Sunreef just launched its new all-electric 80 Eco catamaran at its yard in Gdansk, Poland. The company says it represents the next generation in green energy and offers unlimited range for luxurious cruising. The Sunreef 80 Eco can be ordered in sail or power versions. It uses ultra-light composite solar panels that are integrated into the cat’s hull sides, superstructure and Bimini; they can deliver up to 40kWp. Sunreef says its ultralight battery bank is 30 percent lighter than the average used in the boating industry; the big cat’s batteries can store from 360kW to 640kW. The advantages of the…
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The Sad Story of an Abandoned Superyacht
The 147-foot Bella T superyacht, built for an American industrialist in 1973 and once owned by a sultan in Malaysia, is in a state of disrepair in Cape Town, South Africa. With multiple changes of names and owners, unpaid and overdue yard bills, lawsuits and countersuits, the yacht, which once hosted the first series of the TV show Survivor, now will be put up for a court-ordered auction on March 1. The yacht originally was the dream of Roy Carver, who made a fortune in the tire retreading business. He hired Arthur de Fever and Doug Sharp to design it,…
Fossil of “Sea Dragon” Found in Britain
British paleontologists have found the fossil of a 180-million-year-old, 33-foot-long “sea dragon” ichthyosaur in a lagoon about 100 miles north of London. They say it’s the largest ichthyosaur ever found in Britain. It had a long snout, big eyes and big teeth. Ichthyosaurs, marine reptiles, first appeared in the early Jurassic Period and then disappeared about 90 million years ago. The fossil’s skull weighs more than a ton. “It is a truly unprecedented discovery and one of the greatest finds in British paleontological history,” Dean Lomax, the leader of the group that excavated the fossil, said in a statement. The…
Pardo Building GT52 Cruiser with Volvo IPS
Pardo, the two-year-old Italian builder, is on a roll. It introduced its new Endurance 60 cruising flagship last fall, and now its starting a GT52 that’s something like a combination of the 60 and the company’s earlier walkaround sport cruisers. The GT52 will use the same hull as the open Pardo 50, but with a longer swim platform. And the Volvo IPS650 pod drives have been shifted aft to free up more interior space in the middle of the boat. But the GT52 will still have Pardo’s trademark slightly reverse bow, its long flush foredeck and a forward-raked pilothouse. It…
Ten People on Boats Killed in Brazil Tragedy
In a freak accident, ten people were killed when a cliff face fell onto their boats on a popular tourist lake in Brazil. Another two dozen were injured, but only two remained in the hospital overnight. Local authorities said the rock face fell after several days of intense rain the area. The accident occurred on Lake Furnas in Minas Gerais state, about 260 miles north of Sao Paulo. The lake is along a series of picturesque destinations popular in the summer, and visitors take boats out to watch the waterfalls in the emerald-colored water. Brazil’s navy sent a team to…
10,000-Mile Adventure Hit by Covid
Sergio Davi, the Italian adventurer, hit an unexpected road bump on his 10,000-nm voyage from Palermo to Los Angeles on his Nuova Jolly 38 RIB. He tested positive for Covid after he landed on Grand Canary Island (see the picture above). Davi has just mild symptoms and self-isolated in a hotel. He hopes to be able to resume his Ocean to Ocean RIB Adventure in one or two weeks. The longest ocean crossings of the entire trip will face him when he starts again; first, an almost 900-nm leg from Grand Canary to Cape Verde, and then an almost 1,800-nm…
Coast Guard: New Rules After Dive Boat Tragedy
The Coast Guard just announced that it will issue a new set of interim rules covering small passenger vessels as a result of its investigation of the fire that sank that dive boat Conception off the coast of Southern California on Sept. 2, 2019, killing 33 passengers and one crew member. The interim rules are the Coast Guard’s first step toward implementing requirements required by statute. They address additional fire requirements, including fire detection and suppression systems, escape avenues, exit drills, firefighting training, watchman monitoring devices, and the handling of flammable devices, particularly rechargeable batteries. The rules follow many of…
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Family Comes From Different Corners of the Globe to Ring in 2022 Together Aboard Their New Nordhavn 68
“We are a family first. Everything about our cruising platform needed to embody that,” said John Ellis, reflecting on how years of researching the perfect adventure yacht led him to the Nordhavn 68. With two grown children attending school in Paris and Boston respectively, it was crucial to California-based Ellis and his wife Erin, that they find a boat that would bring the brood together for family-bonding ocean adventures. A boat so capable, comfortable and spacious that it would thwart any thoughts of hasty returns to whichever corner of the globe they came from.
