Author Peter Janssen

Destinations
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Mackinac: #1 Summer Travel Destination

It’s always been a personal favorite, but I was still a bit surprised to learn that Mackinac Island, nestled between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, had been voted the number one Best Summer Destination in the United States in the 2023 USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards. Mystic, Connecticut, with its historic seaport and aquarium, was number three. Nantucket, Catalina, the San Juans? Oh well. Lots of people love Mackinac (pronounced “Mackinaw”), and for good reason. A four-acre island at the top of Lake Huron, just around the corner from the top of Lake Michigan, Mackinac has been a major tourist…

Boat Reviews
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New 36-Foot Electric Boat with 200-nm Range

Optima-Projects, a fairly new company near the Solent in the UK, just launched their revolutionary 36-foot Optima E10 all-electric boat with a staggering 200-nm range. The Optima E10 prototype is marked by a unusual hull shape where the slender central hull is flanked by even thinner external ones, creating tunnels underneath. The design is something of a merger of a monohull and a trimaran, and it enhances efficiency while reducing drag. The two external hulls contribute to the boat’s stability, providing a comfortable and smooth ride. Even with the outer hulls, the Optima’s beam is just 11’ 6”, so it…

Cruising Life
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Brabus Offers Mercedes, Axopar, Watch for $1.5 Million

Here’s something you probably haven’t thought of before. Brabus, the high-end German car customizer, is now offering a special Stealth Green Exclusivity Package, bundling a tricked-out Mercedes luxury off-road vehicle, a 38-foot Axopar boat, and a Panerai submersible watch, all for just $1.5 million.  They all are painted Stealth Green. You could buy all these things separately, of course, piece by piece, but Brabus, which was founded in Bottrop, Germany, in 1977 to customize high-end cars, particularly Mercedes-Benz, now offers you the advantage of one-stop shopping. And then you have the Stealth Green thing too. The new Brabus 800 4X4…

Boat Reviews
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New Saxdor 270 GTO Now in the U.S.

The aggressively styled, low-profile, outboard-powered Saxdor 270 GTO, built in Finland, is now for sale in the U.S. through the massive MarineMax dealer network. With its almost vertical bow, glass see-through transom, and drop-down wings on both sides of the aft deck, the new, trailerable Saxdor is a super-modern Scandinavian platform that will turn heads on either side of the Atlantic. It has a two-step, deep-V hull, with a 20-degree deadrise aft, and power up to twin 300-hp outboards. Cruising speed is 45 knots. The Saxdor 270 can hold seven people for daytime cruising and entertaining, and it has a…

Boat Reviews
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Lyman-Morse Building New Monhegan 42 Cruiser

Lyman-Morse in Thomaston, Maine, just announced that it’s building a new Monhegan 42 Down East cruiser designed by C. Raymond Hunt Associates in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The new 42 is the third in Lyman-Morse’s semi-custom Monhegan series, and it shows how an owner can customize an existing platform to suit his or her specific needs. The semi-custom approach delivers the attributes of a custom yacht, but with a considerably shorter lead time. It also builds on the success of a proven design. The Monhegan 42 has Hunt’s iconic deep-V hull, with power from twin 550-hp Cummins QSB 6.7 diesels. Its…

Cruising Life
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Charter Boat Sinks in Channel Islands; 14 Saved

A charter fishing boat hit some rocks off the coast of Southern California in the middle of  the night last week and sank. A good Samaritan vessel nearby picked up all 14 people on board after they abandoned ship. The Coast Guard says it received a Mayday call at 2:33 a. m. from the captain of the Sea Jay fishing boat reporting it had hit a rock and was taking on water off Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the Channel Islands about 20 miles off Ventura Harbor. Ten passengers and four crew were on board. The captain, Chauncey Peal,…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Missing Sub’s Debris Found Near Titanic

At 10 a.m. on Sunday, June 18, the Canadian expedition ship Polar Prince launched its carbon-fiber and titanium 22-foot submersible, Titan, with five people on board, just over the wreck of the Titanic some 12,500 feet under the surface. Just 1 hour and 47 minutes later, the Polar Prince lost all communication with the sub. It had not been seen or heard from ever since. There was enough oxygen on board to last about 96 hours; the air would run out on Thursday morning. On Thursday afternoon, the Coast Guard said that a debris field, the result of a “catastrophic…

Cruising Life
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Ocean Temps Warmest Ever in May: NOAA

Ocean temperatures last month were the warmest ever recorded, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The records date back to 1850. Meanwhile, North and South America recorded the hottest temperatures ever in May, while May was the third-warmest on record for the entire world. Temperatures in North America were driven by wildfires in Canada (pictured). Here’s the NOAA report: It was another warm month for the globe, with May 2023 ranking as the world’s third-warmest May on record. Earth’s ocean surface temperatures also set a record high for the second month in a row, according to scientists from…

Cruising Life
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Sunreef Building Sleek New Hybrid 88 Ultima Cat

Sunreef Yachts just introduced its new sleek hybrid 88 Ultima luxury power catamaran that the innovative company says blends the best of monohull dynamics with multihull living space and shallow draft that lets it tie up at marinas around the world. Ever since Francis Lapp founded Sunreef in Gdansk, Poland in 2007, the company has won lots of awards for its high-tech green innovations that combine solar/electric and hybrid power. The new 88 Ultima has custom-engineered batteries, hybrid propulsion and what Sunreef says is the industry’s first solar skin system. The new cat is 88 feet long with a 30-foot…

Cruising Life
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Mercury Launches New 500-hp Outboard

Marking its 50th anniversary, Mercury Racing just introduced its new 500-hp outboard designed for fast luxury sport boats. The new 500R V8 has Mercury Racing’s exclusive supercharger, and it not only has 50 more horsepower but also 10 percent more torque than the company’s 450R. It has a 4.6 liter, 64-degree FourStroke powerhead and is designed for pump fuel with an 89 octane rating.  The company says the 500R is “the most exciting production outboard to ever emerge from Mercury Racing.” The 500R tops out at 6,600 rpm. To handle all that power, it has upgraded its powerhead, cooling system,…

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