Browsing: Cruising Life

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41 Great Christmas Gifts for Your Favorite Cruising Boat Captain

Yes, I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but Christmas is coming in only six more weeks, which raises the question – what do give your favorite cruising boat captain or mate? There are always many opportunities here, no matter how large the boat is, or how experienced the owner is, or how much stuff (all totally necessary, of course) is already on the boat. In the next few weeks, we’ll have more great gift ideas, but here,  for a start, is a list of 41, yes 41, Christmas presents from Yachting World, the British magazine. It has a few…

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New Underwater Diving Drone Features a Robotic Arm

Here’s something new that could add another dimension to your next cruise or charter: an underwater diving drone with a robotic arm, so you can explore the ocean depths down to 492 feet. It’s called the Geneinno T1. Geneinno is a startup team that makes underwater drones and scooters. They say the Geneinno T1 is the world’s first diving drone equipped with a robotic arm. It dives deep and can explore the ocean floor. If you don’t want to go that far down, it has a precise hovering feature and a high-low angle shot that can be used for professional…

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Army Corps Will Close Locks on Illinois Waterway Next Summer

Here’s some bad news for anyone planning for the Great Loop or cruising in the Midwest next summer. Many of the locks along the Illinois Waterway, running from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, will be closed for repairs and no vessels will be allowed through. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates the eight lock and dam sites along the Waterway, and it closed some of them for short periods of time earlier this year. It has announced the dates for major repairs in 2020 and again in 2023, and said that “during the scheduled closures, no vessels will be able…

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23 Boats Nominated for European Boat of the Year Awards

Nominations for the European Powerboat of the Year 2020 Awards are in, and they include some names that  are familiar to those of us in the U.S. The prestigious awards, which have been given since 2005, are in five categories. The winners, selected by writers and editors of leading European boating magazines, will be announced at a gala ceremony on the opening night of Boot Düsseldorf on January 18. Here are the categories and the nominees. You can see pictures of the boats and brief writeups by clicking on the link at the bottom of this story. Boats Up To…

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New Mansion Yacht Sits on Hydraulic Legs, Holds 149 People

The new Mansion Yacht wasn’t the largest boat at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, but it was one that almost everybody was talking about. Part yacht, part houseboat, part New York condo, the Mansion cruises at 5 knots with a 440-hp Cummins diesel and then stays put, resting on four hydraulic 18-foot legs that anchor it to the seafloor and suspend it over the water. Then you can relax with your family and friends in five large staterooms, all with king-sized beds and ensuite designer heads, or you could call everyone on your contact list and invite them over;…

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Where To Put the Toys? Buy Another Boat

Most cruising boat owners have a problem with space, particularly space for the dinghy or tender and all the water toys we want to take on board. Where to put them all? Larger boats have aft boat decks as extensions of a flying bridge with cranes, but the rest of us have to find room on the transom, the cabintop, the lazarette, wherever. Here’s a solution: A separate boat. Indeed, Incat Crowther, an Australian company, has developed Hodor, a “Shadow Cat,” as a 217-foot backup boat that carries all the boats and toys that don’t fit on the megayacht mothership.…

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Airbnb For Boats: The Rapid Growth of Boat Sharing

For the past decade or so, we’ve been moving increasingly into a sharing economy, not an owning economy. Think of the massive growth of Airbnb, for example, in the housing market, or Uber and Lyft for transportation. Younger generations also often put more importance on experiences, than on things. They want the freedom to travel, and to dip into new experiences, such as boating, without having to tie up a lot of capital. Over the years, I had several conversations with the late Irwin Jacobs, who used to own such major boat companies as Wellcraft and Hatteras and certainly knew…

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Coast Guard: 7 Tips To Keep Safe This Winter

Here are seven tips from the Coast Guard about how to stay safe on the water this winter: Posted by LT Katie Braynard Regardless of the region in which you live, the winter season brings added tips to help you stay safe on the water. With colder air and water temperatures, it’s crucial to be prepared for anything if you happen to be heading out on the water for any activity this winter – boating, kayaking, paddle boarding or even ice fishing and snowmobiling. If you plan to participate in any water activity this winter – know what will keep…

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New Porsche-Designed, 35-Knot “Spaceship” Now for Sale

Royal Falcon One, a Porsche-designed, 135-foot, 35-knot “spaceship on the water,” is now for sale. It was launched from the Kockums yard in Sweden earlier this summer, and is now listed by Campers & Nicholsons. The luxury catamaran, with four decks and five staterooms, was built in conjunction with the Royal Falcon Fleet in Singapore; the project took almost a decade. The head-turning, futuristic yacht is filled with large windows, sliding doors and light flowing in from many directions. It has an open sundeck on the upper deck, and an observation lounge forward on the main deck. All told, the…

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Idyll Time Ends Season in Alaska, Posts Best Wildlife Photos

It’s the end of the season for Jeff and Susie Parker on Idyll Time, their 48-foot Kadey-Krogen North Sea Trawler. They just hauled the boat in Petersburg, Alaska, and posted their last cruising blog for the year. They also posted their best wildlife pictures, which are a real treat; see them below. The Parkers’ home port is Chattanooga, Tennessee. After they bought Idyll Time new in 2006, they cruised up and down the East Coast, they did the Great Loop, and they spent so much time on the Intracoastal Waterway that Parker said it had become routine. They wanted to…

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