Cruising Life

Yacht Hits Drain Pipe, Sinks off St. Augustine

By Peter Janssen on May 27, 2024 Cruising Life

The Coast Guard and the St. John’s County Fire and Rescue saved two people on Saturday morning after their 80-foot yacht hit a submerged drain tank and sank three miles off St. Augustine Beach, Florida. The Coast Guard says it heard a call at 11:37 on channel 16 from the operator of the yacht Atlantis saying it hit something and was taking on water. The Coast Guard sent a boat to assist and coordinated with the St. John’s County team and a nearby good Samaritan vessel. The Coast Guard told the operator to turn on the boat’s EPIRB to help…

More Hurricanes Coming: NOAA

By co_admin on May 26, 2024 Cruising Life

Here’s some sobering news from NOAA about this year’s hurricane season: NOAA National Weather Service forecasters at the Climate Prediction Center predict above-normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin this year. NOAA’s outlook for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which spans from June 1 to November 30, predicts an 85% chance of an above-normal season, a 10% chance of a near-normal season and a 5% chance of a below-normal season. NOAA is forecasting a range of 17 to 25 total named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Of those, 8 to 13 are forecast to become hurricanes (winds of…

First Superyacht with Methane Power

By Peter Janssen on May 23, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Sanlorenzo just launched the first superyacht in the world with methane power in a ceremony at its yard in La Spezia, Italy. The new 164-foot Almx will use methanol fuel cells to produce emissions-free power to run its hotel load at anchor without having to turn on its diesel engines or generator. The methane power can produce up to 100kW of carbon-neutral electricity, greatly extending the time the yacht can spend at anchor without using any diesel fuel. Massio Perotti, the head of the Sanlorenzo Group, said that with the launch the company “celebrates a fundamental milestone in its history,…

Zodiac Launches 32-Foot Hybrid Flagship

By Peter Janssen on May 22, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Zodiac has just launched a new 32-foot X10CC, the largest its ever built. It’s something of a hybrid, designed to combine the advantages of a conventional RIB with those of a fiberglass center console. The X10CC (Center Console) represents three years of R&D from the French builder, once a worldwide force in the RIB universe. It has high freeboard (something missing from most RIBs) with a rigid hull surrounded by tubes that offer both protection and floatation. Zodiac said it listened to RIB owners and potential owners, and realized that the market was changing. “They’re looking for bigger and bigger…

Staten Island Ferry for Auction: $155,000

By Peter Janssen on May 21, 2024 Cruising Life

If you’re looking for a new project boat, a very big project boat, consider the Andrew J. Barberi, a 310-foot-long decommissioned Staten Island ferry. It is now being auctioned by the City of New York with a starting price of $155,000. In today’s market, it’s hard to find a small pocket cruiser for sale for $155,000, so the Andrew J. Barberi may seem a bargain. After all, it holds 6,000 passengers, so you’d certainly have enough room to take all your friends. Think of the raft-up possibilities. And the last Staten Island ferry that was auctioned, the John F. Kennedy,…

New Rossinavi Cat with Artificial Intelligence

By Peter Janssen on May 21, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new 140-foot Rossinavi Seawolf X doesn’t look like your average superyacht catamaran, but that’s the whole idea. Indeed, Fulvio De Simoni, the Italian design studio that did the cat’s exterior, said the goal was to liberate our minds “from preconceptions” about the way big multihulls should look. “We set out to envision the boat of the future, unbound by convention yet grounded in feasibility with cutting-edge technology for minimal environmental impact,” it said. For its part, the Genoa-based Rossinavi issued a statement saying that the big cat was its “most innovative project yet,” in that it combines hybrid power…

Dali Refloated, Baltimore Harbor Reopens

By Peter Janssen on May 21, 2024 Cruising Life

The 984-foot-long container ship Dali was refloated and towed back to a dock inside Baltimore harbor on Monday, 54 days after it hit the Key bridge there, sending the center section plummeting into the water, killing six construction workers, and closing the main channel to all traffic. The Dali, and its 21-man crew, had been trapped in the debris ever since. The Dali was refloated at high tide before 7 a.m. with the help of five tugboats and several other vessels. It was then towed and pushed 2.5 miles back to the Seagirt Marine Terminal. Freeing the Dali from the…

Aicon Finishing New 68 Vivere

By Peter Janssen on May 20, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Aicon Yachts is finishing its all-new 68 Vivere in its factory in Sicily, and it’s scheduled to be launched in June. In announcing the 68, Marc-Udo Broich, the chairman and CEO of the Aicon Group, said it would be the first of three new yachts to be built in the next 12 months. The new 68, like its predecessor, the Aicon 66 Vivere (“to live”), was designed by the HydroTec team of Sergio Cutolo, which he and his wife, Silvia Humsolt, co-founded north of Genoa in 1995. They have designed a wide variety of luxury yachts since then, everything from…

New Jeanneau DB37 Outboard: Style and Speed

By Peter Janssen on May 20, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new DB37 Outboard by Jeanneau is a premium day cruiser with outboard performance and an international pedigree. Jeanneau is an upscale French brand, part of the worldwide Beneteau Group. The DB37 is the second in its DB (Day Boat) brand, following on the success of the initial DB43 that was launched two years ago. Camillo Garroni, the Italian designer, did the interior and exterior styling for the DBs, and Michael Peters, the American naval architect from Sarasota, Florida, did the hull. The DB line represented a new style for Jeanneau, with its plumb bow, low profile and Euro-modern design.…

Sea level at Virginia Key, Florida. Previous levels in blue come from tidal measurements; future values in red come from NOAA projections. Brian McNoldy

Sea Levels Rising Faster: NOAA

By Peter Janssen on May 20, 2024 Cruising Life

Sea levels are rising faster than expected in South Florida, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Actually, they’re rising all around the world, but South Florida is of particular interest. If the pace of the rise stays as now projected, the sea level in Miami could increase by two feet by 2070. That’s a major concern because the average elevation in Miami is just three feet. In the past 80 years, the sea level has risen about a foot, but the pace of the rise has picked up in recent years. Indeed, eight inches of that foot have…

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