Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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On the Banks of Albemarle Sound, A Charming Edenton, NC, Celebrates Its 350th Anniversary

A charming little town (population: 5,000) on the north shore of Albemarle Sound, just west of the Intracoastal Waterway (and the Great Dismal Swamp Canal), Edenton, North Carolina, is often overlooked by cruisers heading north or south. That’s a shame. Edenton is picturesque with a lovely waterfront area and gracious Georgian homes dating back centuries. Forbes.com once called Edenton “one of America’s prettiest towns.” And this year Edenton is celebrating its 350th anniversary, with a year-long series of festivals and special events. Edenton actually traces its history back to 1658, when explorers from the Jamestown Colony found its natural harbor.…

Cruising Life
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Two Fisherman Missing 40 Miles Off Jersey Shore After Boat Starts To Take on Water

The Atlantic Ocean off the Jersey shore can be a dangerous place, particularly in February. Now, a 46-foot wooden commercial fishing boat with two men on board is missing 40 miles offshore and their families are giving up hope. The boat, Queen Ann’s Revenge, left Point Pleasant late Monday night with Paul Matos, 30, of Bayville, and Dennis Smalling, his crew, to fish offshore for fluke and porgies. At 2:36 p.m. on Wednesday, Matos sent a message to his family, “I’m hauling back my gear now and heading home – it’s starting to get nasty,” according to NJ Advance Media.…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

You Can See More Cruising Boats than Ever at the Miami Shows Next Week. Here Are Our Reviews of 38 of Them By Peter A. Janssen It would be hard to find a larger or more impressive display of new cruising boats anywhere in the world than what you can see in Miami next week. At the ever-larger Miami International Boat Show on Virginia Key, you’ll find more than 1,400 boats (including many more in the 40- to 80-foot range), while at the Miami Yacht Show up on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, there are 500 more. (And that’s not…

Miami Boat Show
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You Can See More Cruising Boats Than Ever at the Miami Shows Next Week. Here Are Our Reviews of 38 of Them

It would be hard to find a larger or more impressive display of new cruising boats anywhere in the world than what you can see in Miami next week. At the ever-larger Miami International Boat Show on Virginia Key, you’ll find more than 1,400 boats (including many more in the 40- to 80-foot range), while at the Miami Yacht Show up on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, there are 500 more. (And that’s not counting the superyacht show on Watson Island, but that’s by invitation only.) All the shows start next Thursday, Feb. 15, and run through Monday Feb. 19.…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
By

On Watch

You Can See More Cruising Boats than Ever at the Miami Shows Next Week. Here Are Our Reviews of 37 of Them By Peter A. Janssen It would be hard to find a larger or more impressive display of new cruising boats anywhere in the world than what you can see in Miami next week. At the ever-larger Miami International Boat Show on Virginia Key, you’ll find more than 1,400 boats (including many more in the 40- to 80-foot range), while at the Miami Yacht Show up on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, there are 500 more. (And that’s not…

Cruising Life
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Aging Coast Guard Icebreaker Suffers Engine Failure, Flooding, in the Antarctic

The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, the only heavy icebreaker in America’s fleet, suffered an engine failure and flooding in a recent mission in the Antarctic. The crew was able to shut down the engine that failed and separately solve the flooding, but the two incidents point out the mechanical problems involved in maintaining the 399-foot-long ship that was commissioned in 1976. The Polar Star’s mission was to deliver fuel and supplies to National Science Foundation research stations in the Antarctic, involving cutting a path through ice in the Ross Sea that was up to 10-feet thick. The crew had…

Cruising Life
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Volvo’s New Easy Connect Lets You See All Your Engine and Boat Data on Your Smartphone or Tablet

Volvo Penta is certainly working hard to make our lives easier on board. Now, Volvo has developed Easy Connect, a platform that uses a Bluetooth interface with the boat’s engines and sensors to display all that information on your smart phone or tablet. The free Easy Connect app gives instant live access while you’re on board; you can see the engine and vessel data with a swipe of your fingers. At home, you can review the information you’ve saved. Volvo will be showcasing Easy Connect on their boats at the Miami Boat Show. Easy Connect starts with a simple and…

Cruising Life
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Two Photographers Cruise Through Northern Europe on Homemade Floating Studios

Here’s a different kind of cruising – floating studios that two photographers have cruised over European waterways to Paris and Amsterdam and now plan to head back to Hamburg. The photographers, Claudius Schulze, from Hamburg, and Maciej Markowicz, from Berlin, built the boats themselves. They have already been to the Unseen Photo Fair in Amsterdam and then down to the Paris Photo Show. They will end their journey at the Triennale of Photography in Hamburg in June. Schulze, an environmental photographer, built his boat from reclaimed wood panels and old windows. It’s funky and warm, with an outdoor disco ball,…

Cruising Life
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Herb Seaton Just Completed the Great Loop, Mostly Alone. Now He Wants To Do It Again

At 77, Herb Seaton doesn’t know when to stop. He just completed the 6,000-mile Great Loop in December, going most of the way single-handed on his 53-foot Tarquin Trader Phantom. And now, after a little down time at home in Tarpon Springs, Florida, he’s ready to do it again. “The Loop is no big deal,” he wrote me. “It just takes money, time, and being a little crazy to try doing it alone.” Seaton is originally from Johnson City, Tennessee, and he joined the Army after graduating from the ROTC program at East Tennessee State University. The Army sent him…

Cruising Life
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Digital Gateways: The On Board Translators that Connect All Your Electronics

More and more, it seems, all the various pieces of electronics on our boats are interconnected; just take a look at the helm of a well-equipped contemporary cruiser and you can see the basic nav functions on the chartplotter and autopilot, but also digital info on engine, genset and even transmission functions all on the display in front of you. But how do all these separate pieces of digital information all come together? Here’s a great introduction to new digital gateways that connect all the electronics on board from the Marine Electronics Journal. It used to be that NMEA 0183…

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