Author Peter Janssen

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

The Growing Value of Experience I was listening to my car radio this afternoon and I heard a report from Peter Greenberg, the travel editor for CBS News. We used to work together at Newsweek many moons ago, so I paid attention. Greenberg was talking about millennials, and how their values are changing some markets. Many millennials are not buying cars any more, he said, because they don’t want to own something they don’t use that much, particularly when they can pick up a smart phone and use Uber or Lyft or Zipcar when they need to get somewhere. They…

Charter
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Want a Glamorous Cruise or Charter? Try the Cote d’Azur

There are vacations and there are vacations, but where else in the world is as appealing and as glamorous as the Cote d’Azur, the 60-mile stretch of absolutely gorgeous blue water from Monaco to St. Tropez? Think Princess Grace, Brigitte Bardot, Cary Grant and James Bond, not to mention F. Scott Fitzgerald. Now you can get there yourself on a cruise or week-long charter from MarineMax Yachts. Here’s a sample itinerary to whet your appetite: http://www.marinemaxyachts.com/private-yacht-charters/cote-dazur

Boat Reviews
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New Vicem Classic 46IPS: A Company First in Fiberglass and Epoxy

Now here’s a change. Vicem Yacht, the Turkish builder that’s been specializing in using marine mahogany in the cold-molded construction process since 1991, is now going to introduce its first fiberglass/epoxy model, the Vicem Classic 46IPS, at the Palm Beach International Boat Show starting March 23. And, no surprise, it’s a beauty. Designed by Vicem’s in-house team, the boat carries classic Downeast lines that just as easily could have been drawn in Southwest Harbor, Maine. We don’t have a lot of details yet, but we know the Classic 46IPS will be powered by two 435-hp Volvo IPS 600s, offering joystick…

Cruising Life
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Palm Beach Boat Show: Lots of Great Boats in a Great Setting, Plus 25 Boat Reviews

It’s not hard to see why the Palm Beach Show has become more and more popular in the past few years. First off, the location is terrific: It’s pretty, it’s easy to get to, and once you’re there it’s easy to navigate the docks and tents without competing with a horde of other people. It’s a no-hassle boat show, with a bit of the Goldilocks’ effect: It’s not too big; it’s not too small, it’s just right. The show this year, officially the 32nd annual Palm Beach International Boat Show, runs from Thursday, March 23, through Sunday, March 26. It’s…

Boat Reviews
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New Reliant X40: A Striking New Take on a Classic

You certainly can’t say that Reliant Yachts, the brainchild of industry veterans Jim Ewing and David MacFarlane, is stuck in a rut. The first boat they produced, the Commuter 40, was about as traditional a classic Downeast boat as you could get, with its beautiful tumblehome, wide teak decks, low profile and long sheerline. Although it was made in Turkey, its heart and soul clearly were in New England. The next two boats were different iterations of the first. Now the company has announced the contract for a fourth boat, the Reliant X40, that redefines the genre. The X40, says…

Cruising Life
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Sea Stories from Those Who’ve Been There: What To Do When Things Go Wrong

It’s certainly a truism that we learn from experience. (I guess the real truism is that we should learn from experience.) And that certainly applies to cruising and spending time on boats, where a whole lot of things can go wrong, usually when we least expect them to do so. But we can learn from the mistakes of others. Here are five different stories from the readers of Sea magazine about things that went wrong on their cruises – and what they learned to prevent them from happening again. Take heed: http://www.seamagazine.com/the-hard-way/?utm_source=SEA+Magazine&utm_campaign=7db0a6bf21Sea_2017_02_24_NL_02_24_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_30cb03d58b-7db0a6bf21-46073145

Cruising Life
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Lucas Pronk, Age 10, Tells His 5th Grade Class Back Home About the Great Loop; Great Video

If you want to renew your faith in humanity, or just feel good about the world, take a look at this video by Lucas Pronk, 10. Yes, I know he’s on a sailboat, and this is a powerboat site. But that’s not the point. Lucas and his family – his father, James; mother, Nancy; and brother Marcos, 6, are truly living the dream – doing the Great Loop together – on a 44-year-old Catalina 27. James, an artist, and Nancy, a teacher, are taking a year off, and homeschooling the boys. They rented their house in Peterborough, Ontario, and set…

Cruising Life
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Ida Lewis: “The Bravest Woman in America”

Long before women could vote, much less hold down “a man’s job,” Ida Lewis was called “the bravest woman in America.” The reason: As the official keeper of the Lime Rock Light Station on a tiny island off Newport, RI, she managed to save 18 people from drowning. Lewis took over the Light Station when her father, who had been the keeper, died in 1872. After she started saving people by herself, Lewis became a 19th century celebrity:  She was on the cover of Harper’s Weekly; President U.S. Grant visited her when he was in Newport. Lewis kept the job…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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On Watch

A Look Back at Miami: Let’s Hear It for the NMMA and Virginia Key I haven’t seen such an upbeat boat show in many years – probably before 2008, in fact. At the Miami International Boat Show last week on Virginia Key the docks were crowded, people were having fun, taking demo rides, buying boats. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have enough to choose from. Indeed, the show had 1,300 new boats for sale, including 550 in the water: big boats, small boats, outboard boats, inboard boats. If it floats it was there. And people were happy. Several told…

Annapolis Boat Show
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Stay Connected, Anywhere in the World, with the New Mazu App

Even in our constantly-on digital world, staying connected isn’t always as easy as it should be, particularly if you’re cruising offshore or out of Wi-Fi range. Everyone wants to stay connected, but it’s often expensive or complicated. Now the new Mazu app from SkyMate helps to solve those problems by making communications and nav functions both easy and inexpensive anywhere in the world. The way it works is certainly easy enough. You download the free Mazu app from the App Store for your iPad. Then you purchase the mSeries  system and install it on your boat (it’s designed to be…

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