Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Coast Guard Rescues Fisherman After Shark Attack

A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a man who had been attacked by a shark from his fishing boat in the middle of the night about 35 miles off the coast of Grand Isle, Louisiana. They flew him to a hospital in New Orleans, where he was in critical condition. The Coast Guard in New Orleans says it received a VHF call from the fishing boat Moon Glow at 12:51 a.m. The call said a 64-year-old member of the crew had been attacked by a shark and had a serious leg injury. The crewman had been untangling fishing nets from…

Cruising Life
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50th Annual Newport Show Starts Sept. 16

The Newport International Boat Show, the first how of the season in the Northeast, opens on Thursday, Sept. 16, and runs through Sunday, Sept. 19. The show was cancelled last year, because of the pandemic; it undoubtedly will more interest than usual this year as a result. The Newport show has always been one of my favorites, because almost all of the new boats are there and then, well, it’s in Newport, one of the most historic and iconic boating destinations in the United States. The show this year, the 50th annual, will have hundreds of new power and sail…

Cruising Life
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Jury Awards $200 Million in Child’s Boating Death

After a three-week trial, a jury in Rabun County, Georgia, reached a $200 million verdict for the parents of a 7-year-old boy who died in a boating accident there in 2014. It was the largest verdict for pain and suffering ever in the state. In July, 2014, Stephen and Margaret Batchelder, from Lake Worth, Florida, took their family on a vacation to Rabun County, in northeast Georgia. They rented a 2000 Malibu Response IX open-bow ski boat for a family outing on Lake Burton. The boat was going from 5 to 7 mph with four children in the bow when…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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The Day the Mississippi Ran Backward

Earlier this week, the Mississippi River ran backward. For the last 70 million years, the Mississippi has flowed from north to south, emptying out in the Gulf of Mexico. But last Sunday, as Hurricane Ida made landfall with 150-mph winds at Port Fourchon, Louisiana, the river reversed course. A U.S. Geological Survey gauge south of New Orleans registered “a negative flow” of the river. It rose seven feet and changed from running about two feet per second going south to half a foot per second going north. “That is extremely uncommon,” said a government hydrologist. Ida devasted the area, leaving…

Cruising Life
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Zodiac, Torqeedo Launch Electric-Powered RIBS

In a major move for electric-powered small boats, Zodiac and Torqeedo just announced that they are collaborating in a new eOPEN range of Zodiac RIBs with electric power by Torqeedo. Zodiac, the largest name in RIBs, and Torqeedo, the largest name in electric boat motors, will introduce the new eOPEN range at the Cannes Yachting Festival starting Sept. 7. There will be more details at that time. Zodiac already has made an inroad in the electric power market, winning a Gussies Electric Boat Award last year for its eJET450, an under 26-foot RIB designed specifically as a tender for large…

Cruising Life
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Explorers Find Northernmost Island Off Greenland

A team of polar explorers just found a new island off the coast of Greenland that they say is the world’s northernmost point of land. And they named it Qeqertaq Avannarleq. No, that’s not a typo. It means “the northernmost island” in Greenlandic. QA, for short, is not very big. It’s only 30 meters across, but it’s big enough. “It meets the criteria of an island,” said Rene Forsberg, head of geo dynamics at Denmark’s National Space Institute. “This is currently the world’s northernmost land.” Read about it in this story from the BBC. In July, the scientists flew to…

Boat Reviews
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Fountaine-Pajot Launches New 36-Foot Power Cat

Fountaine-Pajot just launched its first MY4.S power catamaran. It will show the sporty looking cat, with a knife-like entry, low profile and lounging spaces all around, at the Cannes Yachting Festival starting Sept. 7, before bringing it to the U.S. At 36-feet, the MY4.S is the French builder’s new entry-level cat, replacing the popular 37; it has sold about 100 37s since it launched the model five years ago. The MY4.S is aimed at a younger buyer as well as at longer-range cruisers. Powered by twin 150-hp Yanmars, the new cat cruises at 16 knots, tops out at 22 knots,…

Cruising Life
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Fire Destroys 82-Foot Yacht in New Bedford

An 82-foot yacht caught fire at a New Bedford, Massachusetts, marina earlier this week and was totally destroyed. There were no reports of injuries. Local fire officials said they received a call about 5:30 p.m. on Monday saying that a yacht was on fire at Fleet Marina on Popes Island in New Bedford. The yacht was Miss Dunia, a 2007 Horizon, and it was carrying 500 gallons of fuel. The New Bedford fire department said the fire broke out below deck and then spread rapidly. “Long operation. Very complex operation. Manpower intensive,” said New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Krueger. Fire…

Cruising Life
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Brit Rows Wrong Way Across Atlantic, Solo

Ian Rivers, a 55-year-old veteran of Britain’s Special Air Service, just became the first person to row across the North Atlantic by himself, without any support, without using a GPS and navigating with a sextant. All told, Rivers rowed 3,100 nm from New York to the Isles of Scilly in 85 days on his 27-foot boat. This voyage is “the wrong way,” going against the prevailing winds and  currents. About 500 miles from the end, the boat capsized three times in a storm and Rivers was trapped upside down in the cabin filling with water. He suffered a concussion and some…

Cruising Life
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New Jaktar J-30: Go-Anywhere Explorer Boat

Jaktar, a new builder in Stockholm, just launched its J-30 explorer boat, designed for the far north, but capable of cruising everywhere from the near Arctic to the Great Loop. Indeed, Vripack, the Dutch firm that designed the Jaktar, says the brief called for a boat that was “to be ready to go anywhere, at any time.” The Jacktar J-30 is hand-built using marine-grade aluminum. It has a 46-knot top speed from two 300-hp outboards. (You also can order it with two 250-hp outboards for greater fuel economy and range.) The company says the J-30 was “built for performance and…

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