Cruising Life

Honda Redesigns Its Largest Outboards with More Power, Less Corrosion and Easier Maintenance

By Peter Janssen on February 26, 2018 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Honda Marine just introduced its new, streamlined flagship BF200, BF225 and BF250 V6 outboards at the Miami International Boat Show. The 200 and 225 are powered by a new engine, the 3.6-liter V6 that is already in the 250, but all three have more resistance to corrosion, easier maintenance and improved acceleration. The new outboards have more protection from water entering the engine than ever before, and a new cowling has a dual-channel, indirect-air-circuit induction system to improve air flow to the engine while funneling moisture away. And the surface of the engine has a new coating for greater corrosion…

Navy Uses High-Tech Patrol Plane and New SAR Kit to Rescue Three Fishermen Adrift for Eight Days in South Pacific

By Peter Janssen on February 26, 2018 Cruising Life

The U.S. Navy just used a new Search and Rescue kit deployed from their latest high-tech patrol aircraft to rescue three fishermen who had been missing for eight days in the South Pacific. The Navy’s new SAR capabilities are certainly good news for bluewater cruisers who might need help in any kind of an emergency. The problem started when the three fishermen on a 19-foot skiff failed to return from an expedition near Chuuk Lagoon in Micronesia. Their boat had food and water but it did not have a radio or any safety equipment. The U.S. Coast Guard launched a…

McDonald’s Founder George Cohon Cruises on His Hinckley in Palm Beach and Toronto

By Peter Janssen on February 24, 2018 Cruising Life

George Cohon knows how to enjoy life, and to enjoy boating. A founder of McDonalds and Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities in Canada and Russia, he spends time with his wife, Susan, and their family at their home in Toronto and at their second home in Palm Beach, where they both play golf and other sports. They have two golden retrievers that they take to visit children facing surgery at a West Palm Beach hospital. And they go boating on their Hinckley Talaria 48, McHappy 111. In this interview with the Palm Beach Daily News, Cohon says they started boating 40…

Two Tugs Collide, One Sinks, Off Kennebunk, Maine

By Peter Janssen on February 24, 2018 Cruising Life

A 74-year-old, 80-foot former Army tugboat sank three miles south of Kennebunk, Maine, after it collided with the 40-foot tug that was towing it to Portland. No one was on board the aging tug, the Capt Mackintire, at the time. According to the Bangor Daily News, the Capt Mackintire (picture above) was being towed by the 40-foot Helen Louise, with two crew on board. At 2 a.m. the crew of Helen Louise sent a distress call to the Coast Guard, saying they had collided with the Capt Mackintire in 12-knot winds and 6-foot seas. The Coast Guard Cutter Reef Shark responded…

Meet the Kenyons from South Dakota: About Half Way Around the Loop on Their Ranger 25

By Peter Janssen on February 22, 2018 Cruising Life

Tim and Mary Kenyon, from Wentworth, South Dakota, describe themselves as “water people.” She is now a website designer, and he’s a retired geologist, but when they were married they said the first thing they bought together was a canoe; then a Hobie Cat, a Balboa 16, and finally a Ranger Tug 21, all for use on Lake Madison nearby. Then they wanted a bigger Ranger, maybe a used 25. They went to the Seattle boat show in January, 2015, “with every intention of just looking,” Mary wrote on her blog. They ended up buying the new Ranger 25 on…

Drunk and Out of Gas, Boater Makes Man Overboard Call to Coast Guard. He’s Now Headed for Jail.

By Peter Janssen on February 22, 2018 Cruising Life

On the night of June 20, 2016, Justin Stahmer, 39, from Newport News, Virginia, was on his boat, floating several miles northeast of Cape Henry on the Chesapeake. He picked up his VHF and made a “Man Overboard” call on Channel 16. Fortunately for the rest of us, the Coast Guard takes these calls very seriously, and it immediately scrambled a 45-foot rescue boat, an 87-foot cutter and a Sikorsky helicopter to search for the missing person. For 45 minutes the Coast Guard tried to get back in touch with Stahmer but he didn’t respond. When they finally found his…

NW Explorations Has New Owners. Brian Pemberton Will Still Lead Mother Goose Flotillas

By Peter Janssen on February 21, 2018 Charter, Cruising Life

NW Explorations, the first-rate charter organization in Bellingham, Washington, has new owners, but Brian Pemberton, the former owner, will stay on as CEO and will continue to lead the company’s popular Mother Goose Flotillas up the Inside Passage to Alaska. The new owners are Ross and Evelyn Tennant, who live just across the border in British Columbia, and say their favorite cruising grounds are Desolation Sound and Walsh Cove at the north end of West Redonda Island, a quiet, protected anchorage with steep bluffs. They’ll now be able to eat their own cooking, in a sense, by taking advantage of…

New, Unique, Arcadia Sherpa: Bring All Your Friends

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

You can’t say this about many boats, but the new Arcadia Sherpa is truly unique. When I stepped aboard at the Miami Yachts Show with my Cruising Odyssey colleague Scott Akerman, we both stopped and said some version of Holy Smoke. And it’s a happy-making boat. When you step on board, you want to take off, to head for parts unknown. And you want to take a whole lot of your friends with you. Take a look at the Sherpa’s open main deck; a whole lot of your friends will fit there, and if they all don’t have a great…

Carnival Liner Has the “Cruise from Hell” as a Group Terrorizes Passengers, Fights Security Guards

By Peter Janssen on February 20, 2018 Cruising Life

Just in case you needed another reason to go cruising on your own boat, as opposed to signing up for a holiday cruise on an ocean liner, consider this: A violent brawl broke out between security guards and a group that had been terrorizing passengers for three days on the 963-foot-long Carnival Legend cruise ship from Melbourne, Australia. The ship then made an emergency stop where 23 people, including many involved in the melee, were tossed off the liner. Some passengers described it as the “cruise from hell” as a group roamed the ship, strangling and punching passengers; others said…

Now You Can Stay Connected with mazu on Raymarine Axiom MFDs.

By Peter Janssen on February 20, 2018 Cruising Life, Electronics

Now you can get mazu, the browser interface that lets you stay connected when you’re out of cell or WiFi range, on a Raymarine Axiom multi-function display. The popular mazu and mSeries system from SkyMate now works with Raymarine’s Axiom MFDs so you can get mazu’s features, including e-mail and SMS texts, SOS transponding, weather forecasts and more. The mSeries system still can be used with the mazu iPad app. Mazu provides reliable access to global satellite connectivity using the Iridium network. It’s a data-only system where you can send and receive e-mail messages and texts, download weather forecasts and…

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