By all accounts, the Ellises’ brand new N68 Dragon passed the test. The shakedown voyage, moonlighting as a New Year’s holiday cruise to La Paz, had the family wishing the trip could go on forever. “We wanted to have a magnet to draw all of us together whenever possible,” said Ellis, “and we intend Dragon to be that for us.”
Read more about the Ellis family’s journey from yacht shoppers to Nordhavn owners and the details of their first cruise aboard their Nordhavn 68 Dragon.
Hynova Launching Hydrogen-Powered 42
Hynova, a French startup committed to building the first hydrogen-powered recreational motor boat, has come a very long way in a very short time. Chloé Zaied, an entrepreneurial, climate-conscious French yacht captain, founded the company in January, 2020. She drove the first demonstrator, the Hynova 40, around the harbor at the Cannes show in September. Now, Hynova is building the first of its production boats, the Hynova 42, in La Ciotat Shipyards near the Riviera in the south of France. The Hynova 42 will be 41’ 9” long with a 12’ 4” beam and a 16,000-pound displacement. It will be…
CL Yachts Launches New, Prize-Winning 96
CL Yachts has just launched its innovative, prize-winning CLX96 in Hong Kong, and it’s meant to have the luxurious conveniences of a contemporary flybridge motoryacht with the offshore capabilities of an expedition yacht. The CLX96 is the first in the company‘s line of Sea Activity Vessels, with a larger-than-usual amount of interior volume for comfortable living. It also is the first yacht ever designed by Jozeph Forakis from Milan and New York. The yard said it turned to Forakis to bring a “rebel’s insight” into the 96’s lines, and he said he was inspired by the New York City loft…
Sunseeker Plans New Superhawk 55 Cruiser
Sunseeker just announced that it’s building a new Superhawk 55 luxury performance cruiser, the first Superhawk the British company has launched since 2009. The aggressively styled Superhawk 55 is built for sporty handling and blue-water performance, powered by twin 725-hp Volvo IPS950 pod drives. The new Superhawk has the long, low profile of its predecessors, with a wraparound curved windshield. The new centered helm station is flanked by two navigators’ seats. In a change from previous models, the lower deck houses a salon and galley amidships and two cabins fore and aft. The long hull-side windows providing light to the…
Spirit Building Retro 35 Foiler with Electric Power
Spirit Yachts is working with BAR Technologies in the UK to build a high-tech, electric-powered, foiling speedboat that’s modeled on an American Gold Cup racer from the 1920s. The new boat, called the Spirit 35 Foiler, will have an Alaskan yellow-cedar frame covered with carbon fiber, solid titanium retractable foilers, and African Sipo wood topsides. Sean McMillan, the CEO and chief designer of Spirit Yachts, says he drew the boat along the lines of the classic 30-foot Baby Bootlegger racer that was powered by a converted World War 1 type Hispano Suiza aircraft engine and won the Gold Cup in…
What To Do If You Lose Your GPS Signal
What should you do if you’re cruising and you lose your GPS signal? Never happen? Well, yes it will. Not often, but it happens on new boats, old boats, coastal boats and offshore boats. But not to panic. Here’s some great advice from Simrad about what to do next: What happens to my boat if I stop receiving satellite positioning data? In the very rare event that the satellites of the GPS global positioning system fail, are taken offline or are blocked, you’ll still be absolutely fine. Here are five useful tips covering what to do if you lose live…
Red Voyager: An SUP with a Deep-V Hull
Ever since C. Raymond Hunt first developed the Deep-V hull more than 60 years ago, it’s been the hull of choice for Hunt Yachts and many other brands around the world for its superior offshore performance. But Ray Hunt could not have foreseen the latest iteration of a his Deep-V: It’s now on a new line of Red Voyager inflatable stand-up paddleboards, because it’s said to cut through the water easier, providing a smoother ride for the person standing on top. The Red Paddle Company is using a Deep-V on three Voyager SUPs to make cruising long distances safer and…
Icom Launches New SSB at METS Show
