Until August 2025, the standing record for the fastest time to circle the full 6,000 miles of the Great Loop was an amazing 19 days and 19 hours. It was set by Captain Red Flowers in a high-powered 28-foot center console. No one thought the record would ever be broken. But last year, Robert Youens, 71, thought differently and his feat Is nothing short of astonishing for several reasons. First, he was not a young man and weeks of high-speed running is hard work. Second, he was making his record attempt in a 16-foot aluminum Jon Boat. And third, his…
This week, Hinckley Yachts of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, announced that it had acquired the Port of Egypt Marina and boat yard in Southold, New York. The facility is the tenth location in Hinckley’s portfolio of marinas and service yards that range from Southwest Harbor, Maine to Ft. Meyers, Florida. Situated on Peconic Bay where Long Island’s North Fork meets a string of protected barrier islands, Port of Egypt has long been known for its protected marina and its 15 acres of indoor and outdoor storage space. Now, as part of Hinckley Yacht Services, the well-established yard is being thoughtfully enhanced…
The Dutch builder Zeelander Yachts builds four models of their unique and elegant designs, the 5, 6, 7 and the relatively new 8. Each boat is made on a semi-custom basis and in limited production. The 8, at 79 feet, represents the apex of the Zeelander line and is a highly refined motor yacht that combines the company’s unique curvaceous hull and cabin designs with the highest of high-tech engineering and onboard systems. As the builder likes to say, Zeelander yachts are not for everyone. The 8 is a three-season cruising boat with a large enclosed salon and inside steering.…
The Serbian builder Greenline has since inception been dedicated to designing and creating boats that are efficient and eco friendsly. Their work in electric and hybrid power systems has been state of the art and solor in playing an even larger role as panels get more efficient. The new Greenline 42, which was introduced at boot Dusseldorf in January is the latest iteration of all these components. First it is noticeably larger than the 40-footer it is replacing. The cockpit and solon feel more spacious and the master cabin below could be on a 50-footer. Greenline offers the 42 with…
Gilbert Park was getting his boat ready for a 300-mile cruise and decided to give the back end a good survey. The rudders looked fine, but the starboard propeller had some pock-marks that indicated electrolysis. Park wasn’t sure if the prop needed to be replaced or repaired but he knew he needed to take it to the local propeller store to get a professional opinion. And, that meant he had to pull the prop off the shaft. Once the split pin and nuts were removed, Park tried a bit of old-fashioned brute force. Despite a big hammer and a block…
Last Saturday, on Florida’s Biscayne Bay, Claudia Orellanes and Neil Schwabe were thrown from his twin-engine, 27-foot center console as it spun wildly out of control at high speed. As the boat circled, its propellers tragically struck both Orellanes and Schwabe inflicting serious wounds before taking off with no one at the controls. This is the second powerboat fatality on the bay in the last week. Orellanes was pulled from the water by nearby rescuers but died from her injuries. Schwabe was airlifted to an area hospital but as of Thursday no report on his condition had been published. Dramatic video…
Here’s a look at one of our favorite new boats at last week’s Palm Beach International Boat Show where we got a look at the first model to come to North America. The Norwegian boat builder Marex, which launched its new partnership MarexUSA at last year’s Palm Beach show, introduced their new 39-footer. The new design is known as the Marex 390 and fits in the line between the 330 and 440 Gourmet Cruiser. While this two-cabin express cruiser bears the family resemblance of her sister ships, her lines are more futuristic and the salon windows and the hull glazing…
The Spanish builder De Antonio has carved out a special and innovative niche in the performance cruiser market. With futuristic styling, sumptuous living spaces and performance that blows your hair back, the range checks a lot of buyers’ boxes. The new 60 pushes the brands existing envelop right to the edge without sacrificing that special De Antonio DNA. The 60 comes standard with four Mercury Verado outboard that will deliver sped in the mid forties. But, you can opt for four 600-horsepower Verados –a whopping 2,400 horses—that will get you in the 50-knot range. This a really going radical. The…
Lyman Morse, based in Thomaston and Camden, Maine, announced last week that they had begun building an all new Chris Hood-designed 46 LM. The new design expands the LM series and fits between the 35 LM and 57 LM. With classic downeast styling, the new 46 will be a classic combination of traditional Maine character, advanced composite construction and thoroughly modern engineering. Each LM yacht is a semi-custom project so owners have plenty of personal input in the final boat. The LM series models are built in series which means the builder can reduce delivery times while still focusing on…
