Cruising Life

New VQ80 Vanquish Sportfish: Just a Chase Boat

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

The new VQ80 Sportfish from Vanquish Yachts in the Netherlands certainly isn’t the typical cruising boat that we usually write about, but it’s so over the top that I couldn’t resist. Consider this: The 79-foot Vanquish (top picture) isn’t the owner’s main boat: It’s just a chase boat for SkyFall, his 194-foot superyacht (above picture), now under construction as Heesen Yachts, also in the Netherlands. For its part, the Vanquish isn’t too shabby. It’s the most powerful Vanquish yet, with state-of-the-art C32 Cat diesels producing 4,800-hp paired to two surface drives. Top speed is expected to be 51 knots. It…

New Forecast: 20 Named Storms in Atlantic Hurricane Season

By Peter Janssen on July 8, 2020 Cruising Life

By Brian K. Sullivan (Bloomberg) –After a frenzied start, the Atlantic hurricane season could turn out to be the most active since 2005, when a record 28 storms formed. Colorado State University has raised its annual forecast to call for 20 named storms, up from its outlook issued in June calling for 19. Five tropical storms have already spun out of the western Atlantic this year, with two hitting the U.S. so far. This is the fastest start in the record books dating to 1851 and, while the storms have been weak and short-lived, most forecasters see ominous signs for…

One Dead, Two Injured, One Missing in Bimini Boat Crash

By Peter Janssen on July 6, 2020 Cruising Life

One American was killed, two were injured, and one is missing after their 34-foot powerboat hit something at night near Bimini in the Bahamas. The two who were injured were flown to the U.S. for medical treatment, and the Coast Guard and Bahamian authorities were searching for the missing woman. Bahamas authorities said that officers at the Alice Town Police Station in Bimini received a distress call from a boater near Turtle Rock Cay, about two nm south of Bimini, about midnight on Friday. Members of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force found two people hurt on the boat, a 34-foot…

Man Seriously Injured When Run Over by His Own Boat

By Peter Janssen on July 6, 2020 Cruising Life

A 19-year-old Ipswich, Massachusetts, man was seriously injured on the Fourth of July when he fell out of his boat and it then ran over him. The three other people on the boat, who also were thrown out, were not injured. After hitting the driver, the boat kept circling and finally crashed into his family’s boathouse. The accident occurred near the Third Creek Mooring field off Ipswich just before 3 in the afternoon. The Ipswich police said it happened when the 19-foot boat, powered by a 90-hp Mercury outboard, “took a turn” with four people on board. They said that…

Boat Business is Booming: The New York Times

By Peter Janssen on July 4, 2020 Cruising Life

In case you missed it, here’s some good news from The New York Times: By Courtney Rubin July 2, 2020 In April, when reality set in for the advertising executive Joseph Gordon — that his family’s spring and summer vacation plans were canceled, that his two kids’ camps would likely be canceled, too — he cast about for an escape. After a lot of research, Mr. Gordon, 40, of downtown Manhattan, located two 19-foot Yamaha jet boats (which cost $30,000 and more) for sale at Patsy’s Bay Marina in Stony Point, N.Y. He asked to reserve the blue one. When…

Popular Couple Killed When Fishing Boat Hits Jetty in Oregon

By Peter Janssen on July 4, 2020 Cruising Life

A popular couple who ran a dockside seafood restaurant in Florence, Oregon, were killed when their fishing boat hit a jetty at the Siuslaw River bar in heavy seas and capsized in the middle of the night. The couple, Kyle and Amber Novelli (pictured above), ran Novelli’s Crab & Seafood, which was popular for its award-winning chowder. They also were commercial crab fishermen. The third person on the boat, named the Aquarius, was rescued. The Coast Guard said it received a distress call at 1:50 a.m. from the captain of the boat, saying it had hit the south jetty at…

New FCC Decision Could Hurt GPS Accuracy

By Peter Janssen on June 30, 2020 Cruising Life, Electronics

Despite initial opposition from the Coast Guard, the Pentagon, the Departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Commerce and Interior, plus NASA and the FAA, the Federal Communications Commission has given a private equity firm permission to run a 5G wireless network that could harm the reliability of GPS signals. BoatUS, part of a new group called the Keep GPS Working Coalition, also opposes the ruling. “With this decision, the FCC is permitting one private company to upend the entire reliability of GPS,” said David Kennedy, the BoatUS manager of government affairs. “It’s unfathomable that the lone federal caretaker of our national…

Fire Destroys Sunseeker 66 on Harbour Island, Bahamas

By Peter Janssen on June 30, 2020 Cruising Life

A fire at a dock at Valentines Resort and Marina in Harbour Island, Bahamas, completely destroyed a 66-foot Sunseeker. The five people on board all escaped without injuries. Harbour Island police say they received a call at 12:35 on Saturday afternoon saying that a boat was on fire at the marina. When they responded, the boat was fully engulfed in flames. A captain from another yacht told The Triton, “I was walking by and the galley window blew out. Smoke and flames followed. I helped the captain with the tender,” which was saved. After the five people on board were…

Manatee Deaths in Florida Up by 20 Per Cent

By Peter Janssen on June 29, 2020 Cruising Life

Here’s a sobering story from The Guardian about the rising death of manatees in Florida, up by as much as 20 per cent this spring – and rising: The apparent environmental upside of Covid-19, such as lower pollution and emissions, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Just ask manatee conservationists in Florida. Keeping this threatened species safe has increasingly been an uphill battle – especially since manatees were controversially downgraded from “endangered” in 2017. But conservationists are facing unexpected challenges in the face of coronavirus. So far, the pandemic has led to more unsafe boating activity, delays to environmental…

New 150-hp Evoy Pro: World’s Largest Electric Outboard

By Peter Janssen on June 28, 2020 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Evoy, an innovative Norwegian company, is developing a 150-hp, all electric outboard, the largest electric outboard in the world. Evoy is working with two other companies, Hurtigruten and Frybendø Marine, for the new outboard, and will be testing it this fall with hopes of introducing it to the market early next year. Started in 2018, Evoy has already developed inboard electric propulsion for commercial boats, going up to 800 hp. Now it’s turning that technology to the outboard market. The new zero-emissions Evoy Pro 150-hp outboard is built to be installed on Hurtigruten’s smaller tenders. It is specifically designed to…

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