Cruising Life

Owner of Miami Vice Charter Pleads Guilty in Death of a Passenger

By Peter Janssen on November 18, 2018 Cruising Life

This news doesn’t seem a surprise, but it does serve as a point of closure. The owner of Miami Vice, a 95-foot, 55-knot charter boat, has pleaded guilty in the death of a passenger who was killed by the boat’s props while swimming behind it. The owner, it turns out, hired a captain even though he knew the captain didn’t have a Coast Guard license. To make matters worse, the boat didn’t have a charter license either. Finally, the owner filmed a video of the captain snorting cocaine as they drove around Miami Beach together. Laurent Marc-Antoine Jean Maubert-Cayla, the…

Bad News on the Great Loop: Army Corps of Engineers Will Close Six Locks on Illinois River in 2020

By Peter Janssen on November 18, 2018 Cruising Life

Here’s some bad news for anyone thinking of tackling the Great Loop in 2020: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is closing six locks and dams on the Illinois River, that part of the Loop connecting Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, from July 1 to October 31, for major infrastructure repairs. The options for Loopers are to stay in the Great Lakes and leave Chicago on November 1, although as someone who has lived in Chicago, I can safely say you might get a bit cold then. You also need to determine how many marinas and other facilities would…

New Vicem 65 IPS Classic: A Cold-Molded Turkish Beauty with Downeast Looks

By Peter Janssen on November 18, 2018 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The cold-molded, all-mahogany Vicem 65 IPS Classic, just displayed at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, is a Turkish-built beauty with Downeast lines powered by twin 800-hp Volvo Penta IPS1050 pod drives for superior performance and ease of maneuvering around a dock. It’s the largest Vicem to be fitted with IPS, and it has a cruising speed of 23 knots and a top speed of 26 knots. The optional 1,000-hp Volvo Penta IPS1350 drives add a few knots to the top speed. The long sheerline, low profile and beautiful tumblehome of the Vicem 65 all mark it as a timeless…

John Travolta Plays the Legendary Don Aronow in New Movie. Hmmmm

By Peter Janssen on November 17, 2018 Cruising Life

As the editor of Motor Boating & Sailing, I met Don Aronow (pictured above) many times in the 1980s. I wrote about him; I tested his boats. A three-time U.S. powerboat racing champion and the founder of Cigarette, Formula, Donzi, Magnum, Squadron XII, USA Racing and a larger-than-life figure, Aronow was known as the King of Thunderboat Row, a short stretch of 188thStreet in North Miami where most of his companies were located. Aronow was known for his boats, and for his friends, including future President George H.W. Bush, the Shah of Iran, and Malcolm Forbes, among many others. He…

Silent Yachts Introduces New 79-foot, Solar-Powered, Long-Range Catamaran

By Peter Janssen on November 14, 2018 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Silent Yachts is building its new ocean-going Silent 79 solar-powered catamaran, a long-range cruiser with unlimited range at 6 or 7 knots and a top speed of 20 knots. The luxurious cat with a minimalist design is Silent’s largest solar yacht yet, and is designed after the Silent 55, which made its debut at the Cannes Yachting Festival this past September. An Austrian company, Silent is building its first three 79s at an Italian yard in Marotta, near the major shipbuilding town of Ancona on the Adriatic. The first is scheduled to be launched in 2020. The standard Silent 79…

Cruising in Mexico This Winter: Nine Destinations, Strung Like Jewels on a Golden Crown

By Peter Janssen on November 13, 2018 Cruising Life, Destinations

If you’re on the West Coast, you may want to think about taking a cruise to Mexico this winter. The weather’s great, the anchorages and marinas aren’t crowded, and you can enjoy a different kind of cruising vacation. Here’s a compelling story about the advantages of taking such a cruise this winter, with a sample itinerary, from Sea magazine. Take a look: Mexico’s Gold Coast: a series of nine beautiful boating destinations and pristine anchorages strung like jewels on a golden crown. Together they provide several months’ worth of winter cruising pleasure. Here’s one winter cruising itinerary for Mexico’s Gold…

New Crewsaver Life Jacket Has a Double-Halo Hood To Keep Water Out of the Mouth and Nose

By Peter Janssen on November 13, 2018 Cruising Life, Gear

Crewsaver, the British company, just introduced a revolutionary new life jacket with a halo-like hood that’s designed to keep water from entering a man overboard’s mouth or nose. The new spray hood also retains heat and enhances the man overboard’s visibility, making it easier to accomplish a safe recovery. The new jacket, called the Ergo-Fit+, was just introduced at the big METSTRADE show in Amsterdam. Crewsaver called it the next level in man overboard protection. It will be available in the worldwide market in March. The hood was inspired by developments the aviation industry. “We work closely with organizations across…

Missing for a Year, a Floating Dry Dock Turns Up in the Bahamas

By Peter Janssen on November 13, 2018 Cruising Life

If you think that there’s a lot of stuff floating around out there that you don’t want to hit, you’re right. Partially submerged containers that have fallen off container ships, debris, lines in the water, they’re all out there. But how about a floating dry dock? Here’s a great story from gCaptain about a section of a dry dock that’s been missing for more than a year that was just spotted floating in the Exumas: The saga of the unlit section of dry dock that has been floating around the Atlantic Ocean for more than a year now may finally be…

35 Facts You (Probably) Didn’t Know About The Titanic

By Peter Janssen on November 12, 2018 Cruising Life

By this time, we probably think we know most of what there is to know about RMS Titanic, at least all the relevant details. But here’s an interesting story from The Standard News with 35 facts about the sinking of the Titanic on its maiden voyage when it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic on April 14, 1912; you probably already know some of them, but I think many will surprise you. The largest ship at the time, the Titanic was carrying 2,224 people at the time; only 710 survived. The Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable, but it sank in less than three…

New German Frers-Designed Sirena 58 Makes U.S. Debut: A 25-Knot Comfortable Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on November 12, 2018 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Sirena just introduced its first 58 designed for the U.S. market at the recent Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, a German Frers-designed semi-displacement cruiser built for performance and easy living. The interior, by Tommaso Spadolini, is filled with natural light from large windows; the main deck is on one level to make moving around easy. Explaining the appeal of the Turkish-built yacht, Constantinos Constantinou, the head of Sirena’s North American operations, said, “We’ve seen that the priorities of U.S. yacht owners have changed in recent years. Build quality is considered a given, but yacht owners are now putting much more…

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