Cruising Life

Dashews End Quest for Functional Power Boats; Will Go Cruising Instead

By Peter Janssen on March 23, 2018 Cruising Life

After more than a decade, Steve (Skip) and Linda Dashew are throwing in the towel. They are no longer designing or building their iconic FPB (Functional Power Boats) line of aluminum-hulled, long-range cruisers. Dashew wrote on their blog, “The time has come for us to do some cruising. Although we would have rather had the FPB marque continue, we simply could not find an approach that guaranteed our standards would be upheld.” The Dashews have been cruising together around the world for abut 40 years, writing eight books on weather, seamanship and offshore cruising (five are still on Amazon). They…

MJM Introduces New 53Z with Four 350-hp Mercury Verados; Largest Outboard-Powered Express Cruiser Ever

By Peter Janssen on March 22, 2018 Cruising Life

MJM is doubling down on outboard power, even on its largest yacht to date. Indeed, Bob Johnstone, the company’s founder and CEO, just announced that they will launch a new 53Z, powered by four 350-hp Mercury Verados, in the summer of 2019. The company says it will be the largest outboard express cruiser ever, and it certainly will accelerate the growing trend to outboard power, even in the high-end cruising market. The new 53Z, designed by Doug Zurn, is an outgrowth of the MJM 50Z, which is powered by three 435-hp Volvo IPS600 pod drives. I drove the 50Z in…

Want a Ride in the Keys? Try a Pink 1977 Cadillac Stretch Limo with a 100-hp Yamaha

By Peter Janssen on March 21, 2018 Cruising Life

This is a hoot. If you see the NautiLimo on the water the next time you’re cruising in the Florida Keys, you’ll probably do a double-take. Most people do. Yes, it’s a floating recreation of a pink 1977 Cadillac stretch limo, with a fake grill, headlights, wheels and rear bumper, and it’s powered by a real 100-hp Yamaha. And it’s the creation of Captain Joe Fox, who designed and built it and offers cruises on it in Islamorada. (If riding around in a pink Cadillac isn’t your thing, he also has a 27-foot fake pirate ship.) You can find Captain…

Older Sea Ice Melting in Arctic; Not Getting Replaced. See NASA Video

By Peter Janssen on March 21, 2018 Cruising Life

Here’s a compelling video from NASA that shows how sea ice in the Arctic has been shrinking over time. It also has been getting younger and thinner, so it is poised to continue melting and contributing to rising sea levels in the Atlantic. The video has been compiled by Dr. Walt Meier of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which tracks changes in sea ice by satellite. In a dramatic animation, the video shows how Arctic ice pulses out to the east, moving over the top of Greenland and down to the Atlantic, where it melts. This movement of sea ice…

Anacortes, Washington: Colorful Cruising Central in the Pacific Northwest

By Peter Janssen on March 21, 2018 Cruising Life, Destinations

One of the major boating meccas of the Pacific Northwest, Anacortes, Washington, about half-way between Seattle and Vancouver, BC, is both a great place to start a cruise as well as a destination in its own right. On the northern tip of Fidalgo Island, Anacortes provides a straight shot over to the San Juan Islands to the west, and is a favorite spot for cruising people, whale watching and kayaking. Its huge (950 slip), newly refreshed Cap Sante Marina, operated by the port, has at least 150 transient slips, and is only a two-block walk from the colorful downtown area,…

New Hylas M44: Lots of Light, Classic Looks and Cruising Comfort

By Peter Janssen on March 21, 2018 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

With its low profile, long straight sheer and more than a hint of clean, classic Down East lines, the new Hylas M44 was just introduced to the United States at the Palm Beach show. Hylas collaborated with the New Zealand builder Salthouse for the new high-end, two-stateroom cruiser, designed for maximum comfort, seakeeping ability and functional use of space. Inside, the new Hylas is filled with light, with large side and front windows, two long overhead sliding hatches in the salon, and a large glass door that separates the salon from the cockpit. The galley is aft, on the port…

984-Foot-Long Container Ship Hits Docked Ship in Pakistan. See the Video

By Peter Janssen on March 20, 2018 Cruising Life

So you think you have trouble docking? Or you worry about other boats hitting yours when you’re tied up at the dock? You have reason to be concerned. Take a look at this video of a huge, heavily loaded container ship clipping the side of another container ship that was docked inside the Port of Karachi in Pakistan, with several dozen containers tumbling into the water. The collision was caused by the MV Tolten, a Hapag-Lloyd ship that’s 984 feet long with a 150-foot beam. It sideswiped the MV Hamburg Bay (which is only 961-feet-long) as the Tolten was coming…

Weems & Plath SOS Distress Light: Making Emergency Signaling Safe and Easy

By Peter Janssen on March 19, 2018 Cruising Life, Gear

The new Weems & Plath electronic flare just seems like such a good idea. It can replace the pyrotechnic flares on your boat (the ones that have expiration dates but that you have trouble getting rid of when they expire) and it meets the Coast Guard requirements for a night or day visual distress signal device. The SOS Distress Light runs on three household C batteries that you should replace every year, and its LED light flashes the traditional SOS signal for up to 60 hours. The company says it is visible for up to ten nm; if you’re worried…

Second Towboat Capsizes and Sinks in Lower Mississippi Floods, but This Time Crew Survives

By Peter Janssen on March 19, 2018 Cruising Life

A second towboat capsized and sank during floods on the Lower Mississippi, although this time the crew was rescued by another towboat. Four days earlier, in the first sinking, one crewman was rescued but two others were not found after a 43-hour search. The second boat, the 59-foot-long Vincent J Eymard, capsized near mile marker 175 in a rural area near the town of Donaldson, Louisiana. It was pulling an empty barge at the time. The crew was picked up by another towing vessel, the Ellysa. No one was injured, and the Ellysa took the barge under tow. The Vincent…

Rising Sea Levels, Erosion, Threaten Easter Island and Its Mysterious Past

By Peter Janssen on March 18, 2018 Cruising Life, Destinations

Easter Island, some 2,200 miles off of Chile in the South Pacific, has been on the bucket list for a lot of serious blue-water cruisers for many years. The main attraction (other than getting there) is the mystery surrounding the 1,100 monumental statues, built from the 13th to 16th centuries, of human figures with oversized heads, resting on enormous stone pedestals. How did they get there? And what happened to the people who built them? Now, a new report from UNESCO says that rising sea levels and erosion around the island threaten many of the statues, burial grounds and other…

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