Cruising Life

Fire Destroys 82-Foot Yacht in New Bedford

By Peter Janssen on August 31, 2021 Cruising Life

An 82-foot yacht caught fire at a New Bedford, Massachusetts, marina earlier this week and was totally destroyed. There were no reports of injuries. Local fire officials said they received a call about 5:30 p.m. on Monday saying that a yacht was on fire at Fleet Marina on Popes Island in New Bedford. The yacht was Miss Dunia, a 2007 Horizon, and it was carrying 500 gallons of fuel. The New Bedford fire department said the fire broke out below deck and then spread rapidly. “Long operation. Very complex operation. Manpower intensive,” said New Bedford Fire Chief Scott Krueger. Fire…

Top Ten Boating Towns from BoatUS

By co_admin on August 30, 2021 Cruising Life

Here’s a list of the top ten boating towns from BoatUS Magazine. You may not agree with them, or you may have favorites of your own, but it’s fun to see which towns made the list. Spoiler alert; the picture above is of the Cape Ann Marina in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Read on: SPRINGFIELD, Va., August 30, 2021 – With many wage earners now freed from the daily commute, which towns might score high in the eyes of recreational boat owners looking to relocate? In the just-released September/October 2021 issue of BoatUS Magazine, Contributing Editors Fiona McGlynn and Tim Murphy offer plenty…

Brit Rows Wrong Way Across Atlantic, Solo

By Peter Janssen on August 29, 2021 Cruising Life, On Watch with Peter Janssen

Ian Rivers, a 55-year-old veteran of Britain’s Special Air Service, just became the first person to row across the North Atlantic by himself, without any support, without using a GPS and navigating with a sextant. All told, Rivers rowed 3,100 nm from New York to the Isles of Scilly in 85 days on his 27-foot boat. This voyage is “the wrong way,” going against the prevailing winds and currents. About 500 miles from the end, the boat capsized three times in a storm and Rivers was trapped upside down in the cabin filling with water. He suffered a concussion and some…

New Jaktar J-30: Go-Anywhere Explorer Boat

By Peter Janssen on August 29, 2021 Cruising Life

Jaktar, a new builder in Stockholm, just launched its J-30 explorer boat, designed for the far north, but capable of cruising everywhere from the near Arctic to the Great Loop. Indeed, Vripack, the Dutch firm that designed the Jaktar, says the brief called for a boat that was “to be ready to go anywhere, at any time.” The Jacktar J-30 is hand-built using marine-grade aluminum. It has a 46-knot top speed from two 300-hp outboards. (You also can order it with two 250-hp outboards for greater fuel economy and range.) The company says the J-30 was “built for performance and…

Sunseeker Manhattan 55 To Debut at FLIBS

By Peter Janssen on August 29, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new, aggressively styled Sunseeker Manhattan 55 will make its U.S. debut at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, starting Oct. 27. The British builder also will show its new 65 Sport Yacht there. They will be presented by Sunseeker’s U.S. distributor, OneWater Yacht Group of Fort Lauderdale. A luxury performance cruiser, the Manhattan 55 is marked by windows in all sizes and shapes in the hull and salon, with stainless-steel details, adding to its dynamic look. It’s designed as a comfortable family cruiser, with three cabins and two heads below, a beach club aft, a large open-plan salon, and…

Leopard Building New 46 Powercat

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

Leopard Catamarans just announced that they are building a Leopard 46 Powercat, modeled after the award-winning Leopard 53 PC. The latest in the South African company’s new generation of power yachts, the 46 PC will splash in Cape Town this fall and then have its world premiere at the Miami boat show in February. Built for comfort and performance, the Leopard 46 is a stand-alone design. It is not a spinoff of an existing sailboat catamaran. “We have managed to give the Leopard 46 PC a character of its own,” says Anthony Key, the company’s chief designer. “It stands proudly…

Best-Selling BRIG RIBS Still Available in US

By Peter Janssen on August 25, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Despite Covid-related disruptions in supply chains and disappearing or already depleted inventories of boats around the world, some dealers still have some types of boats on hand. Northstar Yacht Sales in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, for example, has some high-quality BRIG RIBs for sale, and is expecting more in November. BRIGs are well known in other parts of the world. Indeed, the company says they are the largest producer of RIBs in Europe, and the biggest-selling brand in Australia, Sweden, Holland, Finland and the UK. BRIG made more than 2,500 boats in 2019, before the pandemic. They are made in Ukraine…

For Some New York Liveaboards, the Party’s Over

By co_admin on August 23, 2021 Cruising Life

The party may be over for a group of liveaboards on Newtown Creek, a now toxic piece of waterway between Brooklyn and Queens in New York City. The federal government declared it a Superfund site in 2010, and about 13 million gallons of oil have been removed since then. Now the cleanup may go at a faster pace. But the 130-foot Schamonchi, a former ferryboat operating between Martha’s Vineyard and New Bedford, Massachusetts, is still there, as are a handful, or more, of other boats, with liveaboard owners. There’s no marina. The city owns the land, and they don’t pay…

Candela Unveils New Electric Drive With Long Life

By co_admin on August 23, 2021 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Candela, the Swedish boat builder, just unveiled its revolutionary new electric C-Pod drive unit with two motors, each one driving a counterrotating propeller. The company says this electric drive will have “an almost unlimited life.” In this story, Electrek says the drive is “an engineering work of art.” Read about it here: Swedish electric boat manufacturer Candela has just unveiled a revolutionary new electric drive unit known as the C-Pod for its premium electric boats, and it’s an engineering work of art. Candela claims that these are the highest-efficiency and longest-lasting boat motors ever. The company’s patented C-Pod consists of…

How To Use Contour Lines To Navigate Safely

By co_admin on August 22, 2021 Cruising Life

Here’s some great advice from Skipper Tips about how to use contour lines on land to help you navigate, either when coastal cruising or when making a landfall: Think of land elevation contours like those found in water–depth contours. Cartographers will sometimes indicate the height of a contour prominent enough to be sighted by a mariner. Heights will be shown as a number, so always check the chart datum to understand the height value. It could be in feet or meters. Make this your first step so that you know at-a-glance what the height values indicate. 1. Why Stagger Contour…

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