Beneteau has some big news: It’s starting Project E to launch two new luxurious cruising boats, a 62 and a 73, its largest boats yet, and they’ll have innovative displacement hulls for comfort, space and range. The “E” stands for “expedition,” among other things, and the company says the 62 (pictured above) will have a range of 900 nm at 8 knots, while the 73 (pictured at top) will have a range of 1,400 nm at 10 knots. Announcing the new boats at the Düsseldorf show, Beneteau says they are designed to build on the popularity of its Swift Trawler…
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2 Tugs Collide in Mississippi; 3 Crew Missing
The Coast Guard is searching for three crewmen who are missing after two towing boats collided at mile marker 123 in the Mississippi River near Luling, Louisiana. The collision occurred about 5:30 on Sunday morning. The Coast Guard says the towing vessel Cooperative Spirit was going upriver when it entered a barge fleeting area and hit some barges before colliding with the towing vessel RC Creppel. Four crew from the RC Creppel were thrown into the water. The boat sank in the river. A good Samaritan boat recovered one of the crew. The Coast Guard sent three search-and-rescue boats and…
8 Tips for a Midwinter Check on Your Boat, from BoatUS
For those of us living in the north, it’s time to pay a visit to the boat for a midwinter checkup. It’s also an excuse to go down to the boat and dream about better (and warmer) days ahead. But you want to do this right. Here are eight tips from BoatUS about how to take care of your boat, and yourself, this winter: ANNAPOLIS, Md., Jan. 21, 2020 – Winter solstice may have been one month ago, but on the boater’s calendar, January is generally considered the middle of a vessel’s long winter nap. It’s time to check up on her…
Can a Great White Shark Help Solve a Crime?
Here’s a great story on Fitsnews.com about how a Hilton Head, South Carolina, shark fisherman hopes to use publicity from the great white shark he just caught and tagged to solve the 2016 hit-and-run death of a 14-year-old year old girl named Grace. Massive 2,800-lb. Great White Shark Caught Off Of Hilton Head – Could It Help Solve A Crime? You never know what’s lurking off the SC coast.. By Mandy Matney Could a South Carolina great white shark help the Highway Patrol solve a crime? Hilton Head Island’s great white shark whisperer is giving it his best shot. Chip Michalove, a famous fisherman who has hooked…
Beneteau, Pardo, Solaris: Winners of Boat of the Year Awards
The European Powerboat of the Year Awards were just announced on the opening night of the Düsseldorf show, and the winners included Beneteau, Pardo, Solaris and, in a special category, Volvo Penta. This was the 14th year the awards were announced at a gala dinner. They were chosen by an expert jury from Europe’s leading boat testing organizations and eight leading powerboat magazines. The boat awards were in five categories: Up to 25 feet; up to 35 feet; up to 45 feet; over 45 feet; and displacement (regardless of length). The winners, chosen from a field of 23 nominees, are:…
Feds Say Smugglers Use Yachts To Bring Chinese to Florida
Federal officials say that human smugglers are using recreational yachts to carry dozens of Chinese without papers from the Bahamas into South Florida. The Coast Guard has stopped two boats, one a 63-foot Sunseeker and the other a 70-foot Hatteras (pictured above), as they approached South Florida. Federal authorities charged three men who were running the boats with human smuggling, and said that each of the Chinese paid them thousands of dollars for the trip. In the most recent case, the Coast Guard stopped the Sunseeker, INXS FINALLY, which was carrying 14 Chinese and one Bahamian to the U.S. from…
Bumfuzzle Moves On, Cruising in the Caymans
When we last heard from the Schulte family, they were waiting out the hurricane season up Rio Dulce in Guatemala. But now a new season has started, and they’re on their way again. The Schultes, Pat, Ali, their daughter Ouest, 10, and son Lowe, 8, just reached Little Cayman Island on their 1986 Grand Banks 42 Bumfuzzle, and they’re happy to be there. In late November, the Schultes, from St. Paul, Minnesota, topped off their fuel tanks, giving them about a 1,000 nm range, and headed out into the Caribbean, staying a while in Roatan, the largest of Honduras’ Bay…
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We would like to introduce you to the NC 37, designed for life on one level. The NC 37 has panoramic windows and a large opening sunroof bringing in lots of natural light. The large sliding glass door fully opens, connecting the salon and galley interior with the aft cockpit. The L-shaped aft cockpit can be converted into a sundeck for lounging, while forward the sundeck has a canopy for sun protection while relaxing. Down below, the owner's and guest cabins are similar in size paired with an additional third berth or storage space, plus a head with separate shower compartment. Read more.
