Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Giant Male Whale Protects Mother and Calf from Boat

A giant male humpback whale breached in front of a small sailing catamaran off Hawaii, flinging himself out of the water, perhaps in an effort to warn the sailors away from a nearby calf and its mother. The 40-feet-long, 22-ton whale almost crushed the catamaran, sailing off Kaanapali Beach on the northwest coast of Maui. No one on the cat was injured. The incident was filmed by Don McLeish, 67 and retired, who was following the whales on his blue Zodiac. He saw the male escorting the mother and the baby, and then saw the catamaran almost on a collision…

Cruising Life
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Coast Guard Rescues 3 from Sinking Fishing Trawler

Here’s a story about a fishing boat in distress in the middle of the night off Fire Island, New York, a Coast Guard rescue, and determined owner, from Newsday. It was 3:45 a.m., and the fishing trawler New Age was about 20 miles south of the Fire Island Inlet, heading to New Jersey to unload its catch with a crew of three. It had 1,500 pounds of fluke in the hold, the wind was blowing about 30 knots, and the swells were getting even the stern. As the New Age started to list, the crew realized it was sinking. Billy…

Cruising Life
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Ferry Captain Disoriented by Fog, Goes Wrong Way, Sinks Yacht

Here’s a report from the BBC about how a ferry boat captain became disoriented in fog, went the wrong way, and crashed into a yacht off the Isle of Wight: Cowes ferry yacht-crash captain ‘lost control in fog’ A ferry captain became disoriented in dense fog and ended up going in the wrong direction and crashing into a yacht, a report has concluded. The Red Funnel car ferry sunk Nigel Minchin’s yacht when it ran aground off the Isle of Wight in October 2018, leaving people stranded for hours. Investigators found Red Falcon’s captain became “overloaded due to high stress” as…

Cruising Life
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Freak Wave Hits Virginia Beach Whale-Watching Boat, Injures 4

A rogue wave hit a whale-watching boat leaving Virginia Beach on Saturday, terrifying many of the 124 people on board and injuring four seriously enough they had to be taken to a local hospital. The boat was operated by the Virginia Aquarium  & Marine Science Center on a scheduled two-hour-plus whale-watching trip. The Aquarium offers cruises Wednesday through Sunday to take visitors out in the ocean to see humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins. At about 10:30 on Saturday morning, the boat was hit by a rogue wave as it was going out Rudee Inlet. Passengers said the boat launched about…

Cruising Life
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Divers Find More Artifacts from Doomed Franklin Expedition

Archeologists and divers working with Parks Canada and the Inuit population have found new artifacts from one of British explorer John Hope Franklin’s ships that may help them understand what happened to Franklin and his 128 men when they were trapped in the Arctic and disappeared in 1846. Working in 37-degree water, divers found some 350 artifacts from the HMS Erebus, one of Franklin’s ships, in about 40 feet of water off King William Island. On 93 dives, the divers were able to reach only three cabins on the Erebus last fall, with 17 more to explore. The deck of…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Trends from Miami: More Power, More Hulls, More High-Tech

Now that the huge Miami boat shows have ended, it’s time to look at some trends that will determine the nature of cruising powerboats in the years ahead. After all, when you get 1,800 boats together (the combined total from the boat show and the yacht show), some dynamics have to emerge. The basic trends involve a growing number of power catamarans, the continued growth of outboards on cruising boats, the move to high technology on almost every aspect of boat building and performance (which includes solar/electric power), the inclusion of more social areas on boats (from “beach clubs” under…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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New Sabre 58: A Big and Quiet Down East Cruiser

After following its launch and super-extended break-in cruise from Portland, Maine, down to Miami in time for the yacht show there, I had been looking forward to seeing the new Sabre 58 Salon Express in person. And once I climbed on board the boat at the show, it was more than worth the wait. I already knew the boat’s lines. It is a contemporary classic with a clean Down East look, fitting well into Sabre’s made-in-Maine heritage. But once I was on board, I realized how big this new cruiser really is; it has lots of usable room to make…

Boat Reviews
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Fontaine Designs New Surfari 50 Rigid Hull Hybrid RIB

Here’s a creative new boat that’s bound to turn some heads when it’s launched: The Surfari 50 Rigid Hull Hybrid Inflatable from the Friendship Yacht Company in Middletown, Rhode Island, an all-around coastal cruiser with an attitude. Ted Fontaine, president of the Fontaine Design Group and Friendship, designed the boat for a client who had a Protector 41 but wanted a larger boat that would carry him to his favorite beaches and surfing spots on Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard, and the eastern end of Long Island. He wanted a high-quality, aesthetically pleasing, multi-purpose exploration boat that he also could use…

Cruising Life
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Two Tugs Stranded, Crew Not Paid, Off Sabine Pass, Texas

Two tugboats have been stranded in the Gulf of Mexico, five miles off the coast of Sabine Pass, Texas, since Nov. 26. Members of the crew say they haven’t been paid since the start of the year. The tugs, with their attached barges, are more than 700 feet long, and are lying at anchor. The crews are asking for help, and contacted Father Sinclair Oubre, who’s with the International Seafarers Center in Port Arthur. He, in turn, asked the Transport Workers Federation, as well as the marine safety unit in Port Arthur, to seek a solution. Various members of the…

Cruising Life
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Albatrosses with Radar Detectors Find Illegal Fishing Boats

A team of French and New Zealand scientists have used almost 200 albatrosses, fitted out with radar detection devices, to track fishing vessels at sea. Their findings, just reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: About a third of the vessels the birds tracked were probably fishing illegally. Henri Weimerskirch, a marine ornithologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research and one of the leaders of the albatross project, said that albatrosses were ideal for finding fishing boats, legal or illegal. With wingspans up to 11 feet, the largest of any bird alive, an albatross can…

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