Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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At Start of Sea Trial, Carver 36 Catches Fire at Fuel Dock on Mississippi

How’s this for a sea trial gone wrong? Last Sunday afternoon the owner of a 1983 Carver 36 filled up the boat at the Mississippi Pub, a riverside restaurant with a fuel dock in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, on the banks of the Mississippi River. A potential buyer climbed on for a sea trial. The owner started the engines and the boat caught fire and exploded. A fast-thinking fuel dock attendant shut off the breakers at the dock as everyone on the Carver climbed off the burning boat. No one was injured. They untied the boat to get it off…

Cruising Life
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Remains of Revolutionary War Hero John Paul Jones’ Ship May Be Found Off Yorkshire, England

At 6 p.m. on Sept. 23, 1779, John Paul Jones, now known as “the father of the American Navy” and then the captain of the 900-ton, 42-gun converted merchant ship Bonhomme Richard, opened fire on a more heavily armed British warship about five miles off the coast of Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, England. In the middle of the battle, after half the men on both ships had been killed, the English captain asked Jones if he wished to surrender. Jones’ reply, which lives to this day, was, “Sir, I have not yet begun to fight.” Indeed, at 10:30 that night it…

Cruising Life
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37-foot Power Quest Catches Fire, Sinks on Lake of the Ozarks. See Video

This wasn’t the happy Memorial Day cruise that Chad Stockman, 44, had in mind. Stockman, from Lohman, Missouri, was cruising with friends at mile marker 12 on Lake of the Ozarks on his 2002, 37-foot Power Quest on Memorial Day when he smelled smoke. Stockman raised the engine hatch and saw flames shooting from the rubber exhaust boot. He tried to extinguish them, but the fire spread too fast. A passing boat picked up Stockman and his crew, while his Power Quest burned to the waterline and sank. No one was injured. For more of the story and a video:…

Cruising Life
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A Salty Lobsterman’s Tale of Survival at Sea

It’s everyone’s worst nightmare – falling overboard in the middle of the night while everyone else is asleep and your boat just keeps going until it’s out of sight in the darkness. The remarkable thing about this true story is that John Aldridge, a commercial lobsterman from Montauk, New York, lived to tell the tale, but only because he thought to capture air in his boots to help keep himself afloat and also because a Coast Guard helicopter, running low on fuel, spotted him 12 hours later. Aldridge’s nightmare started on a summer night four years ago, about 45 miles…

Cruising Life
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First Look at Video of 31-Knot Grand Banks 60 in Australia

The long-awaited new Grand Banks 60 just turned in an impressive 31-knot top speed running along the Surfers Paradise coastline after its worldwide introduction at the Sanctuary Cove boat show in Australia. Dialing back to a comfortable cruising speed, the boat has a range of 2,000 nm. The three-stateroom, two-head cruiser, the new flagship of the Grand Banks Heritage fleet, will be launched in the U.S. at the Newport, Rhode Island, boat show in September. Powered by twin 900-hp Volvo diesels, this new beauty is stronger and lighter than previous Grand Banks, as a result of Grand Banks (and Palm…

Cruising Life
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Fire Sinks One Boat at Charleston Fuel Dock, Damages Another. See Story and Video

Matthew Chase had just filled up the gas tank of a 32-foot powerboat at the Ashley Marina in Charleston, South Carolina, at about 9:45 on Memorial Day morning. Chase, who works at Ashley, one of the most popular stops for boat owners cruising on the ICW nearby, said, “I stepped back like we always do, standard procedure, and then he went to start the boat and it must have sparked something and it blew up.” Chase was worried that the boat fire could set off a larger fire at the fuel dock, “so I ran pretty far away.” The two…

Cruising Life
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NOAA Wants To End Support for Charts Used by Recreational Boaters

This may be the end of paper charts as we know them. In a move that could have a tremendous impact on the safety of navigation for recreational boat owners, NOAA has announced plans to end its support of the system it has been using to produce more than 1,000 paper charts as well as the charts used in cruising guides and chart books. The plan also would downgrade the value of electronic charts used in recreational boats. This proposal is an about face from what NOAA officials said in 2014 when they decided to let private companies print official…

Cruising Life
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Terrifying Video of Great White Shark Attacking Kayaker

Brian Correiar, an experienced Scuba diver, was paddling his red, 14-foot-long kayak in Monterey Bay, California, when he heard a loud “bang.” A great white shark was attacking it. Correiar said he flew through the air and landed outside the kayak. He looked back “and to my horror saw a great white shark no more than three feet away had my kayak in its mouth.” As you can see from this video, taken from shore, Correiar starts swimming backward, yelling, “No, God, no” even while the shark is swimming toward him with the kayak in its jaws. “I was sure…

Cruising Life
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On His “Dream Greek Holiday,” A British Tourist Dies Riding an Inflatable Sofa

It was 5 in the evening on the sixth, and last day, of what Simon Crewe, a 57-year-old carpenter from Leicestershire, England, called  a “dream Greek holiday.” As a final treat, he and his brother David and a friend signed up for a ride on a yellow inflatable sofa pulled by a speedboat off the island of Cephalonia, in the Ionian Sea just west of the Greek mainland (pictured above). Simon Crewe’s partner, Vicki David, was on the speedboat, taking a holiday video. They had just started, when David Crewe said he heard “a massive bang,” and something hit his…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

Slowboat Flotilla to Alaska: Safety – and Fun – in Company The peak cruising season in the Pacific Northwest is just starting, but the Slowboat flotilla has already left Roche Harbor in the San Juans, heading up the Inside Passage to Sitka, Alaska. The flotilla has six boats this year, a Nordhavn 50, West Coast 46, Nordic Tug 42, two Nordic Tug 37s, and a Nordic Tug 34. All the owners are experienced boaters (including some who have lived aboard for 20 years and some who have cruised to Alaska before), but Laura Domela, one of the Slowboat organizers, says…

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