Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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San Francisco Couple Moved Aboard 58-foot Trawler Ten Years Ago To Beat High Housing Costs. Still Love It

A lot of us dream of living aboard. I know. I actually did it for a few years, including winters, in Connecticut on my Grand Banks 36. We do it for a variety of reasons: It’s a great experience; you get to spend more time on your boat; you become much more aware of the day-to-day marine environment; you are part of a small community on your marina with shared interests and passions. And it’s fun. It also can be less expensive than living ashore, particularly if you’re in a soaring real estate market, such as San Francisco. That was…

Cruising Life
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40-Ton Humpback Whale Leaps Entirely Out of the Water: Incredible Video

You don’t see this very often – if ever. Here’s an incredible video of a 40-ton humpback whale leaping entirely out of the water in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mbotyi, South Africa. The video was taken by Craig Capehart, a scuba diver who was sitting on his inflatable when the whale appeared nearby. Given that the average adult humpback whale weighs in at about 40-tons (the same as 24 grown hippos), it’s hard to imagine the strength required to take the leaps shown in the video. Above all, through all the acrobatics, the whale simply seems to…

Cruising Life
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Jock Whitney’s Iconic Aphrodite Now Queen of Watch Hill, RI

Once the pride of the Gold Coast commuter boats that whisked financiers from their Long Island homes to their Wall Street offices in the 1930s, Aphrodite, one of the most easily recognized boats on the water, is now the pride of Watch Hill, Rhode Island, having been totally restored back to her former glory. Even in its original incarnation, Aphrodite was never just another pretty commuter boat. It was commissioned by John Hay “Jock” Whitney in 1937 from the Purdy Boat Company in Port Washington, on the north shore of Long Island. Whitney lived in Manhasset, across the bay from…

Boat Reviews
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Inviting New Leader 33: A Creative Cruiser with Lots Space

The new Leader 33 has some of the most creative uses of space, both in the cockpit (which simply flows into the helm deck) and the master stateroom (which converts into a below-deck social area) that I’ve encountered in recent memory. To give owners even more choices, the Leader 33 has various gas and diesel power options that range from MerCruiser sterndrives to Volvos with a joystick. You step on board the new Leader, made by Jeanneau, the prestigious French builder, through a small stainless-steel swinging gate leading from the starboard side of the large swim platform into the cockpit.…

Cruising Life
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926-Pound Shark Caught Off New Jersey Coast: A State Record

Six friends fishing offshore for the first time caught a 926-pound Mako shark in the Hudson Canyon, 100 miles off the New Jersey coast, last weekend, probably setting a new state record as the largest shark of any kind ever caught there. “It was a beast,” said Kevin Gerrity, the boat’s captain. The six were fishing on the Jenny Lee, a 44-foot Henriques charter boat out of Brielle, when they hooked something that took off like “a freight train.” They all took turns for 90 minutes trying to land the shark. The first time they got it to the boat…

Cruising Life
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Coast Guard Rescues 5 from Capsized Boat 8 Miles Offshore; Only 3 Had Life Jackets

The Coast Guard has rescued five people from a capsized 19-foot power boat eight miles off Topsail Island, North Carolina. Three of them had life jackets; the other two, without jackets, stayed afloat by perching on the capsized boat’s hull. The rescue started at 9:53 in the morning when the Coast Guard got a Mayday call that a small boat eight miles out in the Atlantic was taking on water. About the same time, the local county 911 office got a call saying the boat had capsized and five people were in the water, with only three life jackets among…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

Long-Time Boaters Take First Extended Cruise on Back Cove 37. Want To Keep Going By Peter A. Janssen After cruising in the Great Lakes for 34 years, Mike and Melodie Kapolka pretty much know what they like (Georgian Bay and the North Channel are at the top of their list). But now that they have a Back Cove 37, their largest boat so far, they’re taking their first extended cruise, and they like it so much they’re planning for more. The Kapolkas are fairly typical of American cruising couples. They started boating from their home port in Algonac, Michigan, on…

Cruising Life
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Insider’s Guide to the Best of the BVI. Keep This List!

Like many cruising people, I’ve been to the British Virgin Islands many times, and I think I know my way around. Well, turns out I was just getting started. I found plenty of new places on this insider’s guide to the best of the BVI from someone who grew up and still lives there, and I can’t wait to go back to try some of them out. Here, for example, you’ll find the best anchorage, the best beach, the best watersports, the best snorkeling (at The Indians, pictured above), the best hidden gem, the best hiking trails, and the best-kept…

Cruising Life
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Lessons Learned from a Boat Fire in a Neighboring Slip in the Middle of the Night

We all learn from our experiences. How to do things better, faster, safer next time. But here’s one experience we’d rather not have – a fire on a boat in a slip nearby in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened two weeks ago to Chris Sullivan, who lives aboard his powerboat in a marina in Falmouth, Mass. He works there too, so he’s very familiar with the marina, the boats and the security arrangements. The story starts with someone pounding on the side of Sullivan’s hull at 1:30 in the morning to wake him up. A…

Boat Reviews
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Owners Take 1,200-Mile Shakedown Cruise on New Outer Reef 610

How’s this for a shakedown cruise? The new owners of an Outer Reef 610 Motoryacht just took it from Fort Lauderdale to their home port of Newport, Rhode Island., covering 1,200 nm in five days and six hours with just two pit stops along the way. The good news: Sandana, the new boat, didn’t miss a beat along the way. As part of the shakedown, Outer Reef Captain John Dennison helped drive the boat, while the owners, Dan and Sandy, got used to their new 61-footer and all its systems. They’re shown above enjoying the view from Sandana’s Portuguese bridge…

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