Cruising Life

How To Read Bottom Symbols on a Chart and Make the Right Course and Anchoring Decisions

By Peter Janssen on January 1, 2019 Cruising Life

Can you read all the bottom symbols on the chart above? Do you know the difference between “M” (mud) and “Ms” (mussels)? Such knowledge could save you from running hard aground; it certainly could help in choosing your next anchorage. If you give them a good look, nav charts can tell you the type of material on the bottom, and help you decide your course (and what to avoid) as well as guiding you to the best anchorage for your boat. The symbols on the chart also will tell you which type of anchor to use. You probably know much…

Congress Requires Coast Guard To Improve Response to 911 Cell Phone Calls

By Peter Janssen on January 1, 2019 Cruising Life

For generations and generations, this basic concept was drilled into new boat owners: When you have an emergency, call for help on VHF channel 16. The Coast Guard monitors that channel, other marine authorities monitor that channel, other boaters monitor that channel. If you’re in VHF range (and most of the time most boaters are), help will be on the way. But times change. Now we’re in the age of cell phones, and it’s safe to say that almost everyone on a boat has one. In recent years, boaters have taken to dialing 911 on their cell phones to call…

Navy Ends Bread-and-Water Punishment: No More Flogging, Either

By Peter Janssen on January 1, 2019 Cruising Life

Good news for sailors: The Navy just ended its punishment of bread and water, dating back to the 19th Century, on January 1. Under the punishment, sailors could be confined to the brig and fed only bread and water for a period of time; it was considered a more humane treatment than flogging. Congress outlawed flogging on U.S. ships in 1862, but Navy captains could impose the bread-and-water punishment for up to 30 days at a time, and sailors could be shackled in the brig. In 1909, that period was reduced to seven days and shackles were banned; by 1951 it…

2018: A Bad Year for Manatees in Florida and Whales off California

By Peter Janssen on January 1, 2019 Cruising Life

Last year was a bad time for manatees in Florida and whales off California, with an increasing number of boat-related manatee deaths and more whales entangled in fishing nets and lines. In Florida, 2018 saw the second-highest number of manatee deaths ever. Indeed, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) reported that more than 800 manatees died in 2018, a 50 percent increase over the previous year. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission said it was the highest number of deaths in any year except 2013, with 818, a year with a long cold spell. More than a quarter…

French Adventurer Trying To Cross Atlantic in a Big Orange Barrel

By Peter Janssen on January 1, 2019 Cruising Life

Please don’t try this yourself, but you’ve got to give a lot of credit for courage and an adventuresome spirit to Jean-Jacques Savin, a 71-year-old former French paratrooper, who’s now trying to cross the Atlantic in a big orange plywood barrel, propelled only by the ocean currents that he hopes will carry him to the Caribbean. “I have the soul of a sportsman and am using my retirement to set myself a number of challenges,” he told The Telegraph, just before he shoved off from El Hierro in the Canaries. Savin has already sailed across the Atlantic a few times,…

New Ocean-Crossing Leopard 51 PC: A Big, Fast, Family Cruiser or Charter Boat

By Peter Janssen on January 1, 2019 Boat Reviews, Charter, Cruising Life

A seakindly, large, long-range cruising boat, the new Leopard 51 PC comes in either a three- or four-cabin configuration, and is designed for either private or charter use. In either configuration, the Leopard 51, which is delivered on its own bottom from the Robertson & Caine yard in Cape Town, South Africa, is a fuel-efficient family cruiser with a nice turn of speed and enough interior volume to make a long cruise or charter enjoyable and comfortable. Designed by the Dutch firm of Simonis Voogd, the Leopard 51, with a beam of more than 25 feet, provides a stable platform…

A Climate Crisis in the Galapagos Starts To Change Life There

By Peter Janssen on December 19, 2018 Cruising Life, Destinations

Climate change, a combination of warming ocean water and the storms caused by El Niño, is threatening the unique sea and land life in the Galápagos Islands that inspired Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. As a result, life on the Galápagos is changing, often in ways that have not been seen before. The Galápagos, which lie 846 miles west of Ecuador, are at the intersection of three major ocean currents. They also are in the cross hairs of El Niño , one of the world’s most destructive patterns, which causes rapid and extreme ocean heating across the tropics…

Greenline Launching New 48 Coupe with Solar, Hybrid or Diesel Power

By Peter Janssen on December 19, 2018 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Greenline Yachts, the Slovenia builder that’s at the forefront of the electric- and hybrid- power revolution, is launching a new Greenline 48 Coupe at the Düsseldorf show in January; it will be introduced to the U.S. at the Miami show in February. The 48 Coupe is modeled after the company’s 48 Flybridge model, and comes after customers said they wanted a large coupe-style boat. Because of its coupe configuration, the new 48 has an array of 2.4kW solar panels on its cabintop, providing the equivalent power of a small generator running all the time. The solar panels provide enough power…

Front Street Shipyard Building Tough New Sea Blade X with Revolutionary Hull

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

This wicked-looking 36-foot center console with a revolutionary hull design is now under construction at the Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, Maine. The new SBX36, hull number one of the new Sea Blade X line from Navatek Ltd. of Honolulu, will be ready for sea trials in the spring. The Sea Blade X hull is built of fiberglass with a foam core; the boat has a T-Top and an inflatable Hypalon perimeter tube. The stepped V bottom hull, with outer sponsons for stability, was originally designed for the military, and is being used by law enforcement in Hawaii. The boat…

Cape Breton Lobster Boat Captain Granted Full Parole in Bizarre Killing of a Fisherman He Thought Was Cutting His Traps

By Peter Janssen on December 18, 2018 Cruising Life

A Cape Breton lobster boat captain has just been granted full parole in the bizarre murder of another fisherman who he thought was cutting his traps five years ago. The captain, Dwayne Samson, 48, had been convicted of manslaughter and was given an almost ten-year sentence three years ago for the death of Philip Boudreau, 43. Samson, who had been described as “a model inmate and excellent worker” in prison, is now a free man. Here’s the full story, according to the court’s statement of facts, as reported on the Cape Breton Post: At 5 a.m. on June 1, 2013, Samson…

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