Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Yanmar Building New Flagship X47 Express with a Nod to Ferrari Design

Yanmar just announced that it is building a new flagship X47 Express cruiser that will have more than a fleeting reference to world-class automobile design. Indeed, Ken Okuyama, who designed the new Yanmar X47, also worked for Pininfarina for many years, and in 2016 transformed a Ferrari 599 to the customized kode57 (see picture above), although only five were ever built. The X47 Express is scheduled to be launched at the end of this year, and it already has been named the Official VIP Cruiser of the next America’s Cup in Auckland, New Zealand. It is Yanmar’s second express model,…

Cruising Life
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Virginia’s Eastern Shore: Some Hidden Cruising Gems on the Chesapeake

Here’s a great story from esvatourism.org about The Route Less Travelled: Boating Virginia’s Eastern Shore. If you haven’t been to Onancock (pictured above), Cape Charles, Saxis Island, Wachapreague and Chincoteague, you’ve been missing something: Boaters who typically head down along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay or end their Intracoastal Waterway trip in North Carolina are missing out on charming harbor towns and two pristine coastlines on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Harbor towns like Cape Charles, Onancock, Saxis, Chincoteague and Wachapreague on the 70-mile Virginia Chesapeake Bay coastline, have growing numbers of restaurants, shops and hotels just steps from the town harbors.…

Cruising Life
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More and More Manatees Killed by Boats in Florida; Heading for a Record Year

So far, it’s shaping up as a bad year for manatees in Florida. Indeed, 86 have been hit and killed by boats in just the first six months of the year, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. If that rate continues, the number of manatee deaths will set a new record. Boats killed 122 manatees in Florida last year. If the current pace continues, that number will grow to 172 this year. The greatest number of boat-caused manatee deaths so far this year – 21 – has been in Lee County, the Fort Meyers, Sanibel and Captiva…

Cruising Life
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Sunreef To Launch New Luxurious and Massive 80 Multihull Power Cruiser in Cannes

Sunreef is introducing its luxurious and enormous new 80 Power catamaran at the Cannes Yachting Festival, starting Sept. 10. The new multihull, with a sharp and aggressive contemporary hull styling, stretches the boundaries of living and entertaining space to new levels of cruising comfort. Offering power combinations from twin 575-hp diesels to twin 1,200-hp diesels, the new Sunreef 80 Power is designed for long range cruising on a stable and seaworthy platform. With a beam of more than 39 feet (half its length) the new Sunreef offers extra space from bow to stern. The foredeck has virtual acres of relaxing…

Electronics
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The New iNavX App: Navigate with the Charts You Want from the Palm of Your Hand

If you haven’t tried the new iNavX handheld nav system yet, you’re missing something. It’s an easy-to-use navigation app that lets you select whatever chart system you like (Navionics, NOAA, Waterway Guide, whatever) on your smart phone or tablet. Then it gives you all the advantages of a fully functioning, advanced mobile chartplotter that you can take on any boat, anywhere, at any time. At its heart, iNavX is a software system, an app. You can download it from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Then you chose the chart system you want (NOAA is free) and you…

Cruising Life
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Three Cape Cod Beaches Closed Briefly Due To Great White Shark Sightings

Updated: 6:05 PM EDT Jul 13, 2019 BARNSTABLE COUNTY, Mass. — Three Cape Cod beaches were closed for periods Saturday afternoon after sharks were spotted swimming 50 yards offshore. According to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app, the first great white sighting happened at 1:40 p.m. off Head of the Meadow Beach in Truro. The shark was spotted 50 yards offshore and was heading south. Swimming was closed at Head of the Meadow and nearby Coast Guard Beach for an hour. Swimming was closed at Head of the Meadow and nearby Coast Guard Beach for an hour. Truro Recreation@TruroRecreation…

Cruising Life
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“Completely New” Leopard 53 PC with Motoryacht Features Will Launch at Miami Show

Leopard is building what it calls “a completely new” 53 power catamaran that will have its worldwide debut at the Miami International Boat Show next February. The new 53 PC will succeed the successful 51 PC (135 boats sold) and will have a new interior and more motoryacht features than any other Leopard so far. The 53 PC will be the fourth generation Leopard, built by Robertson and Caine in South Africa. Started in 2002, Leopard is one of the most successful catamaran builders in the world. The 53 PC will be available to private buyers as well as to…

Cruising Life
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Giant Manta Ray Stuns Onlookers Off Alabama Coast

Meghan Overdeep Southern Living July 12, 2019 Boaters off the coast of Orange Beach, Alabama, were treated to a special sight over the weekend. Robert Agren told Newsweek that he was fishing for red snapper with his family when he saw a giant manta ray just below the surface of the water. Fortunately, Agren was able to snap a photo (below) of the rare creature which was shared by Dauphin Island Sea Lab on Facebook. “This is definitely out of the norm from what we have experienced!” he told the Alabama-based research lab. “We had encountered gray whales with a…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Aspen Power Cat Cruises 1,092 Miles Through Canada’s Wild Northwest Territories to the Arctic Ocean

You don’t need to ask Larry Graf what he did on his summer vacation this year. Graf, the president and “chief adventurer” of Aspen Power Catamarans, and Peter Robson, a Canadian journalist, drove a new 34-foot, twin outboard Aspen 1,092 miles down the Mackenzie River through Canada’s remote and wild Northwest Territories – where there are more bears than people – to the Arctic Ocean. The trip took six days and 22 hours. The Mackenzie is the largest river in Canada, and the second largest in North America, after the Mississippi (see the map, below). There are no electronic charts for…

Cruising Life
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Speedboat Crashes Into Boats and Gets Stuck in Dock Roof on Lake of the Ozarks

We usually don’t cover stories about out-of-control speedboats on the Lake of the Ozarks (or anywhere else, for that matter). But this one is just too bizarre to ignore. The Missouri State Highway Patrol says that at 9:45 on the night before the Fourth of July, Rick Hansen, 66, from Wilton, Iowa, was driving his 2003 Baja speedboat down the lake when he crashed into a covered floating dock with a lot of boats at Spring Branch Cove. The Baja hit one boat at the end of the dock and then launched itself up and into the dock’s roof, coming…

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