Thursday, March 28

Browsing: On Watch

Earlier this week, Iain Macneil and his four-man crew rounded the Cape of Good Hope off South Africa on his converted 77-foot rescue boat Astra, completing their voyage around all five capes on the Southern Ocean. Just after sunrise on April 26, 146 days after Astra left Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, the crew celebrated rounding the Cape of Good Hope with a bottle of champagne (see picture above, with Macneil in foreground). “The views of Cape of Good Hope and the rising sun over Africa were truly stunning and a truly fitting backdrop for this final cape,” he wrote…

The National Transportation Safety Board has just released its report about an accident on the lower Mississippi River involving a 599-foot tanker and a 70-foot tow boat with two barges that has some lessons for us all. The NTSB said the accident was probably caused by the tanker captain’s decision to pass the tow and its barges in a large bend in the river, with lots of other traffic around and a strong following current, as well as poor communications between the captains of both boats. The accident occurred in the afternoon of March 16, 2021, near mile 104 of…

It catches your eye by day, but the Absolute 60 Fly is simply stunning at night, when all the light from the windows all around, even in the large cutouts in the hull forward and amidships, show their stuff. Absolute calls the new Fly line Prisma, or prism, and the name is certainly appropriate, given the combination of light and space throughout the yacht. The 60 Fly is designed for an owner-operator, and it’s powered by twin 725-hp Volvo IPS950 pod drives, with fingertip joystick control. Absolutes also have Volvo’s Assisted Docking system that coordinates GPS and sensors to make…

President Biden just nominated Admiral Linda L. Fagan as the next Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. If confirmed, Admiral Fagan, who started out as a deck officer on the Polar Star, a 399-foot icebreaker, will be the first woman Commandant of the Coast Guard and the first woman to lead any branch of the U.S. military. Admiral Fagan has served as the Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard (essentially its CEO) since last June. She previously was Commander of the Pacific Area. Since her graduation from the Coast Guard Academy in 1985, she has served on all seven continents.…

Northern Marine has just launched its latest 57 pilothouse long-range expedition yacht, designed for an owner-operator to cruise anywhere in the world. Stuart Archer, the general manager of Northern Marine in Anacortes, Washington, wrote me that the 57, powered by a single 325-hp John Deere, has a range of 5,000 nm at 8.75 knots. The boat holds 2,600 gallons of fuel and burns 4.2 gph at that speed. Top speed is over 10 knots. Northern Marine has a rich heritage of making commercial fishing boats, working trawlers and long-range expedition yachts. It was bought by Seattle Yachts in 2019, with…

The new Outer Reef 900, a long-range cruiser with a legendary pedigree, is making its world debut at the Palm Beach boat show this week. The new 900 is powered by twin 750-hp John Deere diesels, giving it a top speed of 24 knots, and a range of 3,000 nm at 8.5 knots. Outer Reef has earned a solid reputation for its long-range cruisers lately. Indeed, two have gone around Cape Horn, one with company president Jeff Druek on board. This latest Outer Reef was ordered by veteran cruisers who have owned many top-tier yachts in the past. Two years…

The new Hardy 42 is a solid, traditional trawler-type design with a high-tech twist. It’s a hybrid, with a 16-knot top speed coming from a single 440-hp Yanmar diesel, or a 6-knot top speed from its 20kW electric motor. The new Hardy is the first built by Cockwells in Falmouth, England, since Cockwells took over the Hardy line in 2020. The Hardy fleet runs from 32 to 65 feet. This 42 was already under construction then, ordered by an owner who wanted the offshore performance and range (600 nm at 13 knots) of the diesel with the eco-friendly qualities of…

Prestige, the high-end French builder, just announced that they’re launching a new line of power catamarans, starting with the M48. Prestige has been making yachts from 40 to 70 feet since 1989, but they’ve all been monohull motoryachts. The new M-Line, starting with the 48, will change all that. Part of the Beneteau Group, Prestige will have the new cat ready for the Cannes Yachting Festival next September. Powered by twin 320-hp Volvo diesels with V-drives, the M48 is projected to have a top speed of 20 knots and a range of 600 nm at 8 knots. At any speed,…

The 40th annual Palm Beach show that starts March 24 will be getting an extra amount of attention this year, as many people are waiting to see if all the record-setting performance of the past year, and the Miami show last month, will continue or will be hobbled by a host of recent events. For its part, the Miami show was a huge success, drawing more than 100,000 visitors to its five locations, and may boat companies reported record sales and profits. Dave Foulkes, the CEO of Brunswick, the largest boat builder in the U.S., said the show was “outstanding.”…

Candela, the innovative Swedish builder, says it’s at the iPhone-like tipping point for revolutionizing boating with its brand-new, all-electric C-8 foiling craft. After 16 months of development, Candela just tested the first C-8 at its headquarters in Stockholm and the company says it is now ready to start production. The C-8 foils at 16 knots, leaving no wake, noise or emissions behind. At 24 knots, the boat has a range of 50 nm. Top speed is 30 knots. Candela is expanding and moving to a new factory in May. It plans to produce 400 boats a year by 2024. The…

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