Author Peter Janssen

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…

Cruising Life
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Devastating Maine Storm “Worse Than Sandy” in Belfast Harbor

The storm that roared up the coast and left half a million without power in the Northeast really walloped Belfast Harbor in Maine early this week. Indeed, the Bangor Daily News reports that the wind and waves caused at least half a dozen boats to break free of their moorings and wash up on shore. Several were destroyed on the rocks (see the top picture). JB Turner, owner of the Front Street Shipyard, which is in the inner harbor, said his yard avoided the worst of the damage. Still, he said, “This hit us worse than Sandy.” See the picture…

Cruising Life
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How to Winterize Your Engines, Gas and Diesel, Outboards and Inboards

For those of us in the north, it’s that time of the year. Unless you’re heading south, your cruising season is ending. Time to put the boat away for the winter, and that means winterizing your engines. Everybody has their own list, and many people simply turn their boats over to their marinas. Even if you do, it helps to know what needs to be done. Here’s a great list from BoatU.S. that at least will serve as a starter. The list covers outboards, gas and diesel inboards, and stern drives, and deals with more than just the engines themselves.…

Charter
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Seven Reasons to Charter in Mallorca from The Moorings

You probably don’t need many more reasons to visit Mallorca, the gorgeous island in the Med 50 miles east of Spain, but just in case you do, The Moorings has come up with a list to nudge you along. One of Spain’s Balearic Islands, Mallorca is an uber-appealing destination if you’re cruising or chartering or just looking for a special vacation. For the past few decades, Mallorca has been a major European tourist destination, with its long, protected beaches, sheltered coves, limestone mountains and Roman and Moorish ruins. Mallorca is rich with history. The capital of Palma was founded as…

Cruising Life
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BoatU.S. Offers New Online Course About How to Use AIS. See the Video

In a move designed to improve safe boating, BoatU.S. is offering a new online course about how to use AIS, the Automatic Identification System that tracks boat movements on a radar-like screen display. The course, “AIS Electronics for Boaters – See and Be Seen on the Water,” was developed by the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water and the United States Power Squadrons. The course is a blend of practical knowledge and technical know-how and is an easy way to get up to speed on AIS, the latest collision avoidance technology that is being used by more and…

Cruising Life
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First Astrolabe, Used to Navigate in 1500, Found in Vasco da Gama Shipwreck

If you think navigating was difficult in the days before GPS, take a look at this. It’s the world’s first astrolabe, a bronze disc that Vasco da Gama’s navigators used to sail from Portugal to India around 1500, just a few years after Columbus found America. In 1503, da Gama was returning home after his second voyage to India. He left several ships behind to explore (and exploit) the area, but they sank in storms. Several years ago, researchers found this 7-inch astrolabe among many artifacts on one of those ships, Esmeralda, off the coast of Oman. At first, they…

Cruising Life
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Garmin Buys Navionics, Gets Its Charts and Apps

Garmin’s fast-growing marine business just got bigger. The publicly-traded electronics giant (GRMN, Nasdaq) just bought Navionics, the privately-held provider of navigation charts and mobile applications. “Navionics has long been known as a leading supplier of highly accurate navigational charts and mobile applications for boaters,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin president and CEO. “By combining Navionics’ content with Garmin’s BlueChart and LakeVu content, we will be able to offer the best available breadth and depth of coverage to our marine customers.” Pemble said that Garmin, a world-wide company based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, will keep the Navionics brand and support Navionics’ customers. The…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

Looking for Fort Lauderdale – and More Memories I couldn’t possibly count the number of times I’ve flown down to Fort Lauderdale. I know that I’ve been going to the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show for more than 30 years, and the new one, starting Nov. 1, will be one more trip there. And in the old days, before Twitter, my magazine, Motor Boating & Sailing, had an office in Lauderdale, so I flew down from New York about every other week. (Actually, for many years the office was in very good hands; Peter Truslow, now the president of Bertram,…

Cruising Life
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Neiman Marcus Offers Special Christmas Gifts for Cruising Boat Owners. Well…

In the mail today, we just got the new Neiman Marcus Christmas Book, all 273 high-gloss, four-color pages of it. Don’t ask why we got this homage to high-end spending; I don’t know either. But, leafing through to see how the much-more-affluent-than-I-am are living, I did find some items that would be useful to cruising boat enthusiasts. On page 73, for example, under the “For Dad” heading, how could any boating dad resist the Funboy Yacht Pool Float (pictured above)? The catalog says it is made with “heavy-duty vinyl with day bed for two, cooler for drink/storage and cup holders,”…

Cruising Life
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Jock West’s Newest Life: Professional Photographer

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that, “There are no second acts in American lives.” Fitzgerald scholars debate what he actually meant by that, but there is no doubt that it does not apply to Jock West. A former boating magazine publisher and all-around marine marketing maven, West is at an age well beyond when most people start collecting Social Security; he’s also starting a new life as a professional photographer. Indeed, West, who lives in Newport, Rhode Island, has opened the West Photo Gallery with pictures he’s taken over the past 47 years. “Some are strange, some are whimsical, some…

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