nimbus Launches 26-foot Commuter

By Peter Janssen on November 16, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Nimbus, the fast-growing Swedish builder, has launched its new Commuter 8, a 26-foot, single-outboard boat that’s made for year-round cruising. The new C8 is the third, and smallest, entry in Nimbus’ Commuter fleet, after the C9 (30 feet) and C11 (40 feet). Jonas Göthberg, the Nimbus commercial director, said “With the C8, we reach a broader audience, partly because it has a lower price tag, but also because of its smaller size.” The C8, he said, can fit into snug harbors where larger boats might not fit, and it also can be trailered. The C8 is powered by a single…

Cruisers Intros 50 GLS with 3 600-hp Verados

By Peter Janssen on November 16, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Cruisers Yachts just introduced its new 50 GLS luxury sport cruiser at the recent Fort Lauderdale show, powered by three 600-hp Mercury Verado outboards. The new cruiser is the largest in the company’s GLS sport line that starts at 34 feet. It’s a two-cabin, one- head boat, with large, open spaces fore and aft. The aft deck, which can be covered by an extendable awning overhead, has an unusually large amount of open space, particularly when the two balconies are deployed from the bulwarks on each side. Even with the outboards, the swim platform is large enough that there’s room…

eD-TEC Unveils All-Electric Drive System

By Peter Janssen on November 16, 2022 Cruising Life

The German startup eD-TEC just unveiled its new eD-QDrive all-electric drive system at the big METSTRADE show in Amsterdam, and says it can power everything from tenders to 98-foot yachts. The drive system is lightweight, scalable, and organized around a plug-and-play system for fast and easy installation. It was developed by the “Believer Team” at eD-Tec in Munich, which was founded by Michael Jost, the former chief strategist for the VW Group. The drive is a complete system with a surface-drive prop working through an AI box and a battery bank to a helm interface. It can be used for…

EXTRA’s New X99Fast Heading for Miami

By Peter Janssen on November 16, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

EXTRA Yachts just launched its first X99Fast yacht in Ancona, Italy. EXTRA says it has Americanized the new 43-knot yacht, and it will be heading for Miami. The new EXTRA was designed by Guida, and the naval architecture was by Palumbo Superyachts. The X99 Fast can hold up to ten guests in four cabins, plus four crew in two cabins. The galley is aft in the salon, concealed behind a glass partition that can be raised or lowered for privacy. It leads to a large aft deck that slopes down to the water. Twin balconies can be lowered from the…

Mercury Launches First V10 Outboards

By Peter Janssen on November 15, 2022 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Mercury Marine just introduced two new 350-hp and 400-hp 5.7L Verados, the industry’s first V10 outboards. They’re powerful, smooth and quiet, and they’re designed for a wide range of applications. The new V10s weigh just 695 pounds, and have 26-inch mount spacing, the same as Mercury’s V8 outboards They are compatible with most boat designs, either for OEM applications or for repowering. Mercury now makes outboards in V6, V8, V10 and V12 configurations. The heart of the new V10 is its naturally aspirated powerhead with a quad-cam design. It has a standard 150-amp alternator, capable of charging the boat’s batteries.…

RescueME Wins DAME Design Award

By Peter Janssen on November 15, 2022 Cruising Life

The annual DAME Awards recognizing superior design were just announced at the opening of the big METSTRADE marine equipment exhibition in Amsterdam. The awards were started in 1991 to promote design in all fields and to recognize the best-designed products at the show. This year the DAME Design Award winner was the Ocean Signal RescueME PLB3 AIS Personal Locator Beacon (pictured at top). The jury said it is a “combination of an AIS man overboard device and GPS with a Cospas-Sarsat personal locator beacon.” It called the RescueMe “a standout product” because of “its harnessing of multiple technologies to save…

Outer Reef Updates Its Popular 650 Classic

By Peter Janssen on November 10, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Outer Reef is re-engineering its 650 Classic Motoryacht, a size range that’s popular with cruising owner-operators. The updates include many trends that American owners have desired on their yachts in recent years. Outer Reef has been making the 650 for more than a decade, and Jeff Druek, the builder’s president and CEO, said they considered feedback from existing and potential owners before re-engineering the 650. Many of the changes have already been incorporated in the Outer Reef 700 Classic, one of the company’s most popular models. But some owners prefer a slightly smaller yacht than the 700 for a variety…

Bluegame Unveils New Power Cat Lineup

By Peter Janssen on November 9, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Bluegame just announced that it’s building a new line of luxury multihull yachts, called BGM, that will start with a highly creative 75 and include Volvo’s hybrid diesel-electric powertrain. Bluegame, part of Italy’s Sanlorenzo Group, unveiled plans for the new BGM75 at the Cannes Yachting Festival; the boat is scheduled to be ready for the same event next September. It was designed by Philippe Briand, the London-based, performance-oriented naval architect. The idea was to create the space and efficiency of a multihull with the style of a monohull. The BGM75 has a relatively narrow beam for a 75-foot power cat,…

Longreach 44 Power Cat “Ticks All the Boxes”

By Peter Janssen on November 9, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Looking for a long-range, comfortable power catamaran, an experienced cruising couple from Las Vegas have just bought a Longreach 44 in Australia. They plan to take delivery next spring and keep the boat in Seattle in the summer and San Diego in the winter. The couple, Chad and Maren Schwartz, filmed a video with Longreach at the Sydney boat show. (A new company, Longreach is based just outside Sydney.) They said they originally wanted to cruise around the world, but had trouble finding the right boat. They decided they wanted a catamaran platform for its comfortable ride. About four years…

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