The 125-foot Cangarda is the last of the sailing steam-powered yachts built in the U.S. during the gilded age of yachting. The yacht was built in 1091by the Delaware ship yard Pusy & Jones for the Michigan lumber baron Charles Canfield. Cangarda has had a storied life. She cruised widely under a series of owners and has entertained the powerful, royalty and world leaders. During World War II, the Canadian Navy used her as a training ship. She even spent 18 month under water when. In 1999 she sank in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, and lay submerged until 2020. But there…
It has only been 15 years since Absolute emerged on the scene in a very crowed segment of the cruising market. Yet, by dint of extraordinary designs and inimitable style, the brand has now developed 10 models from 48 to 70 feet. The new Navetta 62, which was introduced at last fall’s Cannes Festival of Yachting, bears all of her sisterships’ DNA. The plumb bow and hull sides bearing large sculptural glazing match very well with the low slung flybridge and the neat lines of the sheer and bulwarks. There is nothing shy about the new 62 The hydraulic stern…
It has been almost six years since Elon Musk’s visionary company Starlink flipped the “on” switch and changed the way we access the internet when far from cell towers and cable hook ups. Starlink now has. 10 million subscribers and has played vital roles in all walks of life, including the Ukraine’s valiant efforts to beat back the invading Russians. For normal cruisers, Starlink has provided an affordable way to stay linked to the internet and thus allows us to work from our boats anywhere in the world. That means we can live a blended lifestyle in which we can…
At the Ft. Lauderdale International Boats Show, I had the chance to test out the performance of Seakeeper’s Ride stabilization systems aboard a 35 foot performance cruiser capable of hitting 40 knots. We took the boat to government cut and ran it in and out through a nasty washing-machine seaway. The stabilizers are mounted on the stern and make trim adjustments in micro seconds. The effect was dramatic. With the Ride system engaged, the boat leveled off, did not roll or pitch and did not yaw as it moved through the mixed up sea. Turned off, the boat’s motion was…
YANMAR Marine International has announced the launch of its VC30 at Metstrade, a third-generation Vessel Control System, with advanced design and functionality, a newly designed precision-engineered joystickand easy installation. YANMAR’s most advanced control system to date, the VC30 is designed to simplify throttle control and docking in one integrated system, whilst making it easier to view data and create a seamless dashboard. The full system is enhanced by a high-quality display and modern design, including alarger, 4.3” 1000cd optically bonded screen, to reduce reflection and improve readability, with NMEA2000 output. The display unit has an auto dimming function for dark…
On September 10, 1982, three passengers aboard a light aircraft crashed into the sea off the Canadian Maritimes. They were able to deploy their life raft and they had with them the earliest version an Emergency Position Indicating Beacon (EPIRB). They switched it on and set in motion the very first COSPAS-SARSAT rescue. They were found and rescued in a matter of hours instead of the days such search and rescue missions took before the satellite rescue system was in place. Since then, more than 50,000 people have been saved from a watery end by EPIRB technology. For those of…
Larry Graff, the founder and president of Aspen Catamarans, is an adventurer at heart and there are no adventure he likes better than leading a flotilla of Aspen cats and their owners to wild and wooly destinations. In this flotilla, that was the west coast of Vancouver Island off British Columbia. Twenty Aspens gathered in Anacortes, Washington and set off for a cruise in company. Aspen cats are designed for long-haul, efficient cruising and can make excellent average speeds. The design that Larry Graff developed is actually a proa configuration. In a proa, one hull is narrower than the other…
The 4500-square-mile body of water on the U.S. East Coast known as the Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in North American. It is fed by freshwater rivers at its head and then flushed by oceanic tides in is lower regions. The result is an aquatic stew that can be divided into three distinct regions. Blessed with many sheltered harbors, coves and river mouths, the Chesapeake Is a cruising paradise with historic towns like Annapolis and Oxford to visit and easy access to the Potomac River and the historic attractions around Washington, DC. Famed for it seafood –oysters, shrimp and…
The coast of British Columbia in the Pacific Northwest has long held an allure for cruisers. Yet, it is hard to get to on your own boat unless you are based in the Seattle or Vancouver areas so the next obvious option is to charter a boat for an adventure cruise Every year, the Bellingham, Washington-based charter company NW Explorations runs a Mother Goose flotilla charter from their base to Desolation Sound and back. It’s a distance of roughly 300 miles. They have a fleet of mostly Grand Banks trawlers that each can take six or more passengers. The adventure…
