Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
By

St. Michaels, Maryland: A Historic Gem on the Eastern Shore, with a Great Maritime Museum and the Crab Claw

The first time I went to St. Michaels, Maryland, a gem of a small (pop: 1,029), historic (dating to 1677), waterfront community on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake, was about 35 years ago with my friend and colleague, the late Dan Fales. We were delivering a Bertram 46 from Norfolk, Virginia, to Norwalk, Connecticut, and stopped for the night. Actually, we stopped so we could have a crab dinner sitting on the porch of the Crab Claw, looking out over the Miles River and the flow of boats in and out of the harbor. Over the years I’ve gone…

Cruising Life
By

Deep Sea Coral Reef Just Discovered 160 Miles Off Charleston, South Carolina

CNN – If you think Charleston, South Carolina, has plenty of  history with its pre-Colonial grounds, just look at what’s been hiding 160 miles off the city’s coast for thousands of years: a giant deep-sea coral reef system. The chief scientist who helped make the discovery called it unbelievable. Little is known abut the natural resources of the deep ocean off the United States’ Southeast coast from Virginia to Georgia, so Deep Search 2018 was created to learn more by exploring the deep sea ecosystems. The project, consisting of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Bureau of…

Boat Reviews
By

New, Creative, Carbon-Fiber Anvera 48: The Coolest Tender Ever?

“The new Anvera 48 might well be the coolest, most technically accomplished yacht tender ever,” says the Robb Report. “Drawn by Aldo Drudi, who first imagined the 48 as an ‘elegant and very fast dolphin,’ the carbon-fiber boat is strong, tough and fast. “’While the hull has been developed with hydrodynamic features in mind, the superstructure has been defined by aerodynamics,’ says Drudi. The black profile does indeed have a sleek, aerodynamic look – especially with the nifty hard top that seems to float its way backward over the helm station, across the amidships dining table, and to the rear…

Cruising Life
By

Black Bear Boards Four Boats in North Channel of Lake Huron; Climbs Up Swim Ladders

A hungry 250-pound black bear broke into four boats in three days anchored off Heywood Island in the North Channel of Lake Huron, climbing up swim platforms, confronting owners in the middle of the night and generally sowing fear and anxiety. The local paper, The Manitoulin Expositor, says the first reported bear problem came from Brian Laux, from Walworth, New York, who was below in his cruiser Serenity, fixing dinner – a bass he had caught earlier. Laux heard a strange scratching noise and thought it might be a swimmer in distress. “But when I went outside there was a…

Cruising Life
By

Manattees Now Migrating from Florida along Gulf Coast, as Far as Louisiana

Who doesn’t love a manatee? Even when we’re frustrated with all the low-speed manatee zones in Florida, it’s still hard to bear any ill-will to these smile-inducing, half-ton creatures. They’re just big and slow and somehow endearing; children want to hug them. And manatees, at least some of them, migrate, swimming along the northern Gulf Coast from Florida in the summer, traveling as far as Louisiana. Now boaters in the coastal southern part of Louisiana are reporting manatee sightings in places where they haven’t been seen in years, and the state is issuing warnings to protect them. The West Indian…

Boat Reviews
By

New Calvin Beal 38 with a Rich Maine-Built Heritage and 20-Knot Speed

It just doesn’t get any more Down East than this – Star, a new, well-appointed 38 Calvin Beal lobster boat with roots in Maine that just won’t quit. First off, Star was designed by Calvin Beal Boats in Beals, Maine, on an island off Jonesport way up the Gulf of Maine (go to Northeast Harbor on Mt. Desert Island and keep on going). It was built as SW Boatworks in Lamoine, back on the mainland at the entrance to Mt. Desert Island. And the sea trials were conducted at Billings Marine in Stonington on Deer Island on East Penobscot Bay. Enough…

Cruising Life
By

Scientists Test an Ozone Treatment System To Fight Florida’s Red Tide

Scientists at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota say they have come up with something to fight Florida’s toxic red tide. Called an Ozone Treatment System, the new device processes 300 gallons of water a minute, breaking down toxin-infested water, injecting it with ozone and then pumping out clean water. At this point, with a state of emergency in seven counties and dead fish and marine life washing up on beaches and in marinas in southwest Florida, any solution offering hope to boaters, residents and the tourist industry seems too good to be true. Basically, the system kills high concentrations of…

Cruising Life
By

A Survivor’s Story: “I’m waving at the guy, yelling, and all of a sudden, his boat was sitting on top of our boat.”

The story continues, building on one of the most memorable boating pictures in recent memory: A 37-foot charter fishing boat sitting on top of a 35-foot J/105 sailboat in calm conditions near Thomas Point in the Chesapeake, just south of Annapolis. The picture went viral, for the obvious reasons, with everyone wondering, what in the world happened here. Now, from the Capital Gazette, we have the story from the skipper of the sailboat. Read more: http://www.capitalgazette.com/sports/sailing_boating/ac-cn-boat-collision-survivor-0827-story.html

Cruising Life
By

Cruising a 27-foot Avalon Pontoon Boat from Key West to Cuba, a First

It’s not news any more that Americans are cruising to Cuba. I went there myself in with Scott Porter, the president of Formula, on one of his 40-foot cruisers way back in 1998 (and it was one of the best trips ever). But it is news to cruise there on a pontoon boat, a vessel usually found on inland rivers and lakes. Here’s a fun story from Boating World about how Jim Wolf, the CEO of Avalon pontoon boats, and three friends drove a 27-foot Avalon from Key West to Cuba. Actually, they took the boat much farther, from Clearwater,…

Cruising Life
By

Cruising Lake Michigan on an Ancient Mahogany Pacemaker 47 – and Loving It

This is a story about passion, and a labor of love. Don and Linda Nase bought their 47-foot mahogany Pacemaker cruiser in Saugatuck, Michigan, in 1975. It was seven years old, and its twin Detroit diesels had only 100 hours. They live in Phoenix, Arizona, but they spend their summers cruising on the boat, usually on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, going four or five hours a day, usually at about 10 knots. And they named the boat Naco, which Nase says loosely translates into “foolish pleasure” in Spanish. It’s easy to love cruising on a beautiful, restored wooden…

1 … 278 279 280 281 282 … 398