Cruising Life

Miami Liveaboards Get Reprieve from Marina Closings There

By Peter Janssen on March 23, 2020 Cruising Life

The Miami-Dade mayor has some good news for liveaboards and some cruisers, in the midst of the coronavirus threat. The Mayor, Carlos Gimenez, just announced that marinas, fuel docks and boat ramps can remain open for people who live on their boats, who are removing their boats from the water or performing “emergency maintenance,” and who are returning from international cruises. He previously announced that all boat ramps and marinas would be closed. See the Miami Herald story below: Party’s over: Miami-Dade mayor orders boat ramps and marinas closed amid coronavirus BY SAMANTHA J. GROSS, AARON LEIBOWITZ, AND ALEX HARRIS…

France Bans All Boating; Lots of Changes in the U.S.

By Peter Janssen on March 19, 2020 Cruising Life

Things aren’t quite that bad in the United State, but French authorities just prohibited all boating activities, at least until March 31. The ban was designed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. In the U.S., many boating events – boat shows, fishing tournaments, owners’ rendezvous – have been cancelled or postponed. Some yacht clubs have closed, marinas have adopted restrictions, both Sabre and Back Cove had to postpone their big 50th anniversary celebration from this June to next year. The Palm Beach boat show, which was to have started on March 26, was postponed, as we reported last week.…

To Relax in Turbulent Times, Try an All-Electric Duffy

By Peter Janssen on March 16, 2020 Cruising Life

If you want to put a smile on your face in these less-than-stellar times, take a look at a Duffy, the all-electric boats that have been giving a lot of owners some very good times since 1970. One way to relax is to take a short cruise with your family or friends on a Duffy at a flat-out 5 mph and watch your blood pressure drop and your cares fade away. With a Duffy, there are no boat issues to distract you – no noise, no fumes, no vibrations. And certainly no fuel costs. Their electric motor has exactly one…

Ice Melting in Antarctica and Greenland Faster than Expected

By Peter Janssen on March 15, 2020 Cruising Life

The ice is melting even faster than scientists had thought in Greenland and Antarctica. Indeed, a new study found that the ice sheets there are melting six times faster now than they were in the 1990s, contributing to about a third of the rise in sea levels, with implications for coastal flooding and erosion. Here’s a report from the BBC: Earth’s great ice sheets, Greenland and Antarctica, are now losing mass six times faster than they were in the 1990s thanks to warming conditions. A comprehensive review of satellite data acquired at both poles is unequivocal in its assessment of…

Sound Signals: A Primer at the Start of the Season

By Peter Janssen on March 12, 2020 Cruising Life

Now that boating season is (almost) here, at least for those of us in the north, it’s a good time for a quick review of sound signals – the signals that will help you keep safe on your cruises this summer. We all need a refresher course now and then. The basic sound signals for powerboats are easy to remember. They will help you stay out of trouble in passing situations on the open water and particularly on the narrow waterways that you’ll find on many stretches of the ICW and the Great Loop, among other places. They are particularly…

Seven Best Beach Bars in Antigua, from The Moorings

By Peter Janssen on March 11, 2020 Cruising Life, Destinations

Antigua is one of my favorite destinations in the world. Great beaches, warm breezes, friendly people, and lots to do, on land and on the water. One of the best things to do on land is to head for the nearest beach bar. Here, from the people at The Moorings, is a list of their top seven beach bars there. You and I may have others, but at least this is a start. Take a look: Situated in the heart of the Caribbean’s Leeward Islands, opportunities for exhilarating blue water sailing in steady trade winds have attracted sailors to Nelson’s…

NOAA Predicts Higher Tides This Spring: See Where

By Peter Janssen on March 10, 2020 Cruising Life

NOAA has just issued a High Tide Bulletin for this spring, predicting when and where you can expect higher tides than normal. It covers the entire coastline of the U.S. You can click on the link at the bottom of this story to go to a map with details for various parts of the country. Here’s the report: The rising and falling of the sea is a phenomenon upon which we can always depend. Tides are the regular rise and fall of the sea surface caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun and their position relative to…

Maine Lobster Catch: More Money, Fewer Lobsters

By Peter Janssen on March 10, 2020 Cruising Life

There was good news and bad news in the annual report on the Maine lobster harvest earlier this month. The good news is that the catch brought in $485.4 million, the fourth highest amount ever. The bad news was that the catch itself was down 17 percent. According to the annual report from the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the state’s lobster fisherman hauled in 100.7 million pounds of lobster in 2019. That was the smallest catch since 2010, although it was the ninth year in a row that the catch was over 100 million pounds. But lobster fishermen ended…

Fast-Car Designer Builds a Wooden All-Electric Classic

By Peter Janssen on March 9, 2020 Cruising Life

Here’s a boat that will turn heads: The 31-foot, all-wood, all-electric custom Riverbreeze, developed and owned by Frank Stephenson for cruising on The Thames, behind his house about 35 miles west of London. What’s unusual about this boat, other than its beautiful lines and gleaming brightwork, is its owner. Stephenson is the head of Frank Stephenson Design in London, and he designs cars, usually fast cars, always iconic cars. Over the years, he’s been the design director of McLaren Automotive, and he’s drawn the lines of custom and production cars including the McLaren P1 (above), the Ferrari F430, the BMW…

Large New Steelpointe Marina Opens in Bridgeport, CT

By Peter Janssen on March 9, 2020 Cruising Life, Destinations

Here’s some good news for anyone cruising up or down Long Island Sound this year. The new Steelpointe Harbor Marina, with 200 slips on floating concrete docks, is open in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Steelpointe offers a new overnight (or longer) destination for anyone heading to or from New York, Mystic, Newport, the islands or farther Down East, and it has all the amenities to make a visit comfortable. The driving force behind Steelpointe is its location. It’s part of a $1 billion, 55-acre waterfront development in Bridgeport. A super-sized Bass Pro Shop opened there in 2016, and now there’s a Starbucks,…

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