Thursday, March 28

Browsing: On Watch

Zeelander, the high-end Dutch yard, is going for what it calls a sensuous new contemporary look, starting with its new almost-56-foot Zeelander 6. It just delivered hull number one with a paint job that matched the color of the owner’s Ferrari Superfast 812. “Our boats still offer the unmatched comfort and performance for which Zeelander is known across the world,” said Sietse Koopmans, who founded the company in 2008. “But with the launch of the first Zeelander 6, we are shifting the dial from retro classic towards a more timeless contemporary design.” After consulting with clients, Zeelander decided to undertake…

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game just cancelled this year’s snow crab season in the Bering Sea for the first time ever. It said that 90 percent of the snow crab population has been lost in the past few years, probably as a result of warmer waters and climate change. The current number of crabs, the department said, is below the threshold for opening the fishery. The annual season usually opens on Oct. 15. The snow crab fleet consists of about 65 boats; some of them are in the Coast Guard’s picture of Dutch Harbor, above. The crabbers and…

Hunt has launched its new Ocean 68 Flybridge yacht, the latest in the legendary builder’s line of classic, sea-kindly Down East cruisers.The Ocean 68 has a large extended flybridge, a custom interior, and the deep-V hull that provides a fast, safe and soft ride offshore in all kinds of conditions. Hunt’s Ocean series already has a 56, 63, and 76; the new 68 is designed to fill the gap between the 63 and the 76. All the boats are designed to provide the best ride in their size range. The 68 gets up on plane easily, and provides a dry,…

The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the largest in-the-water show in the world, starts Wednesday, Oct. 26, and runs through Sunday, Oct. 30. It promises to be bigger and better than ever. This year is the 63rd annual for the show, and it now stretches across seven locations (still centered around the Bahia Mar Yachting Center, just across from the beach), with more than 1,300 boats and 1,000 exhibitors. Last year, 100,000 people attended the show; this year, the organizers expect many more. Fort Lauderdale calls itself the yachting capital of the world, and the show reflects that standing. The…

A week after Hurricane Ian swept across Southwest Florida with an apocalyptic force of 150-mile-hour winds and a six-foot storm surge, the full scope of its damage is coming into focus. So far, 127 people have been killed, including 33 who drowned just in Lee County, the area around Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Pine Island and Sanibel Island. Several hundred thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. People lost their homes, their cars, their jobs and, if they had them, their boats. The Coast Guard, National Guard and local search-and-rescue organizations rescued 3,800 people by helicopters, boats and emergency…

“Hang on,” warned Peter Johnstone, the chairman of MJM Boats, as he nailed the throttles all the way forward on his new 46-foot MJM 4 off Newport, Rhode Island. And WOW! The acceleration was fast, almost explosive, as the twin 600-hp V12 Mercury Verado outboards shot it forward. It not only was fast, but it also was smooth, seamless, and quiet. “The 4 is the fastest, and quietest, boat we’ve made,” Bob Johnstone, Peter’s father, told me a few days later at the Newport boat show, where the 4 was named Best New Powerboat. Bob Johnstone founded MJM in 2002…

GB Marine Group just introduced its new Eastbay 60, an elegant, three-stateroom sedan with the company’s patented V-Warp hull and a top speed of 38 knots, at the Newport show. The new cruiser is the eighth model in the line since Eastbay launched its first boat, an Eastbay 38, in 1993. That boat had a C. Ray Hunt hull. Now all of the yachts in the GB Marine Group – Grand Banks, Palm Beach and Eastbay – have the V-Warp hull for comfort, range and speed. And they are all made at the rapidly expanding GB Marine Group yard in…

Mike Straub, a very determined software developer from Omaha, Nebraska, just completed the Great Loop on his 12-foot Sea-Doo. Straub started on June 9 from Bellevue, just south of Omaha on the Missouri River, and put more than 6,000 miles under his hull until he crossed his wake on the Missouri earlier this week. Straub wrote on his Facebook page, Sea Doo Looper, that he’s now going up the Missouri and plans to arrive back in Omaha on Saturday. For Straub, the Loop was hardly a whim. He believes in living his passion. A few years ago, he drove across the…

Four Winns, now part of the massive Beneteau Group, just unveiled its totally new TH36 catamaran at the Cannes Yachting Festival. Based in Cadillac, Michigan, Four Winns says the TH36 is the first in a new line of power catamarans. The TH36 has two cabins, with two heads, below and can be powered by twin 300-hp or 350-hp outboards. The new cat is a truly international effort. Four Winns hired the Garroni Design studio in Italy to develop the lines for the TH catamaran series, and French naval architect Marc Lombard to create the stable and efficient hull shape. “At…

The Newport International Boat Show, marking the start of the big show season on the East Coast, starts on Thursday, Sept. 15, and runs through Sunday, Sept. 18. One of the largest and most important shows in the United States, the Newport show covers 14 acres in historic Newport, Rhode Island, centered around the Newport Yachting Center downtown. The Newport show has always been one of my favorites, because almost all of the news boats are there, and then, well, because it’s in Newport, one of the iconic boating destinations in the world. This year the show, the 51st annual,…

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