Cruising Life

Williams Gives More Power, Stability to Popular MiniJet 280 Tender

By Peter Janssen on March 7, 2018 Cruising Life, Gear

The popular Williams MiniJet 280 tender just got a power boost. From now on, the 9’ 2” tender will come with a 50-hp Rotax Ace engine to give it faster acceleration and better handling, even when it’s loaded with passengers. Existing MiniJet owners can get an upgrade kit if they want to move up from their 45-hp engine. The new version comes with a new dash cluster and a new set of sponsons for better stability. Designed for owners of boats from 38 to 45 feet (and anyone else who wants one), the MiniJet 280 is the smallest in Williams’…

PowerDocks Win Innovation Award for First Docks That Generate Renewable Power

By Peter Janssen on March 7, 2018 Cruising Life, Gear

PowerDocks, the first docks that generate renewable power for boats, just won an Innovation Award at the Miami International Boat Show. PowerDocks make the first floating solar dock with walkable non-skid solar modules for energy storage and power distribution; they can provide renewable electrical power to boaters in remote areas or those who want to operate off the grid. The Innovation Award was made by the National Marine Manufacturers Association and Boating Writers International during the show. PowerDocks also were featured at the show’s first Solar Electric Power Zone, where they were hooked up with a Bruce 22T electric-powered boat…

Some Coastal Flooding To Become Weekly Event: NOAA Study

By Peter Janssen on March 7, 2018 Cruising Life

A new study from NOAA says that flooding may become a weekly event in some coastal areas of the U.S. Even without a storm, high tides are already flooding some coastal cities, including Miami and Norfolk, Virginia. And the NOAA study says that “sunny day flooding” will be more frequent in the future as ever-more-frequent storms make the problem worse. What is now a storm surge will be a normal high tide in the future. “The numbers are staggering,” says William Sweet, a NOAA oceanographer. “Today’s storm will be tomorrow’s high tide.” As reported by NPR, the NOAA report says…

Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats Hold Popular Owners’ Rendezvous in Punta Gorda, Florida

By Peter Janssen on March 7, 2018 Cruising Life

Part of the fun of owning a boat is getting together with like-minded people, particularly people who like the same kind of boat you do. That truism explains much of the popularity of owners’ rendezvous, and nobody knows this better than the owners of Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats, who hold owners’ rendezvous regularly all over the country. The 2018 Southwest Florida Ranger Tugs/Cutwater Boats Rendezvous was just held at Burnt Store Marina in Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda, Florida, which is just north of Fort Myers and in from Boat Grande. It’s the largest marina on Florida’s west coast. Ranger…

New, Sophisticated, Streamlined Prestige 680 S: A French-Built Luxury Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on March 6, 2018 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new flagship of Prestige’s line of luxury yachts, the sleek, Euro-styled, streamlined 680 S comes with three or four staterooms below and a sophisticated, light-filled salon that makes cruising easy and enticing anywhere in the world. A new large sliding-glass sunroof that opens over the salon is particularly striking and is also unusual on a flybridge yacht. But the flybridge on the Prestige 680 S, with a low-profile, extremely-raked radar arch, is located farther aft than usual to accommodate the sunroof, adding to the sense that the boat is moving forward even when it is standing still. An owner…

Coast Guard Warns Mariners After 70 Containers Tumble Off Ship 17 Miles from Oregon Inlet

By Peter Janssen on March 6, 2018 Cruising Life

The Coast Guard issued a warning of “navigation hazards” after at least 70 containers tumbled from the Maersk Shanghai off the North Carolina coast during a nor’easter with gusts approaching hurricane-strength levels. The ship was about 17 miles off Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina at the time, heading for Charleston, South Carolina. After the storm hit, the Maersk