Author Peter Janssen

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

Report from Newport: “Best Show Ever,” “Outstanding” and “Fantastic” By Peter A. Janssen The first show of the fall season, the Newport International Boat Show can serve as a bellwether for the coming year. And this year all the signs were good.  Many new boats were introduced at the show – the Grand Banks 60, Sabre 45 Salon Express, Hinckley Dasher all-electric boat, MJM 35Z, Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot, Outer Reef 610, Beneteau Swift Trawler 35, and Hampton Endurance 658, among them. Nancy Piffard, the show director, said attendance was up 10 percent over the previous year. The show “was…

Cruising Life
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St. Thomas Family Survives Irma, Killing Chicken with a Slingshot for Food. Finally Take a Catamaran to Safety — San Juan.

A St. Thomas family survived Hurricane Irma for six days, killing chicken with a slingshot for food, until they finally paid a catamaran company to take them to safety — Puerto Rico. Here’s the story they told to CNN as they wait out their second historic storm in the Caribbean. Jessica Mangiaracina and Bob Perkins thought they were ready for Hurricane Irma. They bought extra food and supplies for their home in St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, for themselves and their two children, ages 7 and 9. But then Irma hit as a Category 5 storm. “It’s like…

Cruising Life
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Ranger Tugs, Cutwater Boats Hold Biggest and Best Owners’ Rendezvous Ever

More than 400 people on 180 boats showed up at the annual Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats Factory Rendezvous in Roche Harbor Marina and Resort on San Juan Island last week – the largest such gathering ever. And they had three days of fun, although from my own experience, it’s hard not to have fun at Roche Harbor, which is on the northern tip of San Juan Island about 100 miles above Seattle and qualifies as one of the best cruising destinations anywhere. But Ranger and Cutwater, both under the umbrella of Fluid Motion, LLC, in Kent, Washington, specialize in…

Boat Reviews
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New Sabre 45 Salon Express Is Voted the People’s Choice in Newport. Here’s Why

The all-new Sabre 45 Salon Express just won The People’s Choice Award at the Newport International Boat Show, meaning that more people who paid to go to the show liked this classic Down East two-stateroom, two-head, user-friendly cruiser than any other boat there. And it’s easy to see why. From start to finish, this new built-in-Maine beauty is made for the way people cruise today. At 45 feet, with IPS joystick controls, it’s easy for a relatively new cruising couple, or a pair of old salts, to handle. They can live on it for a long time, cruising by themselves,…

Cruising Life
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New Great Harbour TT35: An Outboard-Powered Trawler that You Can Trailer Anywhere

The new Great Harbour TT35, which will be launched at the Annapolis powerboat show starting Oct. 12, combines two growing trends: Outboard power, and trailerability. It’s designed to pack in all the comforts of a single-stateroom, liveaboard trawler with the ease, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of an outboard-powered boat that can be launched and retrieved and then trailered to cruising grounds all around the U.S. and Canada. The new Great Harbour has home-like amenities, including a queen island berth in the master stateroom, a full-featured galley and a large head with a separate shower. The salon can hold extra guests for…

Cruising Life
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Boston Start-Ups Create Boats that Can Drive Themselves. Hmmm

A self-driving boat? Doesn’t that kind of take the fun out of it? Or am I just tilting at windmills, denying the future of boating? In any event, several startups in the Boston area, often joining with scientists at MIT, are developing boats that can drive themselves. More precisely, they operate in an “autonomous driving mode,” meaning people can control them from their laptops nearby. Take a look at the Steadfast, pictured above. Scientists from Sea Machines Robotics, Inc., a three-year-old Boston startup, bought the former Coast Guard RIB in May for $90,000 at a government auction. According to Bloomberg,…

Cruising Life
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See This Chart To Find the Chances of Your Anchor Holding

It’s not news that we’re supposed to put out 7:1 scope so our anchors will hold in normal conditions. But what was news to me was this chart from Captain John at Skipper Tips showing the odds of an anchor holding at greater or lesser scope. A 5:1 scope has a 77% chance of holding, for example, while a 10:1 scope gives a 100% chance. Take a look at this good story and chart from Skipper Tips: “Scope gives a ratio that shows the amount of anchor rode for each foot of water depth. For example, let’s say you are…

Cruising Life
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Hunt Design Introduces 80-foot Fast Express Cruiser: Will Top Out at 40 Knots

Ray Hunt Design, the people who brought you the award-winning Hunt 72 last year, now have a new elegant fast cruiser on the drawing boards – an 80-foot Fast Express Cruiser. The new 80 certainly has a family resemblance to the Hunt 72, which was named Best Powerboat at the Newport International Boat Show last year, and it has the iconic low-profile, long sheerline and clean, timeless lines that have set Hunts apart for more than half a century. When I asked Winn Willard, the president of Ray Hunt Designs, about the new 80 a few days ago at this…

Cruising Life
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After Irma, Foxy’s, with Almost Nothing Left, Is the Command Center for Jost Van Dyke

Now, a week after Hurricane Irma tore through the British Virgin Islands with historic force, Foxy’s, the iconic beachfront bar on Jost Van Dyke, the must-stop destination for most of us who’ve cruised or chartered there, is a mess (see the picture, above). As The New York Times reports, without electricity, running water or phone lines, the island’s 298 inhabitants are surviving on what they have left: a sat phone, a chain saw, some food. But Foxy’s has a working generator and people are rationing food and cooking meals twice a day there. “Anyone that comes, we feed,” said Tom Warner, Foxy’s…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

Zeelander 55, Hinckley Dasher Win Best Powerboat Awards at Newport Show. Sabre 45 is People’s Choice By Peter A. Janssen The Dutch-made Zeelander 55, a gorgeous boat without a straight line anywhere, just won the Best Powerboat Over 35 feet award at the Newport International Boat Show. The judges said the boat was “all curves,” and presented an innovative approach to design. The Zeelander, pictured above, is a combination of a traditional Down East lobster boat and a 1930’s Gold Coast commuter boat, with a totally contemporary hull and performance. The award for Best Powerboat Under 35 feet went to…

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