Cruising Life

Coast Guard Rescues 8 Off Boca Grande

By Peter Janssen on June 3, 2024 Cruising Life

The Coast Guard rescued seven adults and one child after their boat capsized on Saturday about 36 miles off Boca Grande, Florida. They had been hanging on to a cooler to stay afloat. (You can see the Coast Guard’s video in the link below.) The boaters called the Coast Guard on VHF channel 16 at 12:36 a.m. saying their 28-foot boat was sinking. They activated their EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon). A Jayhawk helicopter crew from the Coast Guard station in Clearwater used that signal, plus others from the boaters’ Personal Locator Beacons, to find them. The helicopter crew…

Gulf Waters Hotter: More Hurricanes

By Peter Janssen on June 3, 2024 Cruising Life

Here’s some more bad news on the hurricane front. The National Centers for Environmental Information just reported that water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are already just as hot, or hotter, than they are in August. That’s important because tropical storms and hurricanes feed on warm ocean temperatures; warmer water usually means more hurricanes. The hurricane season started on June 1 (and runs through November 30). But the Gulf waters had already grown hotter than usual before then. The water temperature off Butternut Key (between Key Largo and Islamorada) reached 88 degrees F in mid-May and was 90.1 on…

Maine Offshore Wind Turbines One Step Closer

By Peter Janssen on May 29, 2024 Cruising Life

The prospect of wind turbines floating off the coast of Maine just got a lot closer this week. That’s because the federal government just approved an environmental review involving a research lease for 12 wind turbines floating about 28 nm southeast of Portland. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, part of the Interior Department, approved the review, which was necessary before the state could move forward with developing the turbines. “Floating wind technology can make offshore wind a reality in the Gulf of Maine,” said Elizabeth Klein, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in the Interior Department.…

New Study: The Orcas Are Just Bored

By co_admin on May 29, 2024 Cruising Life

All those orcas ramming and sinking boats are just bored? Well, that’s the conclusion of a new study as reported in a thorough story about the attacks in USA Today: For the last five years, killer whales have been ramming – and in some cases sinking – expensive yachts, fishing boats and motorboats in the crystalline waters off the coast of Spain, Portugal, France and Morocco. Why has been a mystery – until recently. A multinational group of orca experts that met in February and were sponsored by the governments of Spain and Portugal has released a report outlining why…

New Hi-Tech Batboat: 85 mph, $250,000

By Peter Janssen on May 28, 2024 Cruising Life

If you want to be the first superhero on your dock, take a look at the new Stormy Knight. It’s a sleek jet ski-like craft that looks like a Batboat and is a joint production of Hollywood and Silicon Valley that goes 85 mph and costs $250,000. The new hi-tech 14-foot “hyper vessel” is built by Wayne Enterprises, a luxury brand from Warner Bros., and T3MP3ST, a Silicon Valley sports company. It’s officially called the Maverick GT Stormy Knight, and the Bruce Wayne website says “It’s crafted by a team who are masters of their trade, with a long history…

EXTRA Building Low-Profile X90 Fast

By Peter Janssen on May 28, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

EXTRA Yachts just announced that it has sold the first hull of its new X90 Fast series and it’s building the low-profile cruiser in its factory in Ancona, Italy. The new EXTRA will be delivered in the summer of 2025. Designed by the Hot Lab studio in Milan, the new EXTRA has a distinctive profile that includes low windows that still admit lots of natural light to the interior. It has a mix of several entertaining and relaxing spaces inside and out, and the company offers a high range of customization. Power comes from three 1,000-hp Volvo IPS1350 pod drives.…

Riviera Launches 6800 Sport Yacht Flagship

By Peter Janssen on May 27, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Riviera just launched its new 6800 Sport Yacht at the Sanctuary Cove boat show on Australia’s Gold Coast. The new 68 is the flagship of Riviera’s Sport Yacht series, which already has a 46, 54 and 60. Designed by Luca Valebona, who usually works on superyachts, and the Riviera design team, Riviera’s Sport Yachts are meant to focus on timeless styling, single-level living, ease of operation, and blue-water performance. You can order the 68 with four cabins and three heads below, or three cabins and a lower lounge replacing a guest cabin on the starboard side. Owners also have a…

Omaya, New Power Cat Brand, Building a 50

By Peter Janssen on May 27, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The world of large power catamarans just keeps growing and growing. One of the latest entries comes from Omaya Yachts, a new brand from the three-decades-old Elica Group with its yard on the Danube in Bulgaria. The new Omaya 50 is scheduled to be launched this summer. Elica says it started Omaya Yachts to build luxury power cats for the worldwide private and charter market. Like the 50, they will be designed by i-Yacht in Hamburg, and will have large beams to provide room for comfortable cruising or living on board. Indeed, the beam of the 50 is 27’ 5”,…

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…

Browsing: Cruising Life