Sirena Shows Luxurious New 88 Long-Range Cruiser
Sirena, the Turkish builder of luxury yachts, just displayed its new flagship 88 long-range cruiser at the Düsseldorf show. Designed by Germán Frers, the Sirena 88 has a top speed of 25 knots and a cruising speed of 16 knots. Dialed back to 9 knots, it has a range of 2,100 nm; additional fuel tanks boost the range to 3,100 nm. A raised pilothouse design, the Sirena features the full-beam master stateroom on the main deck, and it has panoramic views. There’s a sitting area to port, and a fold-out balcony. And it has direct access to a private “dipping…
Prestige Announces Groundbreaking New X70 at Dusseldorf
Prestige just introduced a groundbreaking new X70 cruiser at the Düsseldorf show, representing a major departure for the French builder. The new 70 is the first in Prestige’s X series (joining the yard’s Flybridge and S series) and it offers some new ideas about how to use and maximize space on board. The X70 does not have traditional side decks, for example. The side decks that usually are on the main deck level are up top, on the flybridge level, on the X70. And the flybridge is not a traditional flybridge, either. In addition to the walkaround area, it…
Solaris Launches New 48 Lobster Flybridge at Dusseldorf
Solaris Power, based in Forli, Italy, is introducing its new 48 Lobster Flybridge, with more than a nod to traditional Maine-built lobster boats, at the Düsseldorf boat show, from January 18 to 26. Solaris previously had introduced a 55-foot lobster boat and a 48-foot open, which now has morphed into the flybridge version. Norberto Ferretti is one of the three founders of Solaris and he’s been a fan of lobster boats for many years, even when he was running the powerful Ferretti Group. “Among the many boats that I have conceived over the years,” he said, “I was especially smitten…
BRABUS Launches New, High-End, 60-Knot Axopar 37
If you thought the original Axopar 37 was cool, take a look at the new version, being introduced this Saturday at the Düsseldorf boat show. The new boat actually is called the BRABUS Shadow 900, and it’s a collaboration between BRABUS, a German company that transforms luxury cars (think Mercedes-AMG) into even higher-end luxury performance vehicles, and Axopar, the innovative builder from Finland. For the Shadow 900, BRABUS starts with the platform for the Axopar 37 and then customizes it. “BRABUS Marine products are designed for a select group of boat owners who want to enjoy the very best exclusive…
Simrad Launches New Faster, Smoother, Glass Bridge Display
Simrad just introduced a new NSO evo3S Glass Bridge display that it says is particularly appropriate for large cruising and fishing boats. The new display is faster, smoother and easier to use than previous models. The NSO evo3S delivers much faster page changes, cutting loading time in half. It also provides much smoother transitions. A new iMX 8 integrated six-core processor makes movement on the screen – such as panning and rotating charts – smoother than ever before. The increase in power also means that evo3S can multitask easily, even when the screen is split six ways, as in the…
Foldable Oru Kayak Fits in a Duffle, Weighs 20 Pounds
If your boat is squeezed for space, and you have a hard time finding room for a kayak, take a look at the new foldable Inlet model from Oru Kayak. It folds up like an origami, fits into a duffle and weighs just 20 pounds. And it was just named one of Time’s 100 Best Inventions of 2019. Anton Willis, the founder of Oru, got the idea for a folding kayak after he saw a story in The New Yorker about origami. He was an ocean kayaker, but he didn’t have any place to keep his kayak in his San…
Simrad Launches Two New Radars for Smaller Cruising Boats
Simrad Yachting just announced the launch of HALO20+ and HALO20 radars, a pair of compact, pulse-compression units designed for smaller cruising boats. Both radars provide excellent detection with short-range performance, while HALO20+ has the fastest rotation on the market and can detect targets farther away than the HALO20. With a 20-inch dome, the HALO20+ is Simrad’s smallest pulse compression radar yet, delivering a full 360-degree sweep every second. Simrad says it has an industry-first 60 RPM rotation at ranges up to 1.5 nm. These fast updates give boat owners an almost real-time view of close range activity, helping to avoid…
