Cruising Life

Volvo Wins Awards for Engines and Industry Leadership

By Peter Janssen on October 6, 2019 Cruising Life

Volvo Penta is on a roll, winning awards and recognition for its redesigned Next-Generation D4 and D6 propulsion packages, for its Easy Boating initiative, and for its leadership in the marine industry. The highly regarded Swedish company just won an IBEX (International Boatbuilders Exhibition) Innovation Award for the D4 and D6 propulsion systems, its new sterndrive, updated IPS pod drive and its new Electronic Vessel Control platform. The judges said that the end result of all these improvements and innovations was a fully integrated, exceptional boating experience. The D4 and D6 have been Volvo’s flagship engines. Indeed, it has produced…

Smugglers Rescue Police Who Were Chasing Them. See Video

By Peter Janssen on October 6, 2019 Cruising Life

Four drug smugglers rescued three Spanish police officers who were chasing them off the southern coast of Spain after the smugglers’ boat and the police boat collided and the police were thrown into the sea. But then the police arrested the smugglers, who had thrown 80 bundles of hashish off their boat. A police helicopter captured the entire chase and rescue on video; see it below. High-speed chases are not unusual in this part of the world, where smugglers bring drugs from Africa into Europe. Indeed, the U.N. has identified Morocco, just across the way, as the world’s largest exporter…

How To Dock Safely and Easily, Even If You’re Alone

By Peter Janssen on September 30, 2019 Cruising Life

Here’s some great advice from Practical Boat Owner about how to tie up at a dock, and then how to leave it, even if you’re single-handing. It tells how to plan for the effects of tide and current and the presence of nearby boats, and how to use slip lines to help you get underway. Casting off with confidence – safe ways for solo sailors to get off the dock Duncan Wells describes a number of easy methods to leave the dock with both sail and power vessels Getting a boat on and off the dock – coming alongside and casting…

New Vanquish VQ16: 40 Knots of Pure Fun

By Peter Janssen on September 30, 2019 Cruising Life

Here’s a new fun watercraft that the company calls a crossover between a water scooter and a yacht tender – the Vanquish VQ16. It holds five passengers and goes up to 40 knots, although you can get an optional supercharged Veloce version that hits 50 knots. The VQ16 is built by Vanquish Yachts in the Netherlands, who specialize in high-end, high-performance vessels from 16 to 90 feet. They’re semi-custom builds, and the company says they are “not for everyone.” There’s a definite wow factor at work here. The swift-looking new VQ16 is a collaboration between Guido de Groot Design and…

3 Rescued After Tug Sinks in Atlantic Hurricane

By Peter Janssen on September 29, 2019 Cruising Life

Three crewmen were found in a liferaft in the Atlantic, two days after their tugboat took on water and sank during Hurricane Lorenzo. An international search effort, coordinated by the French Navy, found the bodies of four other crewmen, and they are searching for seven more who are still missing. Bourbon Rhode, the ocean-going tug, was near the center of the hurricane, about 1,200 nm off Martinique, when it issued a distress call. It was en route from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands to Georgetown, Guyana. Lorenzo was a Category 4 hurricane at the time. The French Maritime Rescue…

If You Live On Board, Do You Have To Pay Taxes?

By Peter Janssen on September 28, 2019 Cruising Life

Every week, Mansion Global poses a tax question to real estate tax attorneys. Here is this week’s question. Q. Can I live on a yacht and not pay property tax in the U.S.? A. Those always at sea may be able to avoid property taxes, according to J. Dirk Schwenk, a managing member at Baylaw, a law firm based in Annapolis, Maryland. “If you really are in motion all the time—touching in ports, but not staying very long—you’re much less likely to be subject to tax as you go,” he said. But most people have to keep the yacht somewhere.…

Historic House Takes 50-Mile Cruise on the Chesapeake: Video

By Peter Janssen on September 27, 2019 Cruising Life

Here’s a great story from Chesapeake Bay Magazine. See the video: HISTORIC MANSION TAKES 50-MILE BAY CRUISE Yes, you read that correctly: an Easton, Maryland mansion built in the early 1760s was picked up and moved – first by flatbed truck and then by barge – up the Eastern Shore to Queenstown this week. It was a spectacle for anyone near the Tred Avon River Wednesday, a 400-ton literal “house boat” on a barge with tug. The Town of Oxford, Md. posted video on their Facebook page, taken from the Oxford Bellevue Ferry. https://www.facebook.com/579789318707909/videos/403632177002828/?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARBUI3hmUM-Yf0cxzeEv2TKdaK4IhwedeD1mTlk8_NCD4eBtWDNSXXde9_ZTbx5en2asphTtcUVi5vZe&fref=mentions&__xts__[0]=68.ARBhUFYAdj6DZMidPhMbwfhbU74zYbYG8Ur_8QrIgMsHnK1SUN8rbIN_LnE2pbkaNVIWtqs8Zq5yLpdsW2aqihL0YkW-BVbtmNPyGl0ytO8xUHz81rr8PjaA-qXGDe1_yfga0WXPX5VKbPdnU30J3o7RTeZ5cC3R-y8Zid_lHeowZ7NZr2PdQrSUOrVCTF9Ui6pgXgPmarlc5E__Mgm1BdI7aHCReGBLMjYBnsZxvtU6p51QqsxuUKNnXFibtaenq2TO-TmZR9g49CyhrU5QqT-Ey1KCeliKpCi5CYXJ7Hp7GI8-HXFKx7z6KSh1SBFSqIXVeF6TSIdtAPitaw The historic Galloway house, a Georgian mansion…

Florida Broker Arrested on Charges of Running a Ponzi Scheme

By Peter Janssen on September 24, 2019 Cruising Life

Matthew Taylor, 42, a former fishing guide who’s been president of Savage Yachts in Madeira Beach, Florida, since 2004, has been arrested on charges of running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded his customers of about $1.5 million. Detectives with the Economic Crimes unit of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office arrested Taylor and charged him with four counts of grand theft, four counts of money laundering, one count of scheming to defraud, and one count of escrow depository violation. They took him to the county jail. The detectives started investigating Taylor when they received a complaint from a person who said…

NTSB Issues Annual Safer Seas Report of 30 Boating Accidents

By Peter Janssen on September 24, 2019 Cruising Life

The National Transportation Safety Board just released its Safer Seas Digest 2018: Lessons Learned from Marine Accident Investigations, and it has some interesting lessons for those of us who go cruising on recreational boats. It’s a summary of 30 marine accidents, including collisions with fixed objects, sinkings, fires, floodings, groundings and other vessel damage, involving vessels from recreational boats to passenger liners. The safety issues include: High-water/high-current conditions, watertight integrity, training for emergencies, remote emergency shutdowns, ice accumulation, mooring in strong winds, identifying navigation hazards and fixed ventilation openings. As in the past, towing vessels/barges topped the list of vessels…

Wealthy Dad Kills Son with Boat in San Francisco Bay

By Peter Janssen on September 23, 2019 Cruising Life

Javier Burillo Azcarraga was arrested on charges that he caused the death of his 11-year-old son in San Francisco Bay after the boy and his brother, 27, where thrown from Azcarraga’s 33-foot Targa Protector (pictured above) and he tried to retrieve them. Azcarraga was driving the twin-outboard Protector near Angel Island at about 7 p.m. on Sunday when the accident occurred. Police say they do not know why the boys were thrown off the boat, and that the boat hit them when Azcarraga tried to pull them out of the water. After he got the boys back on board, Azcarraga,…

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