Cruising Life

Three Commercial Fishing Boats Collide in Alaska; One Captain, a Former Pro Skier and Model, Faces Charges

By Peter Janssen on May 3, 2018 Cruising Life

Commercial fishing in Alaska can be a rough business. See this video of a collision involving three competing fishing boats on Aug. 16, 2016, in Prince William Sound. As a result, Kami “Bananas” Cabana, the skipper of one of the boats, a former professional skier and model for North Face, is facing felony charges for allegedly ramming a competitor’s boat, injuring a member of its crew. A Coast Guard investigation said the incident started when Jason Long, the captain of the F/V Temptation, saw a school of salmon in Hidden Bay, and he also saw an opening to reach the…

New Honors for Volvo’s Most-Powerful-Ever D13 Engine and IPS1350 Pod Drives

By Peter Janssen on May 2, 2018 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Volvo Penta’s new 1,000-hp D13 diesel engine, it’s most powerful ever, and its IPS1350 pod drive propulsion system just won new honors from Boating Industry, the boating business magazine, which named them among the top boating products of the year. The engine and drive system were introduced to the North American market at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat show last November. “With Volvo Penta’s major redesign to create the D13-1000 engine and its integration with IPS pod drives, the company created an impressive system with the consumer end result in mind,” the magazine said. The engine and drives result in a…

Hit Hard by Maria, Laid-Back but Beautiful St. Croix Has Almost Fully Recovered

By Peter Janssen on May 2, 2018 Cruising Life, Destinations

St. Croix, the largest, and arguably the most laid-back of the U.S. Virgin Islands, has mostly recovered from Hurricanes Irma and Maria last September. As it turned out, Irma wasn’t too bad, but Maria was devasting. But that was then. Now 90 percent of the island’s businesses have reopened, power is restored, and the island’s oldest hotel, the Buccaneer, which housed relief workers for many months, is open for visitors. For visiting boaters, the St. Croix Marine Center in Gallows Bay next to Christiansted Harbor is fully functioning. It’s a full-service marina with 44 slips for boats up to 150…

New 80 Sunreef Power: Elegant, Light-Filled Cruising Catamaran

By Peter Janssen on May 1, 2018 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Sunreef has just introduced an elegant new 80-foot catamaran which it says is “the universal multihull yacht for long cruises in ultimate comfort.” The new 80 Sunreef Power is indeed a combination of luxury, space and cruising efficiency, and it’s filled with living, relaxing and entertaining areas spread throughout the boat. The 80 Sunreef Power is distinguished by its dynamic and contemporary multihull design. The basic design calls for four guest cabins, but the interior can be customized to suit an individual owner’s wishes. It features classic stainless steel portlights, teak decks and high bulwarks for safety. But the overriding…

Barton & Gray Mariners Club Now Offers Hinckley Fleet in Washington, D.C.

By Peter Janssen on April 30, 2018 Cruising Life

The Barton & Gray Mariners Club, the organization that gives members the use of a beautiful Hinckley yacht with a captain in 20 upscale boating destinations along the East Coast and the Great Lakes, is opening a new facility in Washington, D.C. The new club, opening June 1, will be at The Wharf, the recently renovated waterfront development in Southwest Washington. The theory behind the club is to give members all the fun of yachting without the hassles of ownership. Membership is in four tiers, starting at $29,500 a year, and gives members access to a fleet of 30 Hinckleys,…

Good Samaritan, Coast Guard, Save 5 from Sinking Sportfisherman off Cat Cay, Bahamas

By Peter Janssen on April 30, 2018 Cruising Life

A good Samaritan boat and the Coast Guard rescued five people recently from a sinking sportfishing boat about 13 miles northwest of Cat Cay in the Bahamas. All five were taken to Cat Cay but the boat, La Bella, sank. The incident started when the Coast Guard in Miami received a Mayday call over Channel 16 from La Bella, saying it was taking on water and had five people on board. The Coast Guard broadcast an urgent message to all boats about La Bella and diverted the Cutter Robert Yered to the scene. Another vessel, Troy, heard the message and arrived at…

Great Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center Named One of Best in the U.S.

By Peter Janssen on April 29, 2018 Cruising Life, Destinations

If you’re heading around the Great Loop, or simply cruising up and down the Intracoastal Waterway, you may want to schedule a stop at the facedock at the Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center in North Carolina, just south of the Virginia border. It’s always been a friendly spot to rest or spend the night; indeed, about 2,000 boats stop there each year. But now it has some added cachet: Architectural Digest just named it one of the 15 most beautiful rest spots in the U.S. The state-run welcome center serves as a gateway to the Dismal Swamp State Park just across…

A New Record: 67 Boats, with 650 People, Transit Greek’s Historic Corinth Canal

By Peter Janssen on April 29, 2018 Cruising Life

Here’s one for the record books, or the Guinness Book of World Records, to be exact. Rib Cruises, based near Athens, organized a flotilla of 67 boats, including 44 RIBs, in a run through the Corinth Canal, the four-mile-long, man-made cut between the Greek mainland and the Peloponnesian Peninsula. A shortcut from the Eastern Mediterranean to Southern Italy, the canal was closed for the event. It took all the boats, holding some 650 people, little more than an hour to transit the canal, which is only 64 feet wide. Rib Cruises says this is a record number of boats and…

Huckins Celebrates 90th Anniversary, Still Going Strong

By Peter Janssen on April 29, 2018 Cruising Life

Huckins just celebrated its 90thanniversary with a three-day celebration including a 15-yacht rendezvous and overnight on Black Creek and a dinner party at its plant in Jacksonville, Florida. The company is still making its classic yachts with the iconic Quadraconic hull first developed by its founder, Frank Pembroke Huckins. About 100 owners and friends attended the anniversary, celebrating Huckins’ history and its continued focus on design and quality. Indeed, Huckins does all the work on its yachts, from conception to completion. “We do 100 percent of the design on all custom yachts,” said Cindy Purcell, the company president and Frank…

Coast Guard, Lots of Bystanders, Rescue Man Trapped in Capsized Army Corps Survey Boat

By Peter Janssen on April 28, 2018 Cruising Life

The Coast Guard, local authorities and a lot of good Samaritans rescued a man trapped in the cabin of a capsized Army Corps of Engineers boat off the coast of Oregon recently. The man survived by finding an air pocket in the upside-down boat while the rescue unfolded. The Army Corps of Engineers’ 26-foot Survey Boat Graham was conducting a routine survey off the mouth of the Chetco River in Brookings, Oregon, with two men on board, when it capsized. A bystander called the Coast Guard. A 29-foot Coast Guard rapid response boat from Station Chetco River was on the…

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