Cruising Life

Really Big, and Really Old, Grouper Caught off Southwest Florida

By Peter Janssen on January 13, 2020 Cruising Life

If you think you’ve ever caught a big grouper, take a look at this one. It weighs in at 350 pounds. It’s also the oldest Warsaw Grouper ever recorded; biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission estimate it’s about 50 years old. The huge, old grouper was caught in 600 feet of water off Southwest Florida with a hook and line. The largest Warsaw grouper ever caught in Florida was about 440 pounds. Warsaw groupers have an elongated second dorsal spine. They are the only grouper with 10 dorsal spines; the others have 11. Biologists with the commission’s Wildlife…

New Sea Ray Features Lithium-Ion Battery Pack To Run Accessories

By Peter Janssen on January 13, 2020 Cruising Life

Sea Ray just introduced its new top-end, outboard-powered SLX-R 400e model at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, featuring a new electrical system that takes the place of a genset on the boat. The 40-footer is powered by three 450-hp, V8 Mercury Racing outboards. It also has Brunswick’s new Fathom e-Power with a high-capacity, lithium-ion battery pack with enough storage to run all the accessory systems on board, including air conditioning and gyro stabilizers. (Brunswick owns Sea Ray.) The Fathom e-power system is eco-friendly, in that you don’t have to run the outboards, using fossil fuel, if you just…

Georgia Spells Out New, Restrictive, Rules for Anchoring Overnight

By Peter Janssen on January 8, 2020 Cruising Life

Georgia’s new anchoring rules went into effect on January 1, and they spell out where you can – and where you cannot – anchor overnight there. These rules, spelled out by the state’s Department of Natural Resources, will affect many cruisers traveling through Georgia on the Intracoastal Waterway or as part of the Great Loop. (You can see the DNR’s entire administrative order, as well as an interactive map showing anchoring areas, below.) The new rules basically prohibit anchoring within 1,000 feet of any structure, although they create new “marina zones” between 300 feet and 1,000 feet of a marina…

How Strong is Your Favorite Knot? See MIT Video

By Peter Janssen on January 5, 2020 Cruising Life

We all know that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. But what about your knots? How strong are they? Now we have answers, and videos, from researchers at MIT who used color-changing fibers and a new mathematical model to predict a knot’s stability. The math model is based on several things, including the number of crossings involved and the direction the rope segments twist when you pull the knot tight. “These subtle differences between knots critically determine whether a knot is strong or not,” says Jörn Dunkel, associate professor of mathematics at MIT. “With this model,…

Sandy Hook Pilot Dies After Fall from Container Ship

By Peter Janssen on January 5, 2020 Cruising Life

Captain Dennis R. Sherwood, who had been piloting ships in and out of New York Harbor for more than 35 years, died after trying to board an inbound container ship near the Ambrose Light. Sherwood, a member of the Sandy Hook Pilots Association, fell from the accommodation ladder on the Maersk Kensington (pictured above) at 0430 hours. He fell back into his pilot boat, which rushed him to Staten Island. He passed away in a hospital there. The Coast Guard responded to the accident, as did vessels from the New York Fire Department, and the New York Police Department Harbor…

New 42-Foot Boat Slams into Port Everglades Jetty

By Peter Janssen on January 4, 2020 Cruising Life

The 42-foot Hydrasports Custom Boats center console that hit a Port Everglades jetty in the middle of the night, seriously injuring two of its four passengers, was so new that the owner had not yet registered it at the time of the accident, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Officials did not know whether the owner, Daniel Towriss, the CEO of an Indiana insurance company, was driving his new boat at the time. All four people, who also were from Indiana, were injured in the accident. The Sun-Sentinel said one woman was thrown onto the rocks by the impact. The jetty marks…

Alaska Fishing Boat Sinks. 2 Rescued; 5 Missing. See Video

By Peter Janssen on January 3, 2020 Cruising Life

The Coast Guard rescued two crew members and called off a search for five others after their 130-foot crab fishing boat, Scandies Rose, capsized and sank in 45-knot winds and 21-foot seas about five miles off Sutwik Island on the south side of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The boat issued a Mayday call at 10:15 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, with the crew saying it was taking on water and listing. The Coast Guard in Kodiak launched an immediate search and rescue operation. At 2 a.m. the next morning, a Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter lifted two crew members, who…

Great Dismal Swamp Canal Closed for Three Months

By Peter Janssen on January 3, 2020 Cruising Life

The Army Corps of Engineers has closed the Great Dismal Swamp Canal for repairs, and it will remain closed for about three months. The original announcement, below, said the canal would be closed starting Jan. 6, but the Corps found a mechanical problem at the South Mills Lock and they closed the Canal ahead of schedule. If you’re cruising north or south on the ICW, you can take the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal through the Great Bridge Lock in Chesapeake, Virginia. Operators monitor Channel 13. VA – ATLANTIC INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY (AICW) – DISMAL SWAMP CANAL – CLOSED TO NAVIGATION On…

Marc Anthony’s 120-foot Yacht Burns, Capsizes, in Miami

By Peter Janssen on December 19, 2019 Cruising Life

JLo’s ex-husband Marc Anthony’s $7million yacht bursts into flames and CAPSIZES in Miami marina Grammy-award winner Marc Anthony’s yacht caught on fire and capsized at the Island Gardens Marina in Miami, Florida Fire rescue crews dispatched to the scene around 7.30pm and had the fire under control within two hours Anthony was not on the yacht at the time and the crew members who were evacuated The cause of the fire is unknown and no one was injured Anthony’s $7million yacht is 120-feet long and has five cabins that sleep 12 people It also included amenities like a BBQ, satellite TV,…

Did Lithium-ion Batteries Sink the 134-foot Yacht Kanga?

By Peter Janssen on December 17, 2019 Cruising Life

On the morning of Sept. 7, 2018, a fierce fire destroyed the 134-foot yacht Kanga as it was anchored off the coast of Dubrovnik on the Adriatic. The nine guests and four crew all were evacuated; no one was injured. Kanga, a tri-deck displacement yacht, was almost brand new. An experienced American owner ordered it from the CNN yard in La Spezia, Italy. It was built to hold 12 guests in five staterooms; the crew quarters could hold a staff of 11. It was launched in May, and was scheduled to be displayed at the Cannes and Monaco yacht shows…

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