Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Tells How to Survive the Unexpected Offshore

What do you do when the unexpected happens offshore? When the winds build, say, from 40 knots to 60 knots, to 70 knots? When your mental and physical preparation could mean the difference between life and death? And that preparation involves a lot of practice, according to Mario Vittone, a retired Coast Guard helicopter rescue swimmer and instructor and expert on surviving at sea. (In 2007, Vittone was named the Coast Guard’s Enlisted Person of the Year.) Here Vittone uses real world examples of how people survived the unexpected, where a common thread is that those who had successful experiences…

Cruising Life
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Retired Couple, and Their Dog, Tackle the Great Loop in a C-Dory 25

Pat and Patty Anderson, of Birch Bay, Washington, just north of Bellingham, love to go boating. They bought their C-Dory 25 Daydream at the Seattle boat show in 2005, and have spent much of their free time cruising the nearby San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands. The boat is powered by a single Honda 150-hp outboard, with a backup 15-hp Honda as a kicker. The longest time they have spent on board was about two weeks. But Pat, a retired lawyer, wanted to expand their horizons, so the Andersons decided to tackle the Great Loop. With their dog Baxter, the…

Cruising Life
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How To Fix Window Leaks: Great Tips from an Owner Who’s Been There

It’s one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve ever had: A leaking window on the port side of the salon on my Grand Banks 36. It took forever to get it fixed, and even then every time it rained I held my breath to see if the leak would start again. I know I’m not alone in this. Many owners of cruising boats face the same problem, and experience varying degrees of success in fixing it. Here’s some very good advice from Jim Healy, who, with his wife Peg, has cruised more than 40,000 miles on their 1988 Monk 36…

Cruising Life
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The Ten Prettiest Coastal Towns in Maine: Did Your Favorites Make the List?

The coast of Maine, with all its jutting peninsulas, rocky shoreline and hidden coves and harbors, offers some of the best cruising anywhere – if you can avoid the fog and the lobster pots. Maine also has some of the prettiest coastal towns anywhere, filled with charm, character and boating history and tradition. Which towns are the prettiest? Well, much of this is in the eye of the beholder. I personally would vote for both Northeast Harbor and Southwest Harbor, Port Clyde, Southport and Wiscasset, but that’s just me. To see what others think, here’s a top ten list from…

Boat Reviews
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New Tiara C39: A Solid Top-End Cruiser or Day Boat

It’s hard to tell whether the new Tiara C39, the smallest in the company’s coupe series, is a solid couple’s cruiser or a big, fast day boat with enough entertaining space for a small crowd. But in reality, you don’t need to choose: This new Tiara is both. Designed on the same lines as the earlier 50 and 44 coupes, the new 39 has a thoroughly modern interior and the high-tech performance associated with its twin Volvo IPS 500 pod drives with fingertip joystick controls. The boat cruises at 26 knots and tops out at 35 knots, fast enough to…

Charter
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Charter A Yacht in Bermuda to Watch the America’s Cup

You shouldn’t need an excuse to go to Bermuda (it’s one of the world’s greatest spots), but if you do, start thinking about the America’s Cup, one of the world’s most enduring sports contests. Don’t take too long to think about it: The first Louis Vuitton qualifying race starts May 26. One of the best ways to see all the action, of course, is by chartering your own yacht, power or sail. We have a story and video listing seven reasons why you should do that, below. And then below that we have another story telling all about Bermuda itself.…

Cruising Life
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Speeding Boat Runs Over Whale in Puget Sound, See Video

This is awful. A small boat speeding on Puget Sound runs right over a whale swimming just below the surface. The boat hits the whale hard enough to lift the boat out of the water. The entire episode was captured on video taken from a whale-watching boat. The whale, probably a grey whale, was one of three swimming together. Grey whales are about 40 feet long and can weigh up to 30 tons. The condition of the whale is not known. See the video here: http://globalnews.ca/news/3400614/speeding-boater-strikes-runs-over-whale-in-puget-sound/

Cruising Life
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Debris from Disabled Yacht Littering Popular Beach on Lake Michigan

A 76-foot yacht that was grounded in three feet of water is causing environmental and legal problems near a popular beach on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. The Coast Guard says the operator intentionally grounded the 76-foot yacht Tica, built in 1964, when it started taking on water off Ludington State Park, north of Pentwater, Michigan, on April 15. The Coast Guard rescued the operator, who was not injured. But since then debris from the yacht has been washing ashore, littering miles of coastline, and the situation will soon get worse, since 70 percent of the boat, including the…

Cruising Life
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Mesmerizing Video: Ferry Slams Into Concrete Breakwater

Ouch. From the start, this video is like watching a train wreck about to happen. It shows the Volcán de Tamasite, a 140-passenger ferry, slamming into a concrete breakwater in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. More than a dozen passengers were injured; five were taken to the hospital. The collision severed some underwater fuel pipes, and the Spanish government was cleaning up a small oil spill. Beaches around Las Palmas and Telde were closed as a precaution. The owner of the ferry said that it “suffered a technical glitch.” Others said it lost electrical power. Take a look for…

Cruising Life
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Coast Guard Commandant’s Reading List: Smart and Informed

You don’t get to be Commandant of the United States Coast Guard by being a dummy. And Admiral Paul Zukunft, the current Commandant, is certainly no exception, as exemplified by the reading list he published on All Hands, the Coast Guard’s official blog. The ten authors on the Commandant’s list range from Tom Friedman to Sebastian Junger; two great writers who come to their expertise through widely different experiences. I’d read anything by either of them. Then there’s Richard Haas, one of the smartest, and most fair-minded, thinkers around. You could do a lot worse than spending your time reading…

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