Cruising Life

SpaceX Alums Build 40-mph Electric Boat

By Peter Janssen on August 2, 2021 Cruising Life

Arc Boat Company, a new high-tech company with heavy duty Silicon Valley funding, is now selling a 24-foot, 40-mph, all-electric boat powered by a 200kWh battery. The company is taking orders for the new Arc One, costing $300,000, with the first boat scheduled for delivery by the end of the year. So far, Arc, based in Los Angeles, has ten employees. All but one of them, CEO Mitch Lee, have worked for SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space exploration company. Lee founded the company with Ryan Cook; they studied mechanical engineering together at Northwestern University, and then went on to work at…

Amphibious Luxury RV Hits 7 Knots in Water

By Peter Janssen on August 2, 2021 Cruising Life

Just in case you’ve ever thought of driving your luxury motorhome into the water, take a look at the amphibious Terra Wind by CAMI that travels 80 mph on land and 7 knots when it’s floating. The Terra Wind is 42’ 6” long with an 8’ 6” beam; it weighs 33,000 pounds, or a bit more than a school bus, and it has a draft of 3’ 5.” It’s driven by a single 330-hp Cat turbo diesel, with an automatic transmission for the road and a marine gearbox for the water. It has two 19-inch bronze props. It comes with…

Boaters Camp Out Waiting for Slip Space

By Peter Janssen on August 1, 2021 Cruising Life

Here’s a sign of the times. Boat owners in Scituate, Massachusetts, on Boston’s South Shore, camped out in their tents next to the harbor master’s office for as long as four nights waiting for a slip to open up there. Boat sales soared during the pandemic, particularly among first-time buyers. Now many of them are discovering the unpleasant truth: They don’t have a place to put them. Across the U.S., last year was a 13-year-high for boat sales (and 9 percent above 2019), according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association. The number of first-time boat buyers rose for the first…

New All-Electric 20m Eegle: “Perfect Coastal Cruiser”

By Peter Janssen on July 28, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The creative, all-electric 20m Eegle trawler-like cruiser is being completed in a yard in the south of France. BYD, the Spanish naval architectural firm that drew the yacht, says that it is “designed to be the perfect coastal cruiser,” combining “the space and comfort of a beach apartment with the effortless mobility and seaworthiness of a highly capable motoryacht.” The new Eegle is 65’ 6” long with a beam of 16’4” and it’s powered by four 150-kW motors to give it a top speed of 20 knots and a range of 80 nm. An optional larger fuel tank and genset…

Inflatable Takacat: Creative, Fun, Tender

By Peter Janssen on July 27, 2021 Cruising Life, Gear

Here’s a fresh idea for a dink or tender or just a fun boat to have around, particularly when space is tight: The New Zealand-made Takacat, a catamaran-style inflatable with an open bow and transom that’s lightweight, compact, versatile and cost effective. The open bow is made for easy boarding from a mothership, or from the water if you’ve been swimming. And the fully removable transom keeps the boat dry, since water can flow out the back, while making it easy to pack the Takacat in two storage bags. Takacats come in six sizes from 8’ 6” to 15 feet…

Coast Guard Rescues 7; See Dramatic Video

By Peter Janssen on July 27, 2021 Cruising Life

Here’s a dramatic video of a Coast Rescue of seven people from a sport fishing boat 69 miles southeast of Cape May, New Jersey, last Sunday afternoon. A Coast Guard helicopter flew all seven back to its base in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The Coast Guard said it received a message at 1:19 p.m. that a 40-foot sport fishing boat, with seven on board, was running into difficulty in four- to six-foot seas and winds gusting to 30 mph. As conditions deteriorated, the crew on the boat activated their EPIRB. The Coast Guard sent a Jayhawk helicopter, a Hercules aircraft…

A Fast Guide to Some Nautical Chart Symbols

By co_admin on July 27, 2021 Cruising Life

Here’s an easy refresher for nautical chart symbols that could help make your next cruise, or landing in an anchorage, a lot safer and easier, all from Skipper Tips. Read on: You look at your nautical chart and see sharks teeth just inside the beach line? What do these mean and how can your best use them to advantage in your chart navigation? Unlock the mystery of land profile chart symbol secrets to boost your skipper-skills sky-high! Choose an anchorage, land a dinghy onto a beach, or make a passage through a coral reef or chain of islands. All of…

Azimut Launching New 68 World Yacht

By Peter Janssen on July 26, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Azimut will launch its new 68 at the Cannes Yachting Festival starting Sept. 7, the latest in its Flybridge Collection of nine yachts from 50 to 78 feet. Azimut calls the 68 a world yacht, because it offers buyers three layout choices for the salon and dining areas on the main deck. With its growing popularity around the world, Azimut recognizes that people in different cultures use their yachts in different ways. Now they can choose the layout that best reflects how they like to spend their time on board. The first layout provides an elegant living area in the…

Sunreef Unveils New Luxury Cat Designs

By co_admin on July 25, 2021 Cruising Life

Ever since it started in 2003, Sunreef Yachts, in Gdansk, Poland, has become a world leader in luxury catamaran design, concentrating on layouts that make living on board as comfortable and safe as possible, both underway and while at anchor. Recently, Francis Lapp, the company’s founder and president, unveiled some new layouts for luxury cats in the 60- to 90-foot range. Sunreef has been working on these for three years, and they do provide a lot of extra living space. Here’s what Sunreef says about the new designs: The concept unlocks a new potential for onboard comfort thanks to a…

Arkup Launches New, 8.5-Knot, 40 Floating Home

By Peter Janssen on July 25, 2021 Cruising Life

Arkup, the innovative Miami startup, just launched its latest yacht/houseboat/floating home, a 40-footer that provides what the company calls “the ultimate user experience.” Arkup launched its first project, a 70-footer, more than two years ago, and so far it’s been featured in Architectural Digest, among other publications, and several music videos. The 70 carried a price tag of just under $6 million. We don’t have a price on the new 40 yet, but it’s certainly aimed at a broader market. The appeal of an Arkup is that it has four retractable stainless steel columns, or “spuds,” that can be deployed…

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