Cruising Life

New Alva 90 Flagship: All-Electric Power Cat

By Peter Janssen on April 11, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Alva Yachts, the fairly new German builder, is making a 90-foot flagship all-electric power cat that has trans-Atlantic range and a cruising speed of 8 to 10 knots. The entire surface of the new Alva 90 is covered with solar body panels; the solar modules have been adapted to the shape of the yacht. They produce 40 kWp; the battery capacity is 240 kWh. The luxurious cat is powered by two 500kW electric drive motors and two 100 kVA generators. A hydrogen fuel cell and storage tank are an option. The yacht also comes in a hybrid diesel-electric option, with…

Tesla Unveils Self-Sustaining Electric Yacht

By Peter Janssen on April 7, 2021 Cruising Life

Tesla just unveiled the design for its self-sustaining, all-electric Model Y yacht, and it represents just about everything you’d expect from the extremely creative and game-changing company. After all, Tesla has already made head-turning inroads in the automotive market and in outer space, so it seems reasonable that it might venture into the marine sphere with something new as well. (See the video below.) Elon Musk started making Tesla electric cars in 2008. This week, Tesla’s market cap is $663.85 billion, equal to that of the nine largest car companies in the world – combined. He founded SpaceX in 2002;…

Torqeedo Making New 2-hp Electric Outboard

By Peter Janssen on April 6, 2021 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Torqeedo is now making a 2-hp electric motor designed to power dinks and tenders and some types of small sailboats and light fishing boats. The new Torqeedo, called the Travel 603, weighs only 34 pounds, including its 500Wh lithium-ion battery, and it costs just $1,999.99. The new outboard is the lightest in Torqeedo’s Travel line, but it has the standard outboard configuration with a tiller and throttle. “Our goal in introducing the Travel 603 is to make it easier for boaters to discover the unique benefits of clean, green propulsion for smaller craft,” said Dr. Ralf Plieninger, the company’s managing…

Cruise in Style on 97-foot Luxury Barge

By Peter Janssen on April 6, 2021 Cruising Life

Here’s a way to travel in style: The 97-foot luxury super-barge named Savvy that was built to cruise the canals and waterways of Europe in luxury and comfort. Savvy is no normal canal barge. It was built by Hakvoort, the Dutch yard specializing in superyachts, and the interior was laid out by H2Design, the British firm that also usually works with large yachts. Most canal barges are about half Savvy’s size. Its steel hull measures out at 97’ 7”, making it one of the largest, if not the largest, of luxury canal barges. It has a slimmed-down beam of just 16’…

New Super Kayak Cat: Inflatable, Stable, Fun

By Peter Janssen on April 6, 2021 Cruising Life, Gear

Here’s something new and fun that you might want to take on your next cruise or just keep in the trunk of your car: The Super Kayak, an inflatable catamaran kayak that weighs just 30 pounds and takes only four minutes to set up or disassemble (see the video below). The brain child of Kirk Kirchev, a London product designer, the Super Kayak is now on Kickstarter, with a planned retail price of about $2,100 before long. It is 12 feet long, 3 feet wide and can carry a maximum load of 220 pounds. The modular craft has two inflatable…

Greenline 48 Fly: All-Electric or Diesel Power

By Peter Janssen on April 6, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The Greenline 48 Fly is a thoroughly modern, family-friendly, hybrid-powered cruiser with one-level living on the main deck and 360-degree views from anywhere in the salon. But what really sets the 48 Fly apart is Greenline’s hybrid drive system, where, with pushing one button, you can shift from electric to diesel power, or back again. So far, the Slovenian builder has produced more than 1,000 yachts with this system, and it’s elegant in its simplicity (see the video below). In the diesel mode, with standard 220-hp Volvos, the boat has a top speed of 17.4 knots; with optional 370-hp Yanmars,…

New York Couple Restore Lord Nelson Tug

By Peter Janssen on April 5, 2021 Cruising Life

A New York couple, whose business is restoring Brooklyn brownstones, have given new life to a 1987, 49-foot Lord Nelson Victory Tug. They now keep the tug, named Lucy after their late dog, at a marina in the East River, ready to head up the Hudson for a short cruise or up Long Island Sound for a vacation in Nantucket with their two young children. In their day jobs, Lyndsay Caleo Karol and Fitzhugh Karol are co-founders of the Brooklyn Home Company. So far, they have restored more than 30 homes there. But their hearts belong to Lucy. The story…

All-Electric Sarvo 37 Tops Out at 70 Knots

By Peter Janssen on April 4, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Sarvo Marine in Denmark is finishing work on a new all-electric 37-foot boat that pushes the boundaries of speed, power and looks in a shimmering aluminum hull. The company says the Sarvo 37 will hit a top speed of 70 knots when it’s launched in June. (The problem is, it will only run at that speed for 15 minutes or so, before it runs out of juice, but then, how long do you really want to run a boat at 70 knots?) If you dial back to 10 knots or so, the boat has a range of 100 nm. An…

Octopus Attacks Man in Australia. See Video

By Peter Janssen on April 3, 2021 Cruising Life

An octopus attack? Who knew? Lance Karlson, an Australian geologist, was walking on the beach in Geographe Bay, a snorkeling spot about 140 miles south of Perth, Australia. He was looking for a place to swim with his two-year-old daughter. Then he saw something leap out of the water. Karlson thought it was a stingray, and then realized it was an octopus. He started filming it. The octopus would have none of it, and it lashed out at him in shallow water before it swam off. A little while later, Karlson was swimming nearby, looking at some crab shells. He…

Can You Steer Through the Suez Canal? Try Below

By Peter Janssen on March 31, 2021 Cruising Life

After six days and nights, the massive Ever Given container ship finally floated free in the Suez Canal (see picture above). But questions remain, basically, how could a ship with a beam of 194 feet get stuck sideways in a section of the canal that’s 869 feet wide? The shipping company said the Ever Given, piled high with 20,000 containers, was hit by winds from a sudden sandstorm. Other large container ships, however, transited the canal safely at the same time. And the Ever Given appeared to veer from side to side in the canal before it got stuck. The…

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