Cruising Life

The Moorings Reopens in the BVI with 100 Boats Ready to Charter Right Now

By Peter Janssen on December 12, 2017 Charter, Cruising Life, Destinations

There’s more good news about the post-hurricane comeback in the British Virgin Islands. The Moorings and Sunsail, the power and sail charter powerhouses, just reopened their base in Road Town, Tortola, with a combined fleet of more than 100 yachts ready to go (see the picture above). In addition, the companies have invested $66.5 million to bring in more than 130 new boats that will arrive in early 2018. The people throughout the BVI have been resilient and working hard to build back after the devastating hurricanes just three months ago. Pirate’s Bight, Soggy Dollar Bar and Foxy’s are all…

Arcadia Sherpa 60: A New Cruiser with a Unique Profile

By Peter Janssen on December 11, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Arcadia Yachts, the Italian builder, will introduce its new, and unique-looking, Arcadia Sherpa 60 to the United States at the Miami Yacht Show in February. With its unique tall forward section for the helm, staterooms and galley, the Sherpa 60 has a profile that sets it apart from most other boats in the harbor. Meanwhile, the low aft half of the boat has an unusual amount of useable sunning and socializing space in a design where form definitely follows function. The boat’s distinguishing convertible sky lounge forward is an all-weather space; the sides can be open to the fresh air,…

“Motorcycle Gangs” of Killer Whales Are Harassing Alaska Fishing Boats

By Peter Janssen on December 11, 2017 Cruising Life

Killer whales are harassing and hunting down fishing boats in Alaska, often tracking them for days before attacking their nets full of fish. The whales are smart and can distinguish between different kinds of boats, even recognizing the drone of the fishing boats’ hydraulic systems as they lower their nets into the water. And they’ve learned to ignore the electronic horns that were designed to drive them away; instead, the sound of the horn, one captain told the National Post, “became a dinner bell.” The problem is widespread, covering the Gulf of Alaska, the Aleutians and up to the Bering…

“The Most Beautiful Man Cave” – a $950,000 Floating Home for Sale in Seattle

By Peter Janssen on December 11, 2017 Cruising Life

This floating home in Seattle gives a whole new meaning to the idea of living aboard. It certainly doesn’t bear much of a relationship to my days of living aboard my Grand Banks 36 in Connecticut. Floating homes, it turns out, are a hot market in Seattle. The land-based real estate market is heating up, and then there’s all the romance associated with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle (I’m still crying…). This particular floating home, now for sale for $950,000, is on the northern shore of Lake Union, not far from the University of Washington, and…

Grand Jury Indicts Captain of 60-foot Princess for Killing Fisherman on 23-foot Center Console

By Peter Janssen on December 8, 2017 Cruising Life

A grand jury in Providence, Rhode Island, just indicted the captain of a Princess 60 who ran down and killed a fisherman on a 23-foot Steiger Craft two years ago off Napatree Point on charges of seaman’s manslaughter. The indictment says that Cooper Bacon, 76 and a Coast Guard-licensed captain, was running his 60-foot yacht on autopilot and was not paying attention when he hit Walter Krupinski, 81, who was returning home to Stonington, Connecticut, after fishing. Bacon was enroute from Newport, Rhode Island, to Stamford, Connecticut, and running his Princess at 25 knots at 10:30 in the morning of…

40 Great Nautical Christmas Gifts for Cruising Boat Owners

By Peter Janssen on December 7, 2017 Cruising Life

What to get for that favorite boat owner on your Christmas list? The good news is that boats, and boat owners, almost always need something. The problem, as holidays and birthdays come and go, is to find something new – something they’ll not only like but also use. Here are 40 answers to that question, and if you don’t find some ideas here, well…The list is compiled by Yachting World, the British publication, and it’s labeled as gifts for sailors, but almost all of the 40 apply to powerboat owners too. It’s hard to pick favorites (there are so many…

Let’s Hear It for Beards in the Coast Guard

By Peter Janssen on December 6, 2017 Cruising Life

You may not have been aware of this, but beards have been banned in the Coast Guard ever since 1986, when Admiral Paul Yost said the Coast Guard should “meet the same standards of smartness” as the other military branches. (The Navy had banned beards the year before.) But that was then and this is now, and Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Joshua Wine writes in the U.S. Naval Institute Blog that the ban has outlived its usefulness. The Coast Guard, he says, should revert to its policy permitting beards, a policy that started in 1790. Lt. Cmdr. Wine looks at…

The Onboard Life of an Ohio River Tugboat Captain, in a Photo Essay from Reuters

By Peter Janssen on December 6, 2017 Cruising Life

Here’s a beautiful photo essay from Reuters about the life of a tugboat captain on the Ohio River, as well as about all the changes taking place in communities along the river itself. It’s about Joe Gray, the captain of the 126-foot-long tug Tommy H, who grew up along the Ohio River and started working as a towboat deckhand alongside his brothers in 1988, when times were good. Gray is now 46 and works 28-day stints on the river between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Cairo, Illinois. He earns $45 an hour, and often has to maneuver his tug and barges, which…

Read This Before You Buy a Used Boat

By Peter Janssen on December 6, 2017 Cruising Life

More than 63,000 boats were damaged in the hurricanes and storms earlier this year. Some sank, some have been repaired, and some – nobody knows exactly how many – are showing up in the used boat market. It’s never been more important for you to get a professional survey before you make a commitment on a used boat. But to help you evaluate a used boat yourself, BoatUS has come up with eight telltale signs that the boat you’re looking at may have been damaged. They range from looking at new sealant in the hull-to-deck joint (boats that slam against…

Best Water Toys of the Year – On, In and Under the Water

By Peter Janssen on December 6, 2017 Cruising Life, Gear

Here’s a best-of-the-year list that’s fun, and that can give you some ideas about what to put under the tree in a few weeks or to add to your boat for the next cruising system. It’s a list of the best water toys of the year from New Atlas, and it covers some “toys” that we’ve already written about (the Aston-Martin/Triton personal submarine, for example) and many that are brand new: Take a look at the Scubalec wearable jet drive that you strap to your wrist, pictured above left, to give some extra boost to your next underwater experience. The…

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