Cruising Life

New Dinghy Lift for Outboard-Powered Ranger 27, Cutwater 32

By Peter Janssen on August 11, 2020 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats have just come up with another good idea – a patent-pending Dinghy Lift. The new Dinghy Lift solves a problem that many people have when cruising on an outboard-powered boat: Where to put the dink? The new Dinghy Lift, created by the engineers at Fluid Motion, the parent company for Ranger and Cutwater, so far is in production and available on Ranger 27s, powered by a single 300-hp Yamaha outboard, and on Cutwater 32s, powered by two 300-Yamaha outboards. You can see it in action in the video below. The Dinghy Lift is made from…

NOAA Update: “Extremely Active” Atlantic Hurricane Season

By Peter Janssen on August 11, 2020 Cruising Life

Was Hurricane Isaias (pictured above) just a warm-up act? A harbinger of things to come? In a new update, NOAA warns that we could have an “extremely active” Atlantic hurricane season this year and it could include as many as 11 major hurricanes. The new forecast comes in NOAA’s annual August update, called the Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook. The previous forecast was published in May. Forecasters with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center say that atmospheric and ocean conditions are ideal for fueling new storms; they warn of a potentially record-setting hurricane season. So far this season, which started June 1, there…

New 56-Knot Taiga Orca All-Electric Jet Ski

By Peter Janssen on August 10, 2020 Cruising Life, Gear

Here’s a new toy for the rest of the summer – and for a lot of summers to come: The Taiga Orca electric jet ski, and it gives a whole new meaning to plug and play. The Orca, made by Taiga Motors in Montreal, is powered by a 180-hp electric motor and a battery with a 20kWh capacity. It has a top speed of 56 knots and a range of 130 nm. After that, you just plug it in and it will charge back to 80 percent capacity in 20 minutes. Then it’s time to go out and play again.…

Volunteers Rescue 45 Dolphins Stranded on Cape Cod

By Peter Janssen on August 10, 2020 Cruising Life

Here’s a heartwarming story from The Cape Cod Times about how a group of volunteers rescued 45 dolphins that were stranded on a beach in Wellfleet: WELLFLEET — When a call came in at 7 a.m. that 45 dolphins were stranded in a stretch of beach in Wellfleet known as The Gut, volunteers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare responded. Almost 50 volunteers were on site by 8 a.m. trying to save the animals. Stacey Hedman, global marketing startegy manager for IFAW, said it wasn’t clear how the dolphins got stranded. “Cape Cod is a hook, and Wellfleet is…

Locks Repaired, Lake Champlain Opens to Cruising Boats

By Peter Janssen on August 10, 2020 Cruising Life, Destinations

The Champlain Locks are finally open, after a long, coronavirus-delayed repair, and the 125-mile long Lake Champlain, one of the most beautiful spots in the U.S., is now accessible for anyone cruising up from New York or coming east along the Erie Canal. Whitehall, the last lock leading to the lake from the Hudson River, just above Albany, opened a few days ago; the repairs originally had been scheduled to be finished by the start of summer, but they were delayed by shutdowns caused by the coronavirus. The good news is that late summer and fall are spectacular times to…

Thom Drew: The Last Lighthouse Keeper

By Peter Janssen on August 6, 2020 Cruising Life

Why a Nova Scotian couple refused to leave their island paradise (From The Globe and Mail) The waters around Mosher Island can be treacherous, and it was Thom Drew’s job to help ships navigate them – until the Coast Guard automated lighthouses like his. He and his wife are still there, living a solitary and hard-working life, and they wouldn’t have it any other way. The sea that thrashes at the rocks along Nova Scotia’s South Shore has claimed hundreds of ships since record keeping began here. On a recent Monday morning, it took one more – Anne Drew’s little…

Couple Hurt in Jetty Crash Sue Driver for $100 Million

By Peter Janssen on August 5, 2020 Cruising Life

Here’s an update on a terrible crash into the Port Everglades Jetty last New Year’s Eve from the Sun-Sentinel: FORT LAUDERDALE — They celebrated her birthday with a late-night cruise through the Intracoastal Waterway on a powerboat dubbed Blue Steel. Nothing too daring or adventurous; they would be out for only a few short hours. They ended up bloodied and confused on a dark jetty near the end of the inlet at Port Everglades. Lauren Silagyi, who was celebrating her 33rd birthday on Dec. 30, fell onto the jagged rocks and ended up with a traumatic brain injury in the…

3 Men Stranded on Pacific Island Saved by SOS in Sand

By Peter Janssen on August 4, 2020 Cruising Life

Three men were rescued from an uninhabited island in the South Pacific after searchers saw the giant SOS they had written on the beach. The men had been missing for three days after their 23-foot boat ran out of fuel and they drifted 118 miles from their intended destination in Micronesia east of the Philippines. The men set out from Pulawat Atoll and intended to go just 26 miles to Pulap Atoll. They ended up on tiny Pikelot Island, where they wrote the SOS in the sand that saved their lives. When the men didn’t arrive at Pulap, their families…

New Desalinator Delivers Fresh Water. See Video Taste Test

By Peter Janssen on August 3, 2020 Cruising Life

A new tech startup based in Dubai and London is starting production of an innovative handheld, manually-operated desalinator that weighs only 1.5 pounds and costs about $70. It turns seawater into fresh water in just a minute. (See the Taste Test video below.) The desalinator is called Quench Sea and it’s made by Hydro Wind Energy. In trying to finance the desalinator, the company passed its crowd-funding goal by 700 percent. Quench Sea can make up to three liters (about 0.79 gallons) of potable water an hour. It uses a reverse-osmosis membrane that can produce 4,700 gallons before it needs…

Enjoy Social Distancing on New Eco-Friendly Floating Pod

By Peter Janssen on August 3, 2020 Cruising Life

Want to get away from it all, without really going too far? Take a look at the new Anthénea Suite, a luxury floating home that’s both head-turning and eco-friendly. The French-built Anthénea is a 540-square-feet pod that runs off solar power with full living quarters inside, and an opening rooftop solarium with built-in seating for 12 and 360-degree ocean views. You can enjoy the Suite by yourself, or certainly treat your friends and family to a different type of day, or evening, on the water. Jean-Michel Ducancelle, the architect, says he was inspired by James Bond’s floating saucer in The…

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