Best Satcom Systems for Smaller Cruising Boats
Large yachts have been able to fit and house satcom systems for many years, letting their owners enjoy satellite-driven communications and entertainment at sea or at the dock. The only problem was that many of these systems were too large (and too expensive) for most cruising powerboats. Now that has changed. Many of the leading satcom companies now have internet, phone and data systems that are appropriate for smaller boats. Here, Marine Electronics Journal takes a look at the best on the market now: INTERNET, PHONE & DATA Intellian FB 250 The Intellian FB 150, FB 250 and FB 500…
NY Times: 52 Places To Go in 2020
The New York Times just published its annual “52 Places To Go” in the coming year story, and it contains some old favorites, as well as some entirely new ones. Here are some in both categories: The Times’ Number 2: The British Virgin Islands. Still recovering from the hurricanes of 2017, the BVI are coming back. Rosewood Little Dix Bay, for example, reopened this month. Richard Branson’s private Necker Island (its Red Dock is pictured above) is on schedule to reopen by April. The Bitter End Yacht Club will open its new marina this summer, with accommodations to follow in…
For 2020: The 20 Best Beach Bars in the Caribbean
You may have been wondering, as you plan your next cruise or charter vacation, what are the best beach bars in the Caribbean? Even if you haven’t been concentrating on this yet, the people at Caribbean Journal have put together a list of “The 20 Best Caribbean Beach Bars to Visit in 2020,” just to get you in the mood. I may be remiss in this department, but I haven’t set foot in most of them; then again, this gives me something to aim for in the year, or years, ahead. The point is that the best bars are more…
Island Hopping in Croatia: 5 Top Spots
Whether you’re an adventure seeker, a foodie, a history buff or just someone who wants a variety of new adventures in your next cruising or charter vacation, you’ll find all the experiences you want on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. In the past few years, the Dalmatian Coast has become increasingly popular (largely thanks to Game of Thrones), but you still can cruise easily through the islands there at your own pace and explore to your heart’s content. The Dalmatian Coast, a narrow belt on the east shore of the Adriatic Sea backed by a rugged mountain range, is the…
Abacos Update: Some Reopenings with More To Come
Absolutely devastated by the historic winds of Hurricane Dorian on Sept. 1, a few spots in the Great Abaco area of the Bahamas are starting to come back. Dorian, with sustained winds of 183 mph, left more than 50 people dead and destroyed almost every building in Marsh Harbour, the largest community on Great Abaco Island – homes, grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, everything. Now the Leonard M. Thompson International Airport in Marsh Harbour is up and running, with Bahamas Air, Western Air and private flights. And the Abaco Inn, a 16-room villa resort just eight miles away in Hope…
Garmin Launches New Hi-Res, Detailed Coastal and Lake Charts
Garmin just made navigation easier along the U.S. coastline and many interior lakes, expanding its coverage and improving the details and shading on its coastal and lake cartography. The new coverage, on Garmin’s BlueChart g3 Vision and LakeVü g3 Ultra premium cartography, will be shown at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. The new high-resolution shading and improved detail showing the ocean floor and lake bottom cover the entire coastline of the continental United States plus 150 inland lakes. New hi-res satellite imagery overlaid on navigation charts provides a more realistic view of your surroundings and helps with situational awareness.…
Get Faster Wi-Fi with Shakespeare’s Stream Internet Booster
Here’s something almost all cruising boat owners say they want: Faster Wi-Fi, both underway and at the dock. Shakespeare Marine has an answer for that. It’s the Stream Wireless Internet Booster, and it uses Shakespeare’s marine cellular technology to amplify weak cell signals, so you can access the Internet faster and more reliably along inshore, coastal and popular cruising routes. The new Stream Wireless Internet Booster is designed for boats of all sizes. It has an outside antenna that communicates with cell towers on land; a stream wireless booster that processes and amplifies the cell signal; and a helm antenna…
