Author Peter Janssen

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

After Completing the Great Loop, a New Jersey Couple Plans to Keep on Cruising – in a Bigger Boat There’s no stopping Clark and Evelyn Woodworth, a retired couple from Rumson, New Jersey. For a while, after they completed the Great Loop a year ago, they thought they were finished. Then they bought a bigger boat… Avid boaters, the Woodworths started planning for the Loop more than a decade ago; they owned a Mainship 350, named Sea Moss, that they had bought new in 1999. They took Power Squadrons courses; Clark even took a Yanmar diesel engine course so he…

Cruising Life
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Captain and Masseuse Fled Sinking Charter Boat on Jet Ski, Leaving Passengers Stranded in Indian Ocean, Suit Says

This is a pretty ugly story and now that it’s in court, it may get even uglier.  According to a suit just filed in California, the captain of a 69-foot charter boat jumped on a Jet Ski at 4 in the morning as it was sinking in the Indian Ocean, picking up the boat’s masseuse and heading for safety, leaving eight passengers and various crew members behind. “An incompetent captain and crew, in complete disregard for the plaintiffs’ safety, panicked and abandoned ship without the plaintiffs,” the suit charges, who then were “forced to abandon the vessel in the dark of…

Boat Reviews
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Jock Williams’ Super-Traditional, Built-in-Maine Stanley 38 Lobster Yacht

They don’t come much more traditional than the Stanley 38, built on the shores of Somes Sound, just up from Southwest Harbor, Maine, by the John Williams Boat Company. With its lobster boat heritage, graceful sheerline and hint of tumblehome, the Stanley 38 has enough visible wood to keep the most ardent of purists happy. A year ago, John (Jock) Williams worked with Doug Zurn, the Marblehead, Mass., designer, to build a special Stanley 38, with a high-tech hull laid up with vinylester resin, stitched e-glass and Corecell construction and powered by twin Volvo IPS 600 pod drives; it topped…

Cruising Life
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New High-Tech Man Overboard Systems Can Keep Your Crew Safe

Man overboard – every captain’s nightmare scenario, when seconds can mean the difference between life and death. The point, of course, is to locate the man overboard absolutely as quickly as possible and then start the recovery effort. Now three new high-tech systems make it possible to find that person faster and easier. Developed by a French start-up, the Sea-Tags MOB wristband alarm system starts with downloading a free app to all smartphones on board the boat to monitor the wristbands. When anyone wearing the wristband goes overboard and the wristband is submerged, the smartphones will sound an alarm and…

Boat Reviews
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American Tugs Designs New Large Stateroom for Owner of 395. See Pictures

Most American Tugs 395 models have two staterooms forward, a master in the bow with a walk around queen bed and lots of storage, and a guest a bit aft with a single upper and double lower berth. But the LaConner, Washington-based company also specializes in building what an owner wants, and here’s a case where the owner wanted just one extra-large stateroom. Take a look at the results below. We previously published a story about the American Tugs 395, calling it a sturdy cruiser, with its raised-pilothouse design, comfortable salon, and 15-knot cruising speed with a single 380-hp Cummins…

Cruising Life
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Coast Guard Closes Mississippi Near St. Louis: Flooding

Bad news for Loopers trying to get an early start or anyone else cruising on the Mississippi River: Due to heavy rain and flooding, the Coast Guard has closed the Mississippi to all traffic near St. Louis, from mile marker 184.5 to mile marker 179, near the MacArthur Bridge. More rain has raised the possibility of other river closings in the Upper Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois River basins, and the Coast Guard is worried about rising water levels near the Cape Girardeau area this week. For more: http://coastguardnews.com/coast-guard-closes-portion-of-upper-mississippi-river-to-all-vessel-traffic/2017/05/02/

Charter
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Ten Most Outrageous Charter Guest Requests

We all know that the goal of a charter vacation is to relax and have fun, and that generally the goal of the captain and crew is to keep everybody safe and happy. But what happens when the guests make outrageous requests? How outrageous? Well, try this top ten list, including calls for a seaplane to deliver more champagne when the onboard stock is running low, or the guest who demanded that the breakfast cucumbers be cut into exactly 10-millimetre cubes. And those are just for starters. Read the list: http://www.boatinternational.com/charter/luxury-yacht-charter-advice/the-most-outrageous-charter-guest-requests–30013/frame-2

Cruising Life
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A Fast Guide to the Best Bars, Marinas and Fun Spots in Key West

If you’ve ever been there, I think you have to admit that Key West is unique, a one-off, there’s nothing like it. Ernest Hemingway, for one, loved it, writing that “it’s the best place I’ve ever been, anytime, anywhere.” The southernmost point in the United States, Key West is the heart of the Conch Republic, a jumping off point for Cuba for a lot of cruisers (including me, more than a decade ago), a sportfishing mecca, and the center of parties and celebrations that go on and on – from the evening gathering at Mallory Square to catch the…

Cruising Life
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Coast Guard Rescues Five from Sinking Boat in Mona Passage

The first sign of trouble came in to the Coast Guard in San Juan, a Mayday call from a 38-foot recreational power boat with five men on board that was taking on water in the often-treacherous Mona Passage, the strait between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The boat already had taken on three feet of water and more was pouring in. The five men had put on their life jackets and were abandoning ship, and they did not have a life raft. The Coast Guard immediately dispatched a Dolphin helicopter while sending out an urgent message to vessels in…

Engine Room
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How to Bleed Your Diesel Engine: A Simple Guide

There are many reasons why you might need to bleed your diesel engine, and few of them are good: You’ve run out of fuel, the fuel filters are clogged with dirty fuel, you’ve had to replace a secondary filter. If bleed you must, and sooner or later, unless you have a new high-tech common rail engine, you’ll probably need to get the air out of the system manually sooner or later. Take a look at this fast guide and then practice bleeding your diesel while you’re still at the dock, so you have this drill down perfectly. It will be…

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