Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Harvey and Irma Hit 63,500 Boats, Almost an All-Time High, Says BoatUS

Now it’s time to put some numbers on the damage caused by this season’s two hurricanes, Harvey and Irma, and they aren’t good. In fact, BoatUS says that 63,500 recreational boats, worth $655 million, were damaged or destroyed by the two storms. That dollar amount includes damage just to boats themselves; it doesn’t count damage to marinas, waterfront property or anything else. By comparison, five years ago Hurricane Sandy caused the largest loss ever, with 65,000 boats destroyed or damaged. This hurricane season Irma hit 50,000 recreational boats, causing $500 million in damage, while Harvey hit 13,500 boats and caused…

Cruising Life
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Kadey-Krogen Starts New Company To Build 26-Knot Contemporary Motoryachts

Now here’s news: Kadey-Krogen, which just celebrated its 40-year history of building full-displacement, blue-water trawlers with a blowout owners’ rendezvous in Newport, Rhode Island, announced that it will start a new company making contemporary 26-knot boats called SUMMIT, designed by performance superstar Michael Peters from Sarasota, Florida. The SUMMIT line, starting with a flybridge 54, will all have planing hulls, per Peters’ history and Kadey-Krogen’s desire to go beyond its full-displacement heritage. Kadey-Krogen, which has built more than 600 full-displacement boats over the past 40 years, will continue all its operation in that segment. To emphasize its commitment to the…

Cruising Life
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Kidde Recalls 40 Million Fire Extinguishers. Here’s What To Do

Kidde is recalling more than 40 million fire extinguishers with plastic handles, including some that were sold 44 years ago. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the extinguishers can become clogged and can even fail to operate in an emergency. So far, there has been one death reported due to a Kidde extinguisher that failed in a car fire, plus 16 injuries, 91 reports of property damage and 391 reports of the extinguishers either not working at all or not working properly. The recall affects 134 models made from as far back as 1973 and as recently as this past…

Cruising Life
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Are the Russians Spoofing Ships’ GPS Systems To Take Them Off Course?

What would make a 37,500-ton oil tanker disappear off its GPS screen and then reappear, more than 20 miles inland, sitting in the middle of an airport near the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the eastern end of the Black Sea? Or make 20 other large ships have the same problem in the past year? Experts say the answer is “spoofing,” or the result of someone interfering with the GPS system, and they say that Russia is probably behind it. Here, a great story from CNN shows how spoofing can overpower a GPS with a stream of false data. “It’s…

Boat Reviews
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Burger To Build New 48-foot Aluminum Cruiser

Here’s something new, from one of the oldest boat companies in the U.S. The Burger Boat Company just announced that they’re going to build a 48-foot aluminum cruiser, developed with Vripack Naval Architects in the Netherlands. Burger, started in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, during the Civil War, traditionally builds larger yachts, but Jim Ruffolo, the company president, says that the Burger 48 Cruiser “makes owning a Burger available to many who have always aspired to take the helm of their own custom yacht.” The new 48 is basically a sedan cruiser with a low profile, clean lines and large windows and glass…

Cruising Life
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Navy Report: Failures in Basic Seamanship Led to Collisions of Two U.S. Destroyers with Merchant Ships, Killing 17

The Navy has issued its reports about the collisions of two destroyers, the USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald with merchant ships that killed 17 sailors, and they’re devastating. The collisions, as reported here by the U.S. Naval Institute News, were caused by failures in basic seamanship and the crews’ inability to operate their ships properly. “Both of these accidents were preventable and the respective investigations found multiple failures by watch-standers that contributed to the incidents,” said Admiral John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations. The USNI News story is complete with charts, illustrations and timelines about both collisions. In the…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

Report from Fort Lauderdale: More Boats, More People and More Toys than Ever Before By Peter A. Janssen Put aside the super yachts with helicopters, or the 208-footer with six small boats (including a mahogany sloop) sitting as toys in the cockpit, or the 190-footer with the personal gym that slides out of its superstructure, or all the new Ferraris and Lambos parked along the face dock, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show actually has a lot going on the for the rest of us. In fact, the opening day, helped along with gorgeous weather and a lot of people…

Cruising Life
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Garmin Introduces New ActiveCaptain App, Very Cool Diver’s Watch, and Much More

Just before the big Lauderdale show, Garmin announced several new products, including new 7- and 9-inch touchscreens with updated mapping and sonar features; new fishfinders, and the first ActiveCaptain Mobile app and the first diver’s watch with a computer and GPS (see the picture above). For cruising boat owners, the ActiveCaptain app might have the most appeal, since it could lead to being connected all the time on the water. It gives you the ability to access the ActiveCaptain community, and to create, save and transfer routes and waypoints between the app and your device. You also can use it…

Boat Reviews
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New Austin Parker 44 Sedan: Hints of a Luxurious Lobster Boat in a Contemporary Continental Package

The new Austin Parker 44, making its U.S. debut at the Lauderdale show, is an eye-catching combination of slightly retro design, with hints of a traditional Down East lobster boat, and an aggressive contemporary styling that says this boat can run with the best of them. The new 44 sedan is part of the revamped Austin Parker fleet that now runs from 37 to 72 feet. Designed by Fulvio De Simoni (who also drew Pershings), Austin Parkers are made in Italy and are meant to have a global appeal as luxurious, safe and comfortable blue-water cruising boats. They make extensive…

Cruising Life
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La Dolce Vita: Cruising Lake Como on an Iconic Riva – or a Hinckley

It would be hard to find a more romantic spot for a cruise than Lake Como, the absolutely gorgeous, pristine body of water nestled up against the Alps in northern Italy. Many of the little villages have been there since the Roman Empire, while today it is the home (occasionally) of an international jet set that includes George Clooney and Richard Branson. And its waterfront villas and hotels (think Villa d’Este) are some of the best in the world. A few years ago, my wife and I cruised there on a new Hinckley 29, and it was one of the…

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