Cruising Life

New Music Hull: Listen To Your Favorite Tunes Underwater

By Peter Janssen on March 3, 2020 Cruising Life

Here’s something you probably haven’t thought about before: Music Hull from Videoworks, a revolutionary new acoustic system that lets you listen to your favorite tunes underwater. And no, it’s not a group of underwater speakers. It is instead a system of six “shakers” that are built into the inner hull that produces high-fidelity music you can hear underwater for up to 65 feet away from the boat. Music Hull uses the hull as if it were a high-definition speaker. The shakers are placed on the inner surface of the Pershing’s carbon-fiber hull and they make the hull vibrate in the…

How To Get Ready: Spring Commissioning Checklist from BoatUS

By Peter Janssen on March 3, 2020 Cruising Life, Maintenance

It’s that time of year again. With spring approaching, it’s time to get the boat ready for the new season. Here’s a great checklist from BoatUS about what to do now: SPRINGFIELD, Va., March 3, 2020 – Getting the boat ready for the summer boating season is an exciting time for America’s nearly 12 million recreational boaters. Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) has a Spring Commissioning Checklist to help boaters start the season right, along with a new YouTube Spring Fitting Out video library that shows you how to do some basic tasks, from changing the outdrive…

Brooklyn Marina Closes: Fuhgeddaboudit

By Peter Janssen on March 3, 2020 Cruising Life

The well-established Marine Basin Marina on Brooklyn’s Gravesend Bay will close on April 1, forcing some 200 boat owners to find a new spot for their vessels. The marina, on Brooklyn’s western shore opposite Staten Island, offered deep-water access to fishing and cruising on the Lower Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the Gagliano family owned the marina for half a century and is selling it, and adjacent properties, to a real estate investment firm for $57.5 million. The marina’s website said it offered “endless opportunities for shopping, eating, drinking. You can also just roam around…

New Deal Island 50: A Modern Classic from Australia

By Peter Janssen on March 2, 2020 Cruising Life

You probably won’t be seeing the new Deal Island 50 in person, unless you’re heading for Melbourne, Australia, but you might want to take a look at it anyway, since it strikes me as one of the best-looking boats to come along in quite a while. And it does take advantage of two international boating trends: the emergence of more and more classic Down East type boats, and the growing popularity of day boats or weekend cruisers. The boat pictured above is the first of a line of 50-feet fast ocean cruisers built by the Wooden Boat Shop south of…

New Bitter End Inflatable SUP; Fits in a Backpack

By Peter Janssen on March 2, 2020 Cruising Life, Gear

Before it was devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September, 2017, the Bitter End Yacht Club was one of the most sought-after, and highly recognized, destinations in the British Virgin Islands. The Bitter End has been rebuilding its 64 acres since then, but in the interim it has launched Bitter End Provisions, “to help you prepare for your next nautical adventure.” The company says the criteria for something to qualify as a Bitter End Provision are that “It works hard and works often. That it has been tested at sea. And that it pairs really well with a bottle…

Coast Guard Chopper Rescues Couple, Dog, Off Oregon Coast

By Peter Janssen on March 1, 2020 Cruising Life

A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a couple and their dog after they were stuck in rough seas off the Columbia River bar in Oregon. You can see the Coast Guard’s video of the 4 a.m. rescue below. The couple, a 55-year-old man and 56-year-old woman, first called the Coast Guard at 2:30 p.m. They were on a 44-foot powerboat with their dog, off the coast of Seaside, and they were worried about crossing the bar to return home. The Coast Guard sent a rescue boat to find them. In a statement, the Coast Guard said, “The rescue crew determined…

Woman Awarded $3.7 Million in Fall From Yacht in Travelift

By Peter Janssen on February 24, 2020 Cruising Life

A New Jersey woman will receive $3.7 million in a settlement for traumatic brain injuries she suffered when she fell off a ladder from a boat suspended in a marina Travelift. The woman, Jennifer Brashears, 48, fell 10 feet from the top step of a ladder and hit her head on the paved parking lot at the Edgewater Marina in Edgewater, New Jersey. Surgeons had to remove a third of her skull to prevent fatal swelling, but she was left with a disabling brain injury and has not been able to work since the accident on July 22, 2014. On…

Giant Male Whale Protects Mother and Calf from Boat

By Peter Janssen on February 24, 2020 Cruising Life

A giant male humpback whale breached in front of a small sailing catamaran off Hawaii, flinging himself out of the water, perhaps in an effort to warn the sailors away from a nearby calf and its mother. The 40-feet-long, 22-ton whale almost crushed the catamaran, sailing off Kaanapali Beach on the northwest coast of Maui. No one on the cat was injured. The incident was filmed by Don McLeish, 67 and retired, who was following the whales on his blue Zodiac. He saw the male escorting the mother and the baby, and then saw the catamaran almost on a collision…

Coast Guard Rescues 3 from Sinking Fishing Trawler

By Peter Janssen on February 24, 2020 Cruising Life

Here’s a story about a fishing boat in distress in the middle of the night off Fire Island, New York, a Coast Guard rescue, and determined owner, from Newsday. It was 3:45 a.m., and the fishing trawler New Age was about 20 miles south of the Fire Island Inlet, heading to New Jersey to unload its catch with a crew of three. It had 1,500 pounds of fluke in the hold, the wind was blowing about 30 knots, and the swells were getting even the stern. As the New Age started to list, the crew realized it was sinking. Billy…

Ferry Captain Disoriented by Fog, Goes Wrong Way, Sinks Yacht

By Peter Janssen on February 23, 2020 Cruising Life

Here’s a report from the BBC about how a ferry boat captain became disoriented in fog, went the wrong way, and crashed into a yacht off the Isle of Wight: Cowes ferry yacht-crash captain ‘lost control in fog’ A ferry captain became disoriented in dense fog and ended up going in the wrong direction and crashing into a yacht, a report has concluded. The Red Funnel car ferry sunk Nigel Minchin’s yacht when it ran aground off the Isle of Wight in October 2018, leaving people stranded for hours. Investigators found Red Falcon’s captain became “overloaded due to high stress” as…

Browsing: Cruising Life