Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Army Corps Will Close Locks on Illinois Waterway Next Summer

Here’s some bad news for anyone planning for the Great Loop or cruising in the Midwest next summer. Many of the locks along the Illinois Waterway, running from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, will be closed for repairs and no vessels will be allowed through. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates the eight lock and dam sites along the Waterway, and it closed some of them for short periods of time earlier this year. It has announced the dates for major repairs in 2020 and again in 2023, and said that “during the scheduled closures, no vessels will be able…

Charter
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BVI Update: Many Favorite Spots Now Open

It’s been more than two years since the hurricanes devastated much of the British Virgin Islands, and the recovery has been difficult. Many marinas, charter fleets and resorts were hard hit. But now some of our favorites are open again or getting back to normal. “Normal,” of course, is a high bar to reach, since the BVI are one of the best, easiest and most attractive cruising grounds in the world. Here’s an update from The Moorings, the worldwide charter powerhouse, on what’s open now. Pusser’s Marina Cay, probably high on the list of everyone’s favorite destinations in the BVI,…

Boat Reviews
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New Outback 50: A Cruising Boat For Active Owners

The new Outback 50, just unveiled at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, is designed for active boat owners, people who want to go places and do things. Its most noticeable feature is its open transom and “infinity deck” aft that can hold a small vessel, jet skis, or other toys. Many years in the making, the Outback 50 has a serious cruising pedigree, a collaboration between Michael Peters, the well-known designer, and Andrew Cilla, the owner of Luke Brown Yachts in Fort Lauderdale and a long-time cruiser. Over some drinks about ten years ago, Cilla asked Peters to design…

Boat Reviews
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New 32-Foot Zar Formenti “Ferrari of RIBs” Now in U.S.

Here’s a new high-performance, high-style, Italian-built RIB that’s much more than a traditional RIB and was just introduced to the U.S. market at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.  The Zar Formenti 95 SL, says company founder Piero Formenti, “is like the Ferrari of RIBs in Europe.” It’s easy to see why he thinks so. This newest and largest of the Zar Formenti RIB line has seating in the bow and stern for 12 as a day cruiser, and it can sleep two in a cabin below with a stand-up head and shower. It also has an outdoor galley on…

Destinations
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The Hottest Islands for 2020, from Coastal Living

We all love islands. At least I think we do. I certainly do. There’s something romantic about islands. They’re always away, a trip from home, a loosening of our ties to land. They bring out the sea captain in us, or the pirate, or maybe just the beach bum. Some of my best memories are of cruises, charters and vacations to islands. I’m thinking of mainstays like Nantucket, the BVI, and Antigua, but I also include some a bit more off the beaten path – I’m thinking of you, Rebak Island in Langkawi, Malaysia, and Rottnest Island, off Perth, Australia.…

Cruising Life
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23 Boats Nominated for European Boat of the Year Awards

Nominations for the European Powerboat of the Year 2020 Awards are in, and they include some names that  are familiar to those of us in the U.S. The prestigious awards, which have been given since 2005, are in five categories. The winners, selected by writers and editors of leading European boating magazines, will be announced at a gala ceremony on the opening night of Boot Düsseldorf on January 18. Here are the categories and the nominees. You can see pictures of the boats and brief writeups by clicking on the link at the bottom of this story. Boats Up To…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Sunseeker 74 “Arrested” in Legal Dispute After FLIBS

Here’s a story about a real mess, one that surfaced when U.S. marshals boarded a 74-foot Sunseeker at the Sunseeker International exhibit at the Bahia Mar on Sunday night, just after the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show ended, and placed it under arrest. The boat is at the center of a $4 million legal dispute between the buyer, Sunseeker in England, and Rick Obey & Associates, the Fort Lauderdale broker. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the buyer says that Sunseeker is not crediting him the $4 million he paid to Obey to have the boat built. But the legal dispute…

Cruising Life
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New Mansion Yacht Sits on Hydraulic Legs, Holds 149 People

The new Mansion Yacht wasn’t the largest boat at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, but it was one that almost everybody was talking about. Part yacht, part houseboat, part New York condo, the Mansion cruises at 5 knots with a 440-hp Cummins diesel and then stays put, resting on four hydraulic 18-foot legs that anchor it to the seafloor and suspend it over the water. Then you can relax with your family and friends in five large staterooms, all with king-sized beds and ensuite designer heads, or you could call everyone on your contact list and invite them over;…

Cruising Life
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Where To Put the Toys? Buy Another Boat

Most cruising boat owners have a problem with space, particularly space for the dinghy or tender and all the water toys we want to take on board. Where to put them all? Larger boats have aft boat decks as extensions of a flying bridge with cranes, but the rest of us have to find room on the transom, the cabintop, the lazarette, wherever. Here’s a solution: A separate boat. Indeed, Incat Crowther, an Australian company, has developed Hodor, a “Shadow Cat,” as a 217-foot backup boat that carries all the boats and toys that don’t fit on the megayacht mothership.…

Cruising Life
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Airbnb For Boats: The Rapid Growth of Boat Sharing

For the past decade or so, we’ve been moving increasingly into a sharing economy, not an owning economy. Think of the massive growth of Airbnb, for example, in the housing market, or Uber and Lyft for transportation. Younger generations also often put more importance on experiences, than on things. They want the freedom to travel, and to dip into new experiences, such as boating, without having to tie up a lot of capital. Over the years, I had several conversations with the late Irwin Jacobs, who used to own such major boat companies as Wellcraft and Hatteras and certainly knew…

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