Cruising Life

ACR Launches Small Bivy Stick Sat-Comm Device

By Peter Janssen on June 22, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

ACR just launched its new Bivy Stick, the world’s smallest two-way satellite messenger and app. The Bivy Stick works anywhere with a view of the sky, with 100 percent global satellite coverage, and it measures just 4.5 inches by 1.8 inches. It weighs only 3.5 ounces. Built to be used whether you’re out on a day cruise around a lake or on an ocean voyage, the Bivy Stick lets you send messages, track and share your location, access GPS maps, view live weather forecasts, and place an emergency SOS call. The Bivy Stick has a high-power antenna for reliable connections…

Sealegs Rolling Out 12′ 5″ Amphib, Smallest Yet

By Peter Janssen on June 22, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life, Gear

Sealegs, the New Zealand amphibious boat maker, just announced that they are developing a new 3.8m (12’ 5”) Tender, their smallest yet. Sealegs says it is taking orders for the new amphib now and will roll out the first production models in 2022. We don’t have a price yet. The 3.8 Tender, created to fit on larger cruising boats, takes exploration by tender to a new level. With a standard 40-hp Yamaha outboard, the 3.8m has a top speed of 34 knots on the water. But when you roll up to a beach or want to explore a new shoreline,…

They Want To Take This Across the English Channel?

By Peter Janssen on June 21, 2021 Cruising Life

Don’t count on seeing this vessel at a boat show, anywhere in the world. And it’s seaworthiness is open to question. But two British marine engineers intend to cruise a sistership, just a little larger, across the English Channel before too long. This story starts the way many boating stories start, with the two engineers, Jake Harris, 33, and Sam Newstead, 31, having a few beers after work at Sam’s South East Marine Engineering Yard in Rochester, about 30 miles southeast of London. At first, they wanted to take out their dinghy for a short ride. Then they spotted a…

Why Are So Many Containers Lost Overboard?

By co_admin on June 21, 2021 Cruising Life

Here’s a timely, important, and often frightening story from gCaptain about why so many containers are lost at sea, and what to do about it: Shipping containers becoming lost at sea is a significant problem for the industry – recent figures from the World Shipping Council state that an average of 1,382 shipping containers are lost at sea every year. However, more than 3,000 containers were lost in 2020 alone, including one vessel that lost 1,900 containers on its way to Kobe, Japan. The consequences for shipping companies goes beyond goods going overboard. Container loss can incur charges and damage relations with their clients. It puts the…

Cost of Charters, and New Boats, Going Up

By Peter Janssen on June 20, 2021 Charter, Cruising Life

For the past year or so, as a result of the pandemic, the cost of charters has been going up. It’s a classic case of supply and demand; more people want to take a charter than there are charter boats available. To make matters worse, some of the yachts that used to be in the charter market have been sold, since the price of boats, particularly large yachts, has been going up too. In the old days, say three years ago, people wanting to charter a yacht often had some bargaining power; they could ask for a flat discount, or…

KVH Launches New, Faster, Mobile Connections

By Peter Janssen on June 16, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

Here’s some good news from KVH for better and faster cell service wherever you’re cruising this summer, including up to 20 miles offshore. KVH just introduced its TracPhone LTE-1 Global, a compact new antenna based on LTE advanced cell technology that extends the range for mobile connections in more than 150 countries around the world. The new LTE-1 Global is faster than the previous 4G LTE and includes a high-gain dual antenna array, a modem, GPS, and Wi-Fi router in the dome. This means you can surf the web, hold video conferences, post on social media, enjoy streaming video and…

Want To Donate Your Boat? Act Now, Says BoatUS

By Peter Janssen on June 15, 2021 Cruising Life

ANNAPOLIS, Md., June 15, 2021 – Boat owners wishing to do good or take advantage of potential tax benefits may consider donating their boats to charity. Often this decision is made at the end of year just before the start of the new tax season. Waiting until the end of the year, however, could shortchange a boater’s potential tax benefits, according to the nonprofit BoatUS Foundation and Boating Safety and Clean Water, which has decades of experience operating a successful boat donation program. How can waiting to donate a boat until the end of the year potentially hurt you? Most…

Boatsetter Launches Luxury Yacht Rentals

By Peter Janssen on June 15, 2021 Charter, Cruising Life

Boatsetter, the global peer-to-peer boat rental company, is moving uptown. Indeed, Boatsetter just announced that it’s starting Boatsetter Lux, aimed at high-end day or term yacht charters with a dedicated concierge team in more than 600 locations around the world. Boatsetter started in Fort Lauderdale in 2012, and it has been growing ever since. It started a partnership with Geico, for example, to handle insurance on its rental boats. Boatsetter Lux is now a partnership between the parent Boatsetter and Airbnb Luxe and Luxury Retreats, offering access to yachts to people staying in Airbnb’s luxury homes and villas. Each yacht…

Elegant New Avionics Electric Bike Hits 36 mph

By Peter Janssen on June 15, 2021 Cruising Life, Gear

You probably won’t want to throw the new Avionics electric bike in your lazarette, or take it on the Great Loop. But it sure would be fun to ride down to your local marina or yacht club. The elegant Avionics VM, handmade in Poland in a vintage retro style, combines a steel frame with Jatoba wood for contrast, and it uses state-of-the-art electric power to hit a top speed of 36 mph. A sine-wave controller lets you choose a “force mode” for maximum speed, or a “street mode” for a walk-in-the-park experience. In the street mode, the Avionics has a…

New Safety Measures Proposed for Northwest Passage

By Peter Janssen on June 14, 2021 Cruising Life

I’ve been following boating traffic on the harrowing Northwest Passage ever since my friend Sprague Theobald cruised 8,500 miles from Newport, Rhode Island, to Seattle, on his Nordhavn 57 Bagan in 2009 (see photo above). Theobald, an award-winning documentary film maker, wrote about that trip in his gripping book, The Other Side of the Ice. His crew included his son, stepson and stepdaughter. At one point, when Bagan was trapped in ice that threatened to crush the hull, Theobald asked himself, “Have I brought my family together only to lead them to their deaths?” Since then, with global warming and…

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