Now, AIS on Your Phone with iNavX; No Transponder Needed
Now, with iNavX LIVE, you can get AIS data in the palm of your hand on your smartphone or tablet, without needing a transponder on your boat. The new addition to iNavX software lets you connect any mobile device to the AIS LIVE global network, so that you can see the movements of AIS vessels in real time on the iNavX display on your phone. INavX, an app you can download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, has all the advantages of a mobile chartplotter that you can take on any boat, anywhere, at any time. It…
Raymarine, Vesper, Win Big at Best New Electronics Awards
The National Marine Electronics Association just gave 18 awards for best new products at their annual meeting in Portsmouth, Virginia. The awards were chosen by a five-person panel of judges. The Top award, the NMEA Technology Award, based on innovation, benefit to boaters, practicality and value, went to the Raymarine/FLIR ClearCruise AR (pictured above). Here’s what the judges said: “ClearCruise AR is an industry-first technology that combines augmented reality and advanced image stabilization to help boaters make smarter and faster navigation decisions by placing visual overlays of nav aids, AIS traffic and destination waypoints on Raymarine Axiom multi-function displays. The…
A Guide to Chartering in St. Martin for the First Time
Here’s some great information about chartering in St. Martin if you haven’t been there before, with some up-date-advice from a charterer on a new Moorings 514 power cat. St. Martin Yacht Charter Guide for First Time Guests Published: January 20, 2020 Terese Kerrigan A logical next step for anyone looking to branch out from the British Virgin Islands, half-French, half-Dutch St. Martin is a premier travel destination and a delightfully eclectic cultural melting pot. Known for its laid-back Caribbean charm and stylish European appeal, this upscale sailing paradise boasts sparkling white-sand beaches, designer shopping, superb dining, and scenic hiking. Plus, nearby…
5 Best Charter Destinations for 2020 from The Moorings
Looking for the best charter destinations for the year ahead? Here’s a list of five of them, from The Moorings, which knows a thing a two about the subject: When thinking about the top charter-worthy destinations for 2020 there are many amazing cruising grounds around the world to choose from, but we think we found our 5 favorites… St. Martin and the British Virgin Islands are experiencing a renaissance following the storms two years ago. Greece and Croatia, the most popular boating destinations in the Mediterranean, are experiencing increasing interest from the American market. And Tahiti remains the crown jewel…
Plan Now for an Unforgettable Charter in Historic Greece
Now is a great time to plan your charter vacation for next spring or summer, and you would have a hard time finding a more historic or alluring place than Greece. It has just about everything – easy cruising conditions, beautiful landscapes, ancient ruins, secluded islands, gorgeous white sand beaches, and waterfront tavernas. The place to start is Zia Marina in Athens’ port of Piraeus (Athens is pictured above). To give some sense of history, Piraeus has been a port since the 5th century, B.C. Today, Zia Marina is a fully-equipped, modern marina with room for 670 boats; it’s also…
BVI Update: Many Favorite Spots Now Open
It’s been more than two years since the hurricanes devastated much of the British Virgin Islands, and the recovery has been difficult. Many marinas, charter fleets and resorts were hard hit. But now some of our favorites are open again or getting back to normal. “Normal,” of course, is a high bar to reach, since the BVI are one of the best, easiest and most attractive cruising grounds in the world. Here’s an update from The Moorings, the worldwide charter powerhouse, on what’s open now. Pusser’s Marina Cay, probably high on the list of everyone’s favorite destinations in the BVI,…