Author Peter Janssen

On Watch
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Fountaine Pajot Plans Entry-Level, 36-Foot Power Cat

Reflecting the growing popularity of power catamarans, Fountaine Pajot just announced that it will build a new 36-footer, the MY 4.S, its entry-level cat aimed at the heart of the U.S. market. The new 36 will replace the Fountaine Pajot 37, the French builder’s first power cat that it launched five years ago. (Almost 100 37s have been sold since then.) “We entered the power catamaran market five years ago, and we continue to invest and innovate in this sector with great potential,” said Romain Motteau, Fountaine Pajot’s general manager. The new 36 does not have a flybridge, but Fountaine…

Cruising Life
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Winners of the Annual MBY Motor Boat Awards

The editors of Motor Boat & Yachting, the British magazine, just announced the winners of their prestigious annual Motor Boat Awards. The awards were for boats in six categories, and they were announced in a virtual ceremony, because of the pandemic. The editors tested all the finalists for the awards, some 29 boats, in the past year. Hugo Andreae, the magazine’s editor, said that all the finalists were “boats that I’d happily recommend to a friend.” (The Prestige 420 Fly is pictured above.) Here are the winners: Sportsboats and RIBs: Nimbus T8 Sportscruisers Up To 40 Feet: Grandezza 37CA Sportscruisers…

Boat Reviews
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New Electric 3400 Herley Power Cat with 2,500 nm Range

Herley Boats, the New Zealand builder, just launched a new electric, aluminum Herley 3400 power cat with a range of 2,500 nm at 8 knots. The new Herley is silent, and has minimal impact on the environment. It runs on solar/electric or diesel power. Its top performance comes from running on electric and diesel simultaneously. Running on its battery alone, the boat travels at 6 knots for six hours. But it has a “range extender” that includes a 120kW permanent-magnet diesel generator that provides the 2,500 nm maximum range. The electric drive comes from twin 100kW motors that can propel…

Charter
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New MarineMax Charter in British Columbia

Here’s a new charter idea from MarineMax Vacations that you can put on your wish list for when the pandemic is over, the borders are open, and we can go cruising anywhere we want to again. It’s a week-long cruise along the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, starting in Vancouver and crossing the Strait of Georgia to the islands and harbors on the western side, ending up in the BC capital of Victoria. This cruise would take you through some of the most beautiful and interesting cruising grounds in the Pacific Northwest, along jagged coastlines with pine trees growing down…

Cruising Life
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Brunswick Starts On-Water Classes for New Boaters

The good news is that more and more Americans, often seeking an escape from the  pandemic, bought powerboats last year than ever before. The bad news is that at least some (many?) of them were new to boating, and were not familiar with the Rules of the Road or even basic boat-handling. Now the Brunswick Corp. is doing something about that. Brunswick, the corporate parent of Mercury Marine, Bayliner, Boston Whaler, Crestliner, Cypress Cay, Harris, Heyday, Lowe, Lund, Princecraft, Quicksilver, Rayglass, Sea Ray, Thunder Jet and Uttern boats, plus the Boating Services Network and the Freedom Boat Club, just announced…

Boat Reviews
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First Swan Powerboat: 55-Knot, 40-foot, Swan Shadow

Nautor Swan just announced the debut of its first powerboat, the 40-foot Swan Shadow, with the same elegant, minimalist design that the famed Finnish builder has been using in its sailboats for generations. The new Swan Shadow is a bit faster than previous Swans. Indeed, with optional triple 350-hp Mercury Verados outboards, it tops out at 55 knots. Leonard Ferragamo, the Nautor Swan president, says the company had been thinking about making a powerboat for years, “but we always resisted this temptation until we really felt we had something really special and unique to present.” “We wanted to create something…

Boat Reviews
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Nordhavn Building All-New 51 Long-Range Cruiser

Pacific Asian Enterprises, the parent company for Nordhavn, just announced that it’s building an all-new Nordhavn 51 long-range cruiser, a larger version of the 41 that it launched last summer. The new 51 will have two staterooms and two heads, a flybridge and an elevated pilothouse, all offering upgrades from the 41. The 51 will be built on a production line in Turkey, next to the 41. The two boats will offer a streamlined building process that does not allow for the individual customization that’s possible on other Nordhavn models. The 51 will be powered by twin 160-hp John Deere…

Boat Reviews
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Beneteau Making New Gran Turismo 41 Express

Beneteau just announced that it’s making a new Gran Turismo 41 express cruiser with a focus on performance, comfort and entertaining on board. A successor to the Gran Turismo 40, the new 41 has two cabins and one head below, and optional twin 380-hp Volvo sterndrives will give it a top speed of 38 knots. With its sporty lines, the 41 has a raked front windshield, a hardtop that opens almost all the way aft, and a galley both up and below. It fits in the middle of Beneteau’s Gran Turismo express cruiser line, which has six models from 32…

Cruising Life
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Stolen Floating Tiki Bar Recovered in Key West

You couldn’t make this up. Somebody stole the Squeaky Tiki, a floating Key West tiki bar, and then was arrested after the Coast Guard found him slumped over the wheel the next morning, apparently intoxicated. The Coast Guard Station Key West reports that it recovered the Squeaky Tiki after it got an 8 a.m. call from FishMonster, a Key West charter boat, saying that it had found the floating tiki hut and that things seemed amiss. The boat is owned by Cruisin Tikis Key West, which asks on its website: “Why go bar hopping…when you can hop on a bar.”…

Cruising Life
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Big Changes for Miami Shows in 2022

The Miami boat shows over Presidents’ Day weekend will get a lot bigger, and better, starting in 2022. Say goodbye to Virginia Key; say hello (again) to the Miami Beach Convention Center. In 2022, the land part of the show will go back to the newly renovated Miami Beach Convention Center, while the water portions will be focused at the Sea Isle Marina and One Herald Plaza, flanking the western portion of the Venetian Causeway in downtown Miami. A superyacht part of the show will be at Island Gardens Deep Harbour on Watson Island. The show dates are Wednesday, Feb.…

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