Author Peter Janssen

Boat Reviews
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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…

Boat Reviews
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New Sea Ranger MMS 55: A Bulletproof Cruiser

Spoiler alert: Keep reading only if you’re interested in bulletproof expedition-type cruising boats made to tackle rough sea conditions anywhere in the world. The new Sea Ranger MMS 55, made by a commercial yard in northern England, isn’t meant to stay at the dock. I don’t know how many people it can hold for cocktails or a sunset cruise around the harbor. The Sea Ranger has a sturdy steel-plate hull; it weighs almost 60 tons. It comes with the looks and the performance of a North Sea trawler, with a high bow and decks lined with scuppers. Powered by twin…

Cruising Life
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New: Electric Motors for Your Kayak

Like many of us, you like to paddle your kayak at the end of a cruising day, once you’ve dropped the hook and you just want to relax and explore a bit. But after a while your arms get tired; the next cove is just a bit too far away. Now PacMotor, a startup company in Fort Myers, Florida, has something to help you out: A new system that lets you mount two electric-powered motors, one on either side, to the hull of your kayak. The company says the motors can power a ten-foot kayak at 5 mph for about…

Cruising Life
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$51 Million Superyacht Sinks Tanker in Bahamas

A 207-foot superyacht hit the stern of a 160-foot gas tanker in the Bahamas on Christmas Eve and sank it in 2,000 feet of water. The $51million yacht, Utopia IV, built by the Italian yard Rossinavi in 2018 with an aluminum hull, collided with the Tropic Breeze tanker about 15 miles north/northwest of New Providence Island. A nearby yacht rescued the seven crew on board the tanker before it sank. The Utopia IV suffered damage to the starboard side of its bow and was escorted to the Prince George Wharf by the Harbor Patrol. Maritime Management LLC, which owns the…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Nordhavn 76 Crosses Atlantic, Lands in Barbados

The Spirit of Ulysses, a Nordhavn 76, just completed a 2,000-nm transatlantic voyage, arriving in Barbados on Sunday, Dec. 19, just 17 days after it left Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. But then the five members of the crew had to wait six hours on the boat for a doctor to arrive and give them a Covid clearance. Once that happened, they tied up in Port St. Charles and took off for a celebratory dinner in a beachside restaurant. There was much to celebrate. Ulysses, a 2007 model, was the first boat that Mike Ridgway ever owned. A retired computer…

Destinations
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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…

Boat Reviews
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Axopar Building New 45-Foot Flagship

Axopar, the highly successful and innovative builder from Finland, will introduce a new 45-foot flagship at the Düsseldorf show, starting Jan. 22. The new 45 shares the same DNA as earlier Axopars, with its angular lines, twin-stepped hull and fuel-efficient power-to-weight ratio. Powered by three 300-hp Mercury Verado outboards, the Axopar 45 will top out at more than 50 knots. It will have gullwing doors, similar to those on the Axopar 37, to make access to the salon easier, as well as side-opening platforms to extend the usable seating space. The forward cabin and its head and shower will have…

Cruising Life
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Faulty Cable Caused Lifeboat Deaths: Coast Guard

The Coast Guard  just released its report about a lifeboat accident that killed two people and seriously injured a third on a Shell platform in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago. The final report said that a preventable chain of events contributed to the accident, but “the most significant factor was the degradation and failure of the lifeboat’s aft release cable.” Just a month before the fatal accident, service reps from the original manufacturer inspected the lifeboat and found corrosion and damage to the aft hook cable. They said they told Shell people on board that the cable needed…

Cruising Life
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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…

Cruising Life
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Brunswick Showcasing AI, Electric Power

Brunswick, the recreational boating giant, will be showcasing its move into Artificial Intelligence, autonomous driving and electric power at the Consumer Electronics Show that starts Jan. 5 in Las Vegas. The company says that “its futuristic exhibit will put you behind the helm in a new way with proprietary innovations that promise to change the future of marine technology forever.” David Foulkes, the Brunswick CEO, said the exhibit will include simulation showing how a boat owner might experience a voyage with the help of a suite of autonomous systems. The exhibit will have an immersive 200-degree simulator where you can…

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