Cruising Life

How To Navigate with New AIS Chart Symbols

By Peter Janssen on February 7, 2021 Cruising Life

If you saw these symbols on your chartplotter, would you know what they mean? Here’s a very informative story from Skipper Tips that will give you the answer, and that will help you navigate with AIS. Read on: You enter between the breakwaters just after sunset, and, according to your electronic chart, you should see the channel buoys to port and starboard. Instead you see nothing at all. The buoys and beacons are gone! What now, skipper? How do AIS equipped buoys and beacons appear on your nautical or electronic chart? What is the difference between VISUAL and VIRTUAL aids?…

Hunt To Launch New 76 with Enclosed Bridge

By Peter Janssen on February 7, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The Hinckley Company just announced that it will launch the first Hunt Ocean 76 Command Bridge, a luxurious offshore cruiser, this spring. It will be the first Hunt 76 with a fully enclosed, walk-around command bridge; previous models had open flybridges. The new Hunt 76 is designed as a user-friendly yacht. “From the command bridge, you have spectacular views and enhanced situation awareness,” said Mike Arieta, president of the Hinckley Company. “And with the walk-around deck, you can just step out to dock the boat from the perfect point of view.” The climate-controlled command bridge has two Stidd chairs, an…

The Favors Downsize: Next Boat, a Ranger Tugs 25

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

A lot of us (including myself) were certainly surprised when we learned that Jim and Lisa Favors put their beloved, and well-traveled, Ranger Tugs 29 Kismet up for sale last summer, without any explanation of what they would do next. After all, the Favors have been cruising most of their adult lives, most recently on Ranger Tugs, and have written about them extensively on their website, trailertrawlerlife. Now we know what comes next: A new Ranger Tugs, but the Favors are downsizing. Their next Ranger will be a 25, with a single 250-hp Yamaha outboard to give them more performance…

Italian Startup Creates Water Jet To Revolutionize Electric Boats

By Peter Janssen on February 3, 2021 Cruising Life, Engine Room

A groundbreaking Italian startup has developed a new water jet propulsion system that could revolutionize electric boats, giving them more speed and range than they have today. The outboard-mounted DeepSpeed hydro jet has already won several prizes for technology and innovation, and has patents from the European Union and Australia. It was developed by William Gobbo, an Italian banker and tech developer; Ernesto Benini, a professor of fluid dynamics at the University of Padua, and a team of 21 scientists, boat racers and hydrodynamic specialists under the umbrella company Sealence. DeepSpeed uses a holistic approach to powering an electric boat,…

Rare, Restored, 1930 Chris-Craft 48 Commuter for Sale

By Peter Janssen on February 2, 2021 Cruising Life

If you’re a fan of antique Chris-Crafts (and who isn’t?), you might want to take a good look at Allez, a 48-foot Chris-Craft Commuter built in 1930. It’s now fully restored and it’s for sale in Montreal. Allez was hull number one of the Chris-Craft 48 lineup, built on the popularity of the Chris-Craft 38s. Only four other 48s were built, and only one other survives today. Christopher Columbus Smith, the founder of Chris-Craft, spared no expense in building Allez, even as the Great Depression was taking hold. After it was built, his family used it for six months and…

Bravada Launches Head-Turning Houseboat on Lake Powell

By Peter Janssen on February 2, 2021 Cruising Life, Destinations

If you don’t want to cruise outside the United States because of the pandemic, you might want to think about Lake Powell, on the border of Arizona and Utah, where you could enjoy all the amenities of home, plus some, offered by the new 75-foot Bravada Yachts luxury houseboat. Whether you’re on the Bravada or some other boat, at Lake Powell you won’t feel lonely. About two million people a year (in non-pandemic years) visit the lake. Basically a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River, and part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the lake is about 200 miles…

Windy Entering U.S. Market with Upscale Cruisers

By Peter Janssen on February 2, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Windy, the high-quality Swedish builder, just announced that it will bring its boats into the United States, working with Nautical Ventures, based in Fort Lauderdale. Windy was founded in 1966, with the stated goal of delivering “the best built boats in the world.” Its fleet of performance cruisers now runs from 27 to 46 feet. The first boat to enter the U.S. market will be its R44SX Blackhawk (see rendering, below), displayed at this fall’s Lauderdale show. For his part, Roger Moore, the CEO of Nautical Ventures, praised the “European-built Windy Boat brand with its reputation for quality and unmatched…

Frightening Video: Ship Breaks in Half Off Turkey

By Peter Janssen on February 1, 2021 Cruising Life

Here’s a frightening video of the 370-foot cargo ship Arvin breaking in two and sinking at an anchorage in the Black Sea off Turkey. On the video, you can hear the captain, Vitaly Golenko, call, “Mayday, mayday, my vessel is broken.” He then ordered the crew to put on wetsuits, after one shouts, “We’re going down.” Built in 1975 and flagged in Palau, the Arvin had a crew of 12, ten Ukrainians and two Russians. After the sinking, rescue crews saved six crewmen and found the bodies of four others; two are missing. The ship was sailing from Georgia to…

Is Our GPS System Too Vulnerable?

By Peter Janssen on February 1, 2021 Cruising Life, Electronics

What would happen if your GPS went down? I don’t mean just the GPS on the chartplotter on your boat, or on your smartphone, or on your tablet, or even on your fitness watch. I mean the entire system. What would happen? Total chaos. Much of our infrastructure and our national defense is based on GPS. Forget about autonomous trucks on the interstate, or getting your next delivery from Amazon. GPS has become an unseen, but invaluable, part of our daily life. The problem is, at least according to this thought-provoking story in The New York Times, it’s too vulnerable.…

Eastern Boats Coastal 30 Cruiser, A New Flagship

By Peter Janssen on February 1, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Eastern Boats Coastal 30, the new flagship of the New Hampshire builder’s fleet, is a two-cabin, no-nonsense, 36-knot outboard-powered cruiser that’s ready for the Great Loop or just messing around the harbors and fishing grounds of the Northeast coast. Eastern Boats, which has been making smaller Down-East style boats since 1981, specializes in lobster-boat hulls that provide a stable platform for fishing and cruising. The new Coastal 30, however, is the first with a deep-V hull and 22 degrees of deadrise at the transom, designed to give a boost to its twin 250-hp Honda outboard performance. It’s an efficient hull…

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