Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Reliant’s Latest: A Super-Modern Megayacht Tender that’s also a Proper Yacht

Reliant Yachts started a year ago with a traditional Downeast boat. The Reliant Commuter 40 had it all: A gorgeous tumblehome, wide teak decks, low profile and long sheer line. Then Reliant, the brainchild of industry veterans David MacFarlane and Jim Ewing, built a carbon-fiber, 40-knot Reliant X40, a super-modern design that would be more at home in the French Riviera than in Maine. Now they’re expanding on that X platform, with what they call a limousine tender that will be completed early next year. There’s no doubt that MacFarlane and Ewing know what they’re doing. MacFarlane is the former…

Cruising Life
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Scientists Puzzled by Record Number of Whale Deaths in Gulf of St. Lawrence

So far, this has been a bad summer for whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Indeed, scientists say nine North Atlantic right whales have died there in the past two months, making this the deadliest year for the endangered mammal since the 1980s. “This is catastrophic,” Tonya Wimmer, director of the Marine Animal Response Society in Halifax, told Reuters. Only 500 North Atlantic right whales remain in the world, and more have been sighted in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, above Nova Scotia and between Newfoundland and New Brunswick, than ever before. Scientists speculate this may be because their…

Charter
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Great Abacos Charter Story and Pictures from One Epic Adventure

Here’s a great story by the people at One Epic Adventure about chartering in the Abacos, one of the best cruising grounds around. To my mind, you won’t go wrong chartering anywhere in the Bahamas, but the Abacos are particularly appealing. The passages are short, navigation is usually line-of-sight, and there are lots of picturesque little towns, gorgeous white beaches, great snorkeling and crystal-clear, light blue-green water. You do need to watch your depth, as those beautiful waters are often shallow, and many of the cays in the Bahamas are protected by barrier reefs. In this story, the One Epic…

Boat Reviews
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Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot Heads for East Coast Shows

Hull number one of the 20-knot Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot is on its way to the east coast, where it will be displayed at the fall boat shows, starting with Newport, Rhode Island, in early September. This three-stateroom, two-head Nordhavn, which tops out at twice the speed of previous Nordhavns, is the first to be built for coastal cruising, as opposed to the open-ocean, blue-water boats that have made the company famous. “This is a boat for people who don’t need ocean-crossing capabilities,” says Jim Leishman, vice president of PAE, Nordhavn’s parent company. Designed for owners moving down from larger…

Cruising Life
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New High-Tech FLIR Cooled Thermal Camera Detects Targets Nine Miles Away

FLIR has just introduced a cutting-edge cryogenically-cooled thermal camera that allows for early detection of other vessels, landmarks and nav aids up to nine miles away. A multi-sensor marine camera, the FLIR M500 has a 14x optical zoom lens to improve situation awareness, a gyrostabilizer to produce steady images in rough seas, and a video tracker to monitor a selected moving or stationary target. The new camera does all this by detecting small temperature variations in targets, providing greater detail even at great distances or in reduced visibility. It is the first cooled thermal camera in FLIR’s award-winning M Series…

Cruising Life
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Captain of Capsized Alaska Fishing Boat Jumps in Water To Save Crew. See Coast Guard Video

The captain of a capsized fishing boat jumped into 47-degree water near Kodiak, Alaska, and swam 50 yards to pull one of his crewmen back to safety. The crew of a Coast Guard helicopter, sent to rescue all four men from the capsized boat, recorded the captain’s heroic effort (see the video below). The problems began about 3:25 on Monday afternoon, when the Coast Guard received a Mayday call. The fishing boat Grayling, with four men on board, had taken on water and capsized. The Coast Guard diverted a Jayhawk helicopter, already in the air on a training mission, for…

Charter
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Charter an Iconic Huckins for a Cruise on the St. Johns River

Here’s a charter opportunity that combines some beautiful, iconic Huckins yachts with some very different – and appealing – destinations, all starting from Classic River Cruises in Jacksonville, Florida. The small charter company has four classic Huckins plus assorted Boston Whalers, kayaks and SUPs, all in Jacksonville on the St. Johns River, which offers a wide variety of marine life (dolphins, manatees, alligators) along its 310-mile length. You can charter a crewed Huckins for an hour or for several days, for a cocktail cruise, a football game or a long family reunion. The company suggests a few favorite itineraries, including…

Cruising Life
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12 Best Beaches in the Caribbean Rated by U.S. News & World Report. See If You Agree

Here’s a great list of the 12 best beaches in the Caribbean, at least in the opinion of U.S. News & World Report, which specializes in rating these kinds of things. Not that I’m one to disagree, since I have only been to a few of these; they all look terrific to me. It’s not hard to imagine dropping the hook off any of these beaches and taking the dink in for some exploring and sunning on shore. Many of them also have waterfront bars or other attractions in case the lure of some of the most beautiful sand in…

Cruising Life
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iPad or Chartplotter: Which One’s Best for Your Boat?

Take your pick for your boat: A mobile, easy to take home or carry around your boat iPad tablet, or a fixed-mount chartplotter. You say you’ll take both? You’re not alone. But each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, and you’ll probably end up relying on one more than on the other. An iPad, of course, is a modern platform for navigation, and there are a lot of apps and products available to protect and even mount a tablet on your helm. But how does it compare to a traditional, fixed-mount chartplotter? Both come in various sizes, although chartplotters…

Cruising Life
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50 Boats Cruise to Poets Cove in the Canadian Gulf Islands for Ranger Tug Rendezvous

About 50 boats cruised up to the recent Ranger Tugs rendezvous in Poets Cove resort and marina on Pender Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands, one of the most beautiful cruising destinations around. Poets Cove, nestled inside Bedwell Harbour Bay, is a great destination in its own right, or a convenient stop on the way to or from the Inside Passage. (I’ve stayed there many times over the years and have always wanted to go back.) The Ranger rendezvous was a major success, filled with families, pets, kids and good times. The highlight was the blindfolded dinghy race (pictured above);…

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