Icom just unveiled its new state-of-the-art SSB at the big METS marine trade show in Amsterdam. Designed for offshore cruising, the new Icom IC-M804 provides long-range MF and HF radio communications designed to keep you safe anywhere in the world. The new Icom has a DSC radio that scans six distress signals, a distress call button and an integrated GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) providing global coverage through a constellation of satellites. The Icom conforms to the latest European and international standards. SSB radios have been used in offshore vessels for generations. (When Eric Schweikardt, the photographer, and I drove…
Why You Need AIS. A Primer
Here’s a good primer about why you should have AIS on your boat, from America’s Boating Compass and the US Power Squadrons: AIS, or Automatic Identification System, can make your boating safer. Consider the following scenario: You have an AIS system on your boat. You are on watch, 20 miles off the coast, sailing in hazy conditions. An AIS alarm sounds on your chart plotter. Upon scanning the horizon, you see nothing. When you return to your display, you see a target 5 miles ahead traveling at 23 knots and heading toward you. The AIS information data box shows that…
Top 10 Pictures of the British Virgin Islands
The new year certainly has gotten off to a rocky start, with snow and ice from the Northeast to Seattle, hundreds of cars stranded for more than a day on I-95 in Virginia, airlines cancelling flights left and right, and schools opened/closed/hybrid in cities and towns across the U.S. It’s time to think of happier (and warmer) days ahead. In a shameless promotion, the British Virgin Islands Tourist Information Center will help us with that, since they just posted their top ten photos from 2021. The BVI, of course, have some of the best cruising and chartering grounds in the…
Largest Yachts in World Gather in St. Barts
The rich and famous, along with some of the largest and most stunning yachts in the world, are gathering in St. Barts for the holidays, ending with the island’s blowout fireworks on New Year’s Eve. St. Barts, of course, has been a cruising destination for the rest of us for years and years. It’s an island paradise, one of the most alluring in the Caribbean, filled with a combination of French and Swedish history plus a Caribbean-style cosmopolitan charm. The island occupies just eight-square miles in the West Indies, but it has 14 spectacular beaches, and the harbor in the…
A Blowout Winterfest Parade in Fort Lauderdale
Everybody loves a parade, and it seems that boating people particularly love a boating parade. There are boat parades across the U.S. this holiday season, where owners deck out their vessels with lights, Santas, reindeer and lot of other things to get in the holiday spirit. It’s not surprising that holiday parades are big in Florida; indeed, boat parades started there in the 1920s when owners decorated their boats with candles and cruised the waterways singing Christmas carols. Things have changed a bit since then; the candlepower, and horsepower, have grown. The wattage was most on display last Saturday night…
Great Barrier Reef Explodes with Color
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef exploded in color recently during a massive spawn, a major sign of life in one of the world’s natural wonders. The spawn, when corals fertilize billions of offspring by casting sperm and eggs into the Pacific, took place along the length of the 1,429-mile-long reef, an area protected by UNESCO. Marine scientists dove under water to the reef off the coast of Cairns, Queensland, to study the annual spawn. They said the colors this year were proof that the coral can regenerate itself despite earlier, life-threatening, ecological threats. The Great Barrier Reef, a network of 2,500…
Raymarine Unveils New Line of Cyclone Radars
Raymarine just introduced its new Cyclone series of solid-state, open-array radars at the Fort Lauderdale show. The all-new CHIRP pulse compression radars come in 3-, 4- and 6-foot arrays, with two power options for each size: The Cyclone, with 55 watt, 6kW performance, and the Cyclone Pro, with 110 watt, 12kW performance. All the models have Raymarine’s new detection technology, including the Cyclone Bird Mode that will help anglers find the birds that lead to schools of baitfish. The Cyclone radars have a new look, developed from an aircraft-wing design, and they also have a low profile, measuring just 13.2…
