Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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First Look: New 50-mph MJM 53z Flagship with Four 400-hp Mercury Verados

Here’s a first look at the brand-new MJM 53z with four 400-hp Mercury Verado outboards, just launched at the Boston BoatWorks. In its initial trials in Boston Harbor, the new Doug Zurn-designed, Down-East beauty topped out at 50 mph with full fuel and five people on board. The acceleration, for a luxurious 53-foot yacht, was a pleasing 0 to 20 mph in six seconds. After the trials, MJM posted the picture above on social media. The 53z is MJM’s new flagship and its latest outboard-powered boat, after the 35z and the 43z; the company says it’s the largest outboard express…

Cruising Life
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New Horizon V68: Superyacht Concepts for an Owner-Operator

The new Horizon V68, with its distinctive plumb bow and aggressive pilothouse, is designed to provide superyacht amenities in an owner-operator size range. Horizon worked with superyacht designer Jonathan Quinn Barnett of Seattle to create the new 68 as a long-range cruiser on an under-70-feet platform. One of the largest builders in Taiwan, Horizon just completed the first hull of its new flagship, a 140-footer. It applied many ideas from the larger yacht into the new 68, including the possibility for a lot of customization. You can order the 68 with three or four staterooms, for example, or with the…

Cruising Life
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When He’s Not Singing, Andrea Bocelli Loves To Go Cruising, and He Just Bought 86-foot Expedition Yacht with 6,700 nm Range

Who knew? Andrea Bocelli, one of the greatest musical talents in the world, loves to go cruising. The Italian tenor, who’s been blind since he was 12, just bought his latest boat, a steel-hulled 86-foot expedition boat built by Cantiere della Marche in 2015. Named Stella del Nord, the boat is the fourth in the Italian yard’s 86 series, and it’s the eighth boat that Bocelli has bought in the past 19 years. Bocelli told the yard he wanted to do more long-range cruising with his family, and he traded in the 72-foot Gamma named Libertas that he bought new in…

Cruising Life
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Want To Charter Your Boat To Make Some Money? Here Are Some Real Life Examples of How That Works

Ever think about chartering your own boat to make some money and offset all those insurance, dockage and maintenance costs? Here’s a great story from BIV with some real life examples, including income and expense numbers, that may make you think again:  Why chartering boats can be choppy waters to navigate for owners Costs soar for owners who try to defray yacht overhead with rentals By Glen Korstrom | June 10, 2019, 8:08am Every boating season in B.C. launches with some owners feeling seasick about rising costs of fuel, moorage, insurance and maintenance. The high cost of owning a boat,…

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NOAA: Huge Dead Zone Coming in Gulf of Mexico. Mississippi Flooding Stalls Barge Traffic

NOAA just predicted that a large dead zone, about the size of Massachusetts, will develop in the Gulf of Mexico this summer as a result of record rains and flooding in the Midwest. Meanwhile, flooding and fast currents have stalled most of the barge traffic on the Mississippi, with almost 300 barges waiting out the weather at two locks there. NOAA says the dead zone, an area where low or no oxygen can kill fish and other marine life, will be caused by nutrient pollution flowing down the Mississippi. Once the excess nutrients reach the Gulf, they will stimulate the…

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Police Divers Rescue Woman Trapped in Capsized Boat on Long Island Sound

New York City police SCUBA divers saved a woman trapped inside a capsized 30-foot fishing boat near Execution Rocks on western Long Island Sound on Sunday evening. She had found a small air pocket inside the boat and was able to keep breathing until the two divers were lowered from a police helicopter and saved her. Rescue boats pulled the other five people who had been on the boat from the water. But one of them screamed that his wife was still inside. Only the bow of the boat was above water at the time. NYPD Detective Brian Mullen, one…

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Yanmar Launches Robot Boat and New Self-Docking System. See the Video

There’s more news on the self-docking front. Volvo and Raymarine have already demonstrated their autonomous docking systems, where the boats essentially dock themselves. Now Yanmar has announced its own system, and you can see how it works in the video below. The Yanmar system is an outgrowth of its experimental “autonomous surface vessel,” a robotic drone boat that Yanmar developed with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), pictured above. It’s 14’ 5” long, weighs 3,600 pounds and can run for 48 hours at speeds up to 5 knots without anyone on board. It also can right itself…

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Three Dead as Rescue Boat Sinks in Storm Off French Coast

Here’s a tragic story from the BBC: Storm Miguel kills three after overturning rescue ship off French coast Image copyrightAFP A sea rescue boat moments before it capsized, killing three crew A rescue boat has overturned in the Atlantic off the west coast of France leaving three crew dead, amid winds of up to 129 km/h (80 mph). They were part of a crew of seven who had gone to the aid of another boat which had got into difficulty as Storm Miguel struck the area. Winds of up to 147km/h hit northern Spain earlier, swirling around the Bay…

Cruising Life
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How To Read a Chart: What Are Those Lights Telling You?

Sooner or later, your ability to read a chart, whether it’s on paper or on an electronic display, will directly affect the safety of your boat and your crew. That’s particularly true at night or during times of restricted visibility. Here’s a good, clear refresher story from Skipper Tips about how to read the markings for night lights that will help keep you on a safe course: Imagine that your GPS has been unreliable for the past several hours. You approach the coast as the sun dips below the western horizon. An overcast promises a black night without the benefit of starlight.…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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New Travel Ban on Cruising to Cuba

About 20 years ago, I cruised to Cuba with Scott Porter, the president of Formula, on one of his new 40-foot cruisers, and it was one of the best trips ever. We did it right. From the time we docked at Marina Hemingway, when were checked in by two Cuban officers in combat boots and Fidel-type fatigues, to when we were checked back into the U.S. by the Coast Guard in Key West, we played by the rules; we had all the proper paperwork, the appropriate clearances. I’ve always wanted to go back to Cuba, but the rules kept changing,…

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