Author Peter Janssen

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

After Circling the Pacific, the Youngbloods on Mystic Moon Are Back in Alaska, Counting the Bears By Peter A. Janssen John and Kathy Youngblood are closing in on the finish line of their six-year circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean on their 2004 Selene 53 Mystic Moon. When we first wrote about them in April, they were in Japan; now they’ve made it up to the Aleutian Islands (the picture above shows Mystic Moon in Kiska Island, at the very tip of the Aleutians) and on to Katmai National Park, just across from Kodiak Island. They hope to complete their circle around the…

Charter
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To Totally Relax, Take a Le Boat Charter Through the Canals in the South of France

For a different kind of charter vacation, think about an idyllic, serene and totally relaxing canal cruise in the Petite Camargue area in the south of France. Life on a 49-foot canal boat from Le Boat, with three staterooms, all with en suite heads and showers, is about as easy as it can ever can be, and watching the sun go down from the top deck, eating some local cheese and oysters and sipping some of the local rosé is pretty hard to beat. Here’s a first-person story from The Guardian about four people spending five days along the Canal du…

Boat Reviews
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New Axopar 37: A Fun, Fast and Very Cool Cruiser from Finland

The long, low, slender Axopar 37 Cabin, along with its smaller sibling, the Axopar 28 Cabin, caught my eye as I was walking down the dock at the recent Maine Boat Show in Rockland. The Axopars are definitely distinctive; they don’t look like any other boat out there. And they did attract a lot of attention, for two obvious reasons: They look like they’re fun, and they’re built for the way a lot of people are using their boats today. Axopars, it turns out, have impressed a lot of people around the world. Indeed, the 37 was voted Motor Boat…

Cruising Life
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How To Dock a 1,187-foot-long Cruise Liner in St. Thomas, a Very Tight Harbor. See the Video

You think you have a hard time docking? Consider the Oasis of the Seas, one of the largest cruise ships in the world. coming in to a very tight entrance at St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The ship is 1,187 feet LOA, so the captain has to thread a needle into the harbor, making a tight turn in a narrow channel with sailboats moored all around. And with a 30-foot draft, there are only six feet to spare under the keel. Power for the ship, which carries 6,000 passengers, comes from three 26,800-hp ABB Azipods, driving 20-foot props.…

Cruising Life
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State of Emergency in Florida as Red Tide Spreads, Killing Fish and Marine Life

Florida Governor Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency as a toxic red tide has killed fish and marine life, disrupted boating and tourism and has sickened residents with respiratory problems. The growing bloom of toxic algae, which started last October, has darkened waters in the Gulf of Mexico and strewn beaches with dead fish, eels, porpoises, turtles, manatees and even a 26-foot whale shark. The state of emergency exists in seven counties from Tampa Bay south to the edge of the Everglades; the governor has promised $1.5 million in emergency funding. The red tide season usually lasts from…

Cruising Life
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Boating is Good for Your Brain, Your Health and Your Happiness, New Research Says

You probably already knew this, but boating, it turns out, is good for you. Indeed, some new research shows that being on the water can make you happier and healthier, and that simply being near the water delivers cognitive, psychological and social health benefits. According to Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, a marine biologist and the author of Blue Mind, a sense of calm, peacefulness, unity and happiness are all associated with water. When you’re on a boat, he says, the good hormones (dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin) go up, while stress (cortisol) goes down. The mere sight and sound of water increases…

Cruising Life
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Living On Board For the Summer: Cheaper than a Second House with a Much Better View

A lot of people are finding that a living on a boat is a lot cheaper, and a lot more fun, than living in a second home on land. And living on the boat definitely has better views. You’ll always have views of the water, and if you don’t like it where you are, you can fire up the engine and move somewhere else. Here’s a fun look at people who are living aboard this summer from observer.com: “The advantages of living aboard a boat are many,” says David Doody, general manager of the big Brewer Capri Marina in Port…

Cruising Life
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Mercury Introduces New Line of Diesels To Boost Mid-Range Performance

Mercury Marine just introduced a new line of diesel engines to boost mid-range performance. Developed and tested over the past three years, the new 3.0 liter Mercs come in 150-hp, 230-hp and 270-hp sizes. Mercury launched them at the big Sydney boat show in Australia. The company says the new diesels will lead their class in acceleration, reliability, ease of installation and maintenance, and mitigation of noise and vibration. The new line complies with Tier 3 emissions standards, which are meant to reduce diesel engines’ impact on the environment. “There is an active segment of the boating market that requires…

Boat Reviews
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Beneteau Launches New Antares Line of Outboard-Powered Pocket Cruisers

Beneteau has just launched a new line of outboard-powered pocket coastal cruisers. Called the Antares, the new line has a 27, 23 and 21, all products of the Beneteau design team and meant to be introductory boats for coastal or lake cruising. All powered by Mercury outboards, the 27 has twin 200-hp engines; the 23 a single 250-hp engine, and the 21 a single 175-hp engine. A bow thruster is optional to help with docking. The Antares 27 has a glass sliding door opening to the salon from the cockpit. With light coming in from a panoramic sunroof and large…

Cruising Life
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Owner of Miami Vice Charter Yacht Charged in Death of Passenger

The part-owner of Miami Vice, a 95-foot fast charter boat, was charged with misconduct and neglect of a ship officer that resulted in death after the boat ran over a passenger and killed him as he was swimming behind the boat in Biscayne Bay, just off Miami. Federal prosecutors charged Laurent Marc-Antoine Jean Maubert-Cayla, the part-owner of the boat. They had already charged Mauricio Alvarez, 49, the driver of the boat. The two will face trial on Sept. 4. The government charged that Maubert-Cayla hired Alvarez to drive the boat in November, 2017, even though he knew that Alvarez did…

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