Author Peter Janssen

Boat Reviews
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Vicem Building New Cold-Molded 93

Vicem, the high-end Turkish builder, just announced that it’s building an all-new, cold-molded Vicem 93, the start of a new series, for an Australian couple. The new Vicem, scheduled for delivery next spring, will have four staterooms on the accommodations deck, and quarters for three crew aft. With a semi-displacement hull, the 93 will cruise at 14 knots and to out at 18 knots. The 93 is a bit of a departure for Vicem, which has concentrated in the 46- to 65-foot range in the past few years. Signifying the move to larger yachts, it delivered hull number one of…

Cruising Life
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“Holy Grail” of Shipwrecks Filmed: See Video

The three-masted, 64-gun Spanish galleon San José was on its way home, loaded with treasure from the New World in 1708. It was the flagship of a flotilla of two other warships and 14 merchant ships that had left Panama and was heading to Cartagena before returning to Spain. The 1,051-ton San José itself was filled with treasure worth about $17 billion today, a cargo of gold, silver and emeralds sailing back to King Philip V of Spain. But on June 8, it ran into a British squadron off the Cartagena coast, and the British fired a cannonball that hit…

Cruising Life
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Maine Fisherman Catches 100-Year-Old Lobster

John Knowles, a fifth-generation Maine fisherman, has become a social media star by posting a video of the 100-year-old lobster he just caught on TikTok. So far, more than 1.7 million people have seen it. Knowles, a commercial fisherman from Winter Harbor, due east of Bar Harbor at the top of the Schoodic Peninsula, says he think the giant lobster is 100 years old, judged by its size, shell and claws. He says it’s quite possible that his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and even great-great grandfather could have caught the same lobster. Knowles’ family fished in the same area for generations,…

Boat Reviews
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Sunseeker Launches Manhattan 68 Cruiser

Sunseeker has launched its new Manhattan 68, a luxurious cruiser with a 300-nm range, an open salon, and large areas of space on the aft deck, the beach club, and up on the flybridge. The new 68 is the latest entry in Sunseeker’s prize-winning Manhattan lineup, and it has the contemporary European lines that make the company’s boats so popular. It’s a four-stateroom, three-head cruiser, with relaxing and entertaining spaces throughout, inside and out. There are sunbathing areas on the foredeck and in the cockpit, for example, as well as on the flybridge, which is protected by an integrated hardtop.…

Cruising Life
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New 23-Knot Hydrofoil/Submersible

Here’s something new: The Deepseaker DS1, a combination foiling boat that hits 23 knots above the surface and a submersible that can take four people as deep as 164 feet underwater. The Deepseaker’s parent company, iSpace2o, an Italian startup, is putting finishing touches on the design and hopes to start production soon. It says the vessel is the world’s first submersible hydrofoil. In any event, it’s certainly different. It has electric power with Deepspeed jets. We don’t have any details yet, but iSpace2o says it’s considering a hydrogen powertrain for longer range. iSpace2o says the Deepseaker will have “Tesla-like” artificial…

Cruising Life
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Maine’s First Ship Launched – Again

Maine’s first ship, a reproduction of the first boat built by colonists in America, is floating again. Last Saturday, thousands of people gathered on the Bath waterfront in Maine to watch the christening and launching of the 51-foot pinnace Virginia, a reproduction of the original Virginia that was built at the Popham Colony in 1607. The  new boat was built over more than a decade by some 100 volunteers at Maine’s First Ship, a non-profit organization. (A pinnace is described as a light boat, propelled by oars or sails, that was originally carried aboard merchant and war ships.) The building…

Boat Reviews
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Cormorant Building 780 Long-Range Cruiser

Cormorant Yachts is a relatively new player in the long-distance cruiser market, but they’ve already launched a 55 and a 69. Now they’re building the Cormorant 780, and they say it will have a range of 6,550 nm at 7.2 knots. Built in Gdansk, Poland, Cormorants are reliable modern-day displacement trawlers with advanced engineering and highly skilled workmanship. The idea is that their boats are built to spend weeks at sea while providing all the comforts of home. The new 780 can be built with two configurations. One has a closed galley, open bar area, and smaller pilothouse; this one…

Cruising Life
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Beneteau Installs Garmin Assisted Docking

Beneteau has become the first boat builder to incorporate Garmin’s Surround View assisted docking technology on a production boat, its upscale Gran Turismo 45 cruiser. Surround View will be available on all of those models now, and will probably roll out to other Beneteau models as well. The Garmin system has six cameras on the Gran Turismo so the captain can have a view of all angles of the boat, as well as an overhead bird’s-eye view, all appearing on the boat’s MFD at the helm. Both Beneteau and Garmin say the system gives the captain more confidence while docking…

Destinations
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Quebec: Cruise To a Piece of France

If you want to give yourself a treat this summer, take a trip up to Quebec, specifically Quebec City. With its rich history, vibrant French culture and large, modern marina, it’s one of the most alluring cruising destinations I’ve ever experienced. In the case of Quebec, getting there is half the fun. In 2014, George Sass, Sr., the photographer, and I cruised 495 nm from New York City (actually, Liberty Landing on the New Jersey side, across from downtown Manhattan) to Quebec City, going up the Hudson to Lake Champlain and then entering Canada. Lake Champlain itself is a great…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Axopar Launches Long, Low, Lean 45

Axopar has just launched its new flagship 45 XC Cross Cabin, an adventure cruiser that tops out at 45 knots with three fuel-efficient 300-hp Mercury Verado outboards. This latest and largest Axopar is long, low and lean, with a beam of only 13’ 6” and it shares the company’s increasingly popular lineup of fast boats that now starts at 22 feet. The innovative builder from Finland says the 45 is aimed at owners who want the same adventuresome spirit of smaller Axopars, but with more interior volume and deck space. Axopar says the 45 is an alternative to larger and…

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