Cruising Life

Croc Races Boat: See Video

By Peter Janssen on September 12, 2020 Cruising Life

Here’s a fairly frightening story about a crocodile racing next to a powerboat in Australia from republicworld.com. See the video: An incredible footage of a tiny crocodile racing along the speedboat like a dolphin has caught the attention of the internet. Almost 4.5metre long, the saltwater crocodile named ‘Tommy’ was filmed by a North Queensland fisherman on the Bloomfield River who said the little crocodile didn’t seem ‘very happy’. Shared by the page named Gators Daily on Twitter, the 13 seconds footage originally shot by Alec Dunn, shows the miniature reptile pop besides Alec in Queensland’s Cape York, as it dipped and reappeared,…

Aspen Launches All-New 35-Foot Power Cat

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

Aspen Power Catamarans just launched its all-new 35-foot C108 cruiser, powered by asymmetrical Yamaha outboards, and it hit a top speed of 25 knots and a fuel-efficient cruising speed of 19 knots, producing 2 nmpg. Larry Graf, Aspen’s founder and “chief adventurer,” designed the new proa-type cat so it could be trailered to new cruising grounds It has a beam of 10’ 8” and a combined boat and trailer weight of 12,500 pounds, so it could be towed by a ¾ ton pickup. Aspen owners are an adventuresome type, and some wanted a three-cabin boat that they could trailer easily…

Orca Who Carried Dead Calf Gives Birth Again

By Peter Janssen on September 8, 2020 Cruising Life

Here’s a story with a happy ending, from The New York Times: An orca that once spent 17 days carrying her dead calf — a dramatic saga of apparent mourning — has become a mother once again. The orca, identified by researchers as J35 and also known as Tahlequah, became a symbol in 2018 of the plight of the Southern Resident whales, which were 88 in number when they were listed as endangered in 2005 and have dwindled further since then. The birth of the new orca, which was seen for the first time by researchers on Saturday, brings the…

Riva, the Choice of Stars, Makes a Movie

By Peter Janssen on September 7, 2020 Cruising Life

Riva and the movies. They go together. The iconic Italian boat and the iconic movie stars who’ve owned one. Think Brigitte Bardot (pictured above), Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly, even James Bond, back in the day. Today, George Clooney is said to keep one at his waterfront villa on Lake Como, although when my wife and I cruised by on a Hinckley a few years ago we didn’t see George or the Riva; maybe he was driving it somewhere else on the lake at the time. Now Riva, part of the Ferretti Group, is celebrating Riva’s ties to the movies, by…

CEO Faces Criminal Charges in Lauderdale Crash

By Peter Janssen on September 6, 2020 Cruising Life

The cruise on a brand-new Hydra-Sports Custom 42 started out as a birthday celebration last Dec. 30 in Fort Lauderdale. It ended up as a tragedy, with one of the three passengers on board (the birthday girl) so badly injured that she’s had two major brain surgeries. Now the boat’s owner, the CEO of an insurance holding company, is facing criminal charges in a Florida court. The crash occurred just after midnight on Dec. 31, when Daniel Towriss, 47, drove his HCB 42 into the south jetty of the Port Everglades Inlet at a high speed. On board with him…

Expedition Yacht Cruises 500 Miles Through Arctic

By Peter Janssen on September 2, 2020 Cruising Life

Pioneer, a 151-foot-long expedition yacht with a rich history, just cruised 500 nautical miles through the Canadian Arctic for ten days, a voyage filled with icebergs, narwhals, whales, walruses, bears, and potential peril at every turn. The trip took the boat, designed by Vripack and built by Palmer Johnson in 1996, through the Canadian province of Nunavut, which is the size of western Europe but with only 29,000 people. The voyage started at the top of Baffin Island, basically across from Greenland and the start of the Northwest Passage, and then continued around glaciers and icebergs past Devon Island,…

Williams Gives More Power to Its Minijet 280 Tender

By Peter Janssen on September 1, 2020 Cruising Life

William Jet Tenders just announced that it’s giving more power to its new Minijet 280 tenders, which are designed for boats from 40 feet and up, although they’re fun as a second boat or sport boat in their own right. Starting with the 2021 models, all Minijet 280s will be powered by a 60-hp BRP Rotax engine; previous models have been powered by 45- and 50-hp engines. Top speed with the 50-hp version was 38 mph. Williams also has upgrade kits for existing owners of Minijets who want to move up to the 60-hp version. The move to extra horsepower…

Trends 2020: Solar, Electric, and Hybrid Cruising Boats

By Peter Janssen on August 31, 2020 Cruising Life

To some degree, the future of cruising is tied to the future of alternative energy – of electric, solar, and even hydrogen power or, more likely, some hybrid combination of all three. The movement toward alternative fuel is one result of the worldwide green movement, of the desire to move away from fossil fuel, to address climate change, to adopt new and renewable energy sources. And the advantages of electric- and solar-powered boats are obvious to anyone who’s cruised on them: They have no noise, no smoke, no pollution, no (or very little) vibration, and they leave behind no carbon…

Trends 2020: Ten Top Power Cats

By Peter Janssen on August 30, 2020 Cruising Life

All of a sudden, it seems, power catamarans are taking center stage in the U.S. cruising community. You now see them almost everywhere, and more and more people are talking about them at boat shows, on blogs, and on the docks. It’s easy to see why. Most obvious, is that power cats offer space – a lot of it. The salons resemble living rooms at home, with all the comforts of home. The decks are filled with lounging, dining, entertaining and private areas everywhere – on the foredeck, the aft deck, up on the flybridge, often even down in the…

Trends 2020: More Cruising Boats with Outboard Power

By Peter Janssen on August 30, 2020 Cruising Life

Perhaps the strongest trend in recent years has been the rapid growth of outboard power on cruising boats, even on some of the most traditional brands. The reasons are easy to understand, and they start with performance. Outboard boats are fun, they’re fast and agile, and they’re easy to drive and park. Outboards also are easier to repair, maintain, and ultimately replace, if necessary, than traditional inboards are, and they open up a lot of space inside the boat where inboards used to be. And you don’t have to worry about a lot of through-hulls, shafts, and struts. The HCB…

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