Author Peter Janssen

Cruising Life
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Palmer-Johnson’s Time Scuttled for Reef

The 125-foot yacht Time, the largest aluminum yacht ever built when it was launched in 1987, was scuttled off Fort Pierce, Florida, last Saturday in an effort to turn it into an artificial reef. Time received a lot of attention when it was built at Palmer-Johnson in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. PJ was one of the premier American builders at the time. And the exterior design was by Tom Fexas, a well-known designer then. The interior was by JC Espinosa Design, a relative newcomer at the time. The yacht has three staterooms for six guests, plus quarters for five crew. With…

Cruising Life
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Mississippi, Ohio Rivers Drying Up

As if anyone contemplating the Great Loop this summer doesn’t have enough problems, now it turns out that both the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers are starting to dry up – for the second straight year. In Cairo, Illinois, where the two rivers join, water levels dropped more than 6 feet last week, and they’re forecast to fall 4 feet more by the end of July. That would push the Ohio into its official low stage, where barges can run aground and the shipping channels narrow. In St. Louis, the Mississippi could fall another 3 feet by the end of…

Cruising Life
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Technohull Launches New 38 with Fashion Brand

If you want to see what’s possible with a RIB, take a look at the new Aimé Leon Dore/Technohull 38 Grand Sport, the result of a collaboration between the New York-based fashion brand and the upscale Greek builder. The new RIB has Technohull’s signature black color, with rich green tubes and custom Aimé Leon Dore offshore branding, including premium marine seats and tonal embroidering. The Technohull 38 is built on a deep-V hull with a sharp entry and variable deadrise. Power comes from twin 450-hp Mercury Racing outboards, producing a top speed in the 90-mph range. Technohulls are known for…

Cruising Life
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Hinckley Makes Docking Easier with JetStick 4

Hinckley, one of the proudest names in yachting, just introduced its innovative JetStick 4 control system that makes driving and docking easier than ever before. The heart of the new JetStick is a Dock Hold feature that holds a boat against a dock while the owner secures the lines or performs other duties on deck or below. It’s more precise and seamless than previous versions, and is particularly useful for owners who are short-handed or don’t want to have to rely on guests to help in docking the  yacht. “Our clients want the best possible experience when they’re on the…

Boat Reviews
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Granocean Building Luxe 72 Power Cat

Granocean just started building a new luxurious 72 power catamaran in its yard outside Sydney, Australia, with the interior space and design of a good-sized condo in New York or London. The company says it can customize the new 72 to suit an owner’s tastes. Hull number one is under construction for a European owner, and it has a sophisticated mint-green exterior color that’s bound to turn heads anywhere in the world. The interior, by Vripack in The Netherlands, has an elegant minimalist design, while the hull was designed by Howard Apollonio of Washington State and the structural engineering by…

Cruising Life
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Nordhavn 76 Cruises to Fiji and Beyond

The Spirit of Ulysses, a well-travelled Nordhavn 76, just left Fiji on its epic 9,900 nm cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Perth, Australia, and things are going well so far. They are going so well, in fact, that the captain, Nikolay Alexandrov, just posted on the  yacht’s blog that the owner, Kris Townend, “is happy, great trip so far! He likes the boating life more and more, and his other job less and less.” Welcome to the world of blue-water cruising. Townend, an Australian, bought Spirit of Ulysses last February in Fort Lauderdale. Built in 2007, the boat had already…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Vripack Unveils Doggersbank 77 Long-Range Cruiser

Vripack, the Dutch yacht design firm, just unveiled a new Doggersbank 77 Offshore, a rugged adventure yacht with a creative, single-engine hybrid propulsion system. The new 77 will be the largest Doggersbank that Altena Shipyards, also in the Netherlands, has ever built. The Doggersbank line was started by Vripack founder Dick Boon in 1968; the name comes from a large sandbar in the North Sea. More than 750 Doggersbanks have been built since then, all marked by a high bow to cruise through rough water anywhere in the world, with steel hulls and aluminum superstructures. The new 77 was designed…

Boat Reviews
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Catana Unveils New Brand of Power Cats

The Catana Group in France that’s been making sailing catamarans for the past 40 years just announced that they’re starting a new power cat brand, called YOT. They will introduce their first boat, the YOT 36, at the Cannes Yachting Festival in September. A family company, Catana makes Catana and Bali sailing cats in five different yards, three in France and one each in Portugal and Tunisia, with more than 1,300 employees. But recently, the power cat market beckoned. As Boris Compagnon, the group’s sales and marketing director, said, “Knowing that eight out of ten boats in the world today…

Boat Reviews
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New Princess X80 with Luxury Sky Lounge

The new British-built Princess X80, with its creative glazing, super-sized sky lounge and a foredeck with a Jacuzzi, is now in the U.S. It also has a large main deck with an extra space all the way forward that can be either a dinette with 270-degree views or a fifth stateroom, complete with its own head and shower and door to the side deck. (So far, about half the buyers in the U.K. have ordered the dinette, while the other half want the stateroom.) The new Princess X80 doesn’t lack for power. It comes with twin 1,900-hp MAN diesels, producing…

Destinations
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Where the Superyachts Are This Summer

We all know that the rich and famous gather at St. Bart’s on their superyachts to celebrate Christmas and the New Year’s holidays. But in the summer? Well, most of those same people, on their same yachts, head for the Med. To keep track of who’s where, Forbes made a list of superyachts that are already in or around the Med, enjoying life from St. Tropez to the Greek islands, shuttling back and forth to some of the most beautiful harbors in the world, often on the yacht’s own helicopter. (Solandge, a 279-foot charter yacht, is pictured cruising off Croatia.)…

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