Garmin Launches New Handheld GPS, Radar
Garmin is making a lot of news at the big Fort Lauderdale show, with the introduction of a new series of marine handheld GPS models, as well as two new solid-state dome radars. The handheld GPSMAP 79 has an all-new appearance with a modern display to help you navigate safely and enjoy your time on the water. It has a rugged, floating design with a suite of easy-to-use nav tools that fit in the palm of your hand. The new Garmin has a larger, optically-bonded display and a scratch-resistant glass lens that prevents fogging, improves contrast and enhances clarity, even…
Best New Sat Comms for TV, Internet, Phone
Whether you’re walking the docks at a boat show or any self-respecting marina, you’ll see satellite domes on top of a lot of boats. In the old days (four or five years ago). they were only on large boats; now they’re on boats as small as 25 feet. Some carry live TV programming from shore, while others provide links to the internet, data and phone service. But which ones are best? Each year, Marine Electronics Journal asks top manufacturers to identify the one model in various categories that they define as their Best & Brightest, the one the manufacturers rate highest…
Garmin, Furuno, KVH Big Winners at NMEA
Garmin, Furuno and KVH were among the big winners at the annual National Marine Electronics Association awards competition recently at the organization’s meeting in Orlando, Florida. Judges named the Shadow-Caster Light Commander the Best New Product, while Furuno’s NavNet TZT16F won the NMEA’s Technology Award. Furuno won six other awards (Furuno has won 242 of the awards since they started in 1971). For its part, KVH won three, extending its winning streak to 24 straight years. NMEA members, the top marine electronic professionals in the U.S., cast votes on line in 18 categories for the Product of Excellence Awards. These…
Tour Lefkada Island in Greece on a RIB Charter
Here’s a different kind of charter in a different kind of place. Infinity RIB Cruises offers charters on its RIBs in the gorgeous waters around Lefkada Island on the Ionian Sea off the west coast of Greece. The RIBs can take you to some of the most beautiful beaches in the Med, with dazzling white sand and dramatic cliffs, or you can enjoy picnics and water sports on the turquoise waters surrounding the island. Infinity will be more than happy to customize your RIB cruise, all offered with an experienced captain, so you can enjoy your time on board, on…
MarineMax 545 Cat Ready for BVI Charter
Here’s some good news. MarineMax Vacations just announced that they still have some charter time available before the end of the year on their flagship 545 power catamaran in the British Virgin Islands. There are few places that are more appealing at any time of the year for a charter than the BVI, but a holiday there, among some of the best cruising grounds in the world, would be a holiday to remember. Starting a new year there wouldn’t be too shabby either. The MarineMax Vacations fleet is at Nanny Cay on the south side of Tortola. On the 545,…
Phuket Opens Again for Cruising, Charters
Phuket, the largest island in Thailand and one of the world’s most exotic cruising and charter destinations, is open again. And the Moorings charter base there also is open, with sail and power charters available. With a heavy reliance on tourism, Thailand’s economy took a big hit during the worst of the pandemic, and the country was off-limits to a lot of foreign travelers. There are still protocols (see the Thai embassy link below), but the Thai government adopted a separate plan called the Phuket Sandbox that has allowed vaccinated international travelers to visit the island. It’s easy to get…
Sunreef Launches Luxury 60 Power Cat Charter
Sunreef now has its luxurious power cat Otoctone 60 for charter, joining the larger Sunreef Otoctone 80 in a successful charter fleet. The new 60 is a charter version of the Sunreef 60 that was recognized as the Best Power Driven Catamaran at the World Yacht Trophies last year in Cannes. Built in the historic shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, the Sunreef 60 power cat has an ultramodern design, lots of space on all three levels (due to its 35-foot-plus beam, representing more than half the cat’s length), and a seaworthy hull that delivers a comfortable ride in all kinds of…