On France’s north coast, just south of the famous Normandy beaches, lies the Brittany Peninsula which is blessed with dozens of quaint seaside towns and many good harbors. But, the one hitch is the massive tides that rise and fall 20 feet twice a day. In some of the harbors, the mooring fields dry out completely at low tide so your boat has to be able to rest safely on its own bottom. The larger harbors and river mouths have locks for entry and exit which open on regular schedules. So, timing your arrival to make an open lock is…
Whether you are looking to add radar to your boat or it’s just time to replace an old and out of date unit, there are a lot of considerations that should go into the decision-making process. To start, you need to be certain that a new or replacement radar is compatible with your existing marine electronics. In other words, will the radar display appear on your multifunction display so you can overlay the images onto the digital chart. For simplicity’s sake, it makes sense to stick with one brand for all electronics. The size of radar you choose depends on…
Volvo Penta introduced Joystick steering two decades ago and has continued to pioneer ways to use the combination of engines, thrusters and GPS to help skippers maneuver their boats more easily and precisely. I was involved in the early demonstrations of the Volvo Dynamic Positioning technology back then and was amazed at how well even the prototype held a boat in position and allowed the skipper to turn a boat inside its own length. Last fall at the Ft. Lauderdale show, I got to test the latest Volvo Joystick iteration with the new Assisted Docking Function that allows you to…
At last September’s Cannes Festival of Yachting in the South of France, I attended Beneteau’s annual press event and was introduced to the innovative electric Island Cruising Concept Yacht. Always an innovator, Beneteau had a vision of boating and chartering in the future. Now, Dream Yacht Charters is offering that future in the BVI. Their fleet of sail and power boats now includes the boxy-looking electric hybrid power boats that are like floating beach houses with accommodations for a normal chart6er party The Island Cruising Concept is all about indoor-outdoor living and practical sustainability. The idea is to be close…
In the last few years as I’ve been making offshore trips as crew for my friends, whether back and forth to the Caribbean from New England or across the Atlantic, it seems that a lot of the crew aboard show up with their own hand-held GPSs and an InReach or a satphone. This is a “just-in-case” level of preparation by sailors who have in fact been on boats that were hit by lightning or suffered a battery bank collapse that meant built-in marine electronics were no longer working or reliable. Garmin has long been a leader in hand-held GPSs and…
A charter aboard a fully crewed luxury 53 meter motor yacht is a dream come true. If you have ever dreamed of exploring the Greek islands aboard a vessel with the range, stability, and sheer presence to do them justice, the Persefoni yacht is the answer to that dream. This 53.8-metre motor yacht — built by the storied Italian shipyard Mariotti Yachts in 2012, comprehensively refitted in 2023, and managed by Emperio Yachting Alliance — is one of the most accomplished power cruisers operating in the Aegean today. Her full profile is at persefoniyacht.com/ Built for the Long Haul Serious…
Owning a cruising boat can be pricey to start with and then expensive to operate on an on-going basis. This is particularly true for boat owners who cannot afford the time to to get the full benefit of the cruising life. It has no doubt occurred to many of us that running our boats like charter businesses, with income to offset expenses and other benefits of business ownership, would make the whole process more attractive. But, there are wrinkles to running a charter business on your own, not just with the IRS but with handling bookings, deposits, scheduling and more.…
Here’s a story from the Moorings about a different way to own and enjoy a cruising power catamaran. Richard and Deborah Heinegger, who haul from Kanasa City, have been life long boat owners and at one point lived aboard and cruised they 76-foot motoryacht. When the big boatwas soild and the couple were reensconced in Kansas City, the hankering to own a boat and reconnect with the cruising life was just too strong to ignore. Their solution? Dive into a yacht ownership program with The Moorings. Here’s their story. For Richard and Deborah Heinegger, life has always been closely tied…
Here’s a tragic story about a young, adventurous woman whose life was cut short. Last week, while moored in the Harbour Island resort and marina in the Bahamas, the crew of the 142-foot motor yacht Far From It was preparing the vessel for a charter when they noticed that their stewardess Paige Bell was missing. A search of the yacht brought tragic results. Bell was found stabbed to death in the engine room and near her was the yacht’s engineer Birgito Munoz with self-inflicted but non-fatal knife wounds. The scene suggested a violent and likely sexual assault. Munoz was arrested,…