Cruising Life

Williams Launches Tender with SOLAS Option

By Peter Janssen on July 18, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Williams Jet Tenders will launch its new 16-foot Dieseljet 505 with an optional SOLAS certification at the Monaco Yacht Show, starting Sept. 28. The new luxury RIB has been modified to meet all the stringent requirements of SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea). SOLAS-certified tenders are considered the gold standard in rescue vessels, and they’re a legal requirement for yachts over 500GT. The new Williams Dieseljet with the SOLAS option is capable of towing life rafts, serving as a man-overboard recovery boat or functioning in many other emergency situations. Matthew Hornsby, the commercial director for Williams Jet Tenders, says, “Not…

Mercury Intros New, Light, 25- and 30-hp Outboards

By Peter Janssen on July 13, 2022 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Mercury Marine just introduced a new series of three-cylinder, four-stroke 25- and 30-hp outboards that are lighter, faster and more user-friendly than ever before. The new outboards all have a 500cc powerhead with electronic fuel injection. And for the first time, electric-start models in both the 25- and 30-hp size come standard with Mercury’s SmartCraft digital technologies, so owners can connect to sophisticated digital gauges and mobile devices. The outboards start at just 132 pounds, making them 16 percent lighter than previous models; they’re also more fuel efficient. They come in models designated as 25- and 30-hp Four Stroke; 25-hp…

2 Killed on Family Outing on the Hudson

By Peter Janssen on July 13, 2022 Cruising Life

A family cruise turned tragic Tuesday afternoon, when a chartered 27-foot boat with 13 people on board capsized on the Hudson River off mid-town Manhattan. A 7-year-old boy and a 47-year-old woman were trapped under the boat and died. Crew from two New York ferry boats that were nearby pulled many people out of the water, and divers from the NYPD and NYFD found the boy and woman from under the capsized boat. EMS personnel tried to resuscitate them but they were nonresponsive. The owner of the boat, who had been following it on a jet ski, broke down in…

Anatomy of a Man Overboard Fatality

By co_admin on July 12, 2022 Cruising Life

Here’s a MARS report case study about the death of a man who fell overboard while rigging the pilot ladder on a commercial ship. MARS is the Mariners’ Alerting and Reporting Scheme, a confidential reporting system run by The Nautical Institute to allow full reporting of accidents without fear of identification or litigation. As a result, there are no names or details. But the report, printed in Marine Insight, is eye-opening for anyone going offshore: A bulk carrier in ballast was making way at 7 knots in a traffic separation scheme (TSS). The pilot ladder was being prepared on the…

Boating Was Safer Last Year: Coast Guard

By Peter Janssen on July 12, 2022 Cruising Life

The Coast Guard has some good news for us. Boating got a little bit safer last year. The Coast Guard has issued its annual report on boating safety. The major findings: In 2021, there were 658 fatalities, down 14 percent from the previous year (when there were many new boaters because of the pandemic). There were 5,265 total accidents, down 16 percent. The only bad news was that property damage hit $67.5 million, an all-time high, perhaps due to inflation or the higher price of both new and used boats. The top five contributing factors to accidents were operator inattention,…

Wally Building WHY150 Space Ship

By Peter Janssen on July 11, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Wally just announced that it’s making a new Wally WHY150 yacht, the second in its WHY series, designed for extra space and comfort on board. The first WHY, the 200, at 88 feet, was launched in September. The latest 150, at 78 feet, is scheduled to be launched in February. The WHY stands for Wally Hybrid Yacht, but the hybrid part doesn’t refer to propulsion. Instead, it means a hybrid hull built for both displacement and semi-displacement cruising. But what really sets the WHY series apart is the massive space inside the yacht. The new 150 has a high bow…

Gloucester Fishing Boat Sinks; Crew Saved

By Peter Janssen on July 11, 2022 Cruising Life

The Grace Marie, a 72-foot commercial fishing boat, sank on Friday night about 80 nm east of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Another boat, fishing nearby, rescued all 7 crew on board and brought them home to Gloucester. The Coast Guard says it heard a Mayday call about 10 pm from the Grace Marie, saying it was taking on water and flooding. The Coast Guard then issued an urgent marine broadcast asking all boats in the area to respond to the Mayday. The Dawn T, a gillnetter, was fishing nearby and rescued all the crew. No one was injured. It got back to…

Rotterdam Bridge, 1; Jeff Bezos, 0

By Peter Janssen on July 10, 2022 Cruising Life

After much ado, it turns out that Rotterdam won’t have to dismantle its historic Koningshaven Bridge so that Jeff Bezos’ new yacht, the largest sailboat in the world, can pass through on its way to the sea. Oceanco, the superyacht builder with its plant upstream from the bridge, will not apply for a permit to temporarily dismantle the central section of the bridge, according to reports from Rotterdam city officials. The builder apparently was worried about the backlash and stories of threats since it announced last February that it would seek a permit to dismantle the center section of the…

Coast Guard Saves 9 After Boat Sinks

By Peter Janssen on July 10, 2022 Cruising Life

The Coast Guard rescued nine people on Saturday after their 50-foot sport-fishing boat apparently hit the wreck of a battleship off Pensacola, Florida, and sank. The Coast Guard says its station in Mobile, Alabama, received a Mayday call at 10:47 a.m. from the boat, Slow Motion, saying it had run aground about 1.5 nm off Pensacola and was taking on water. As the boat started to sink, all nine people on board abandoned ship. The Coast Guard sent a 45-foot boat from Pensacola to the site, and it arrived in less than ten minutes, rescuing all nine people from the…

Captain Falls Overboard, Rescued After 4 Hours

By Peter Janssen on July 7, 2022 Cruising Life

The captain of a commercial fishing boat who fell overboard at night without a life jacket was rescued four hours later by a good Samaritan boat about 12 miles off Panama City, Florida. The people who rescued him said he didn’t even seem to be out of breath. The drama started at 3:47 a.m. Sunday when a crewman on the fishing boat Fiona Leone woke up and realized that the captain was not at the wheel, or anywhere else on the boat. He had fallen overboard, and the boat was on autopilot. The crewman issued a Mayday call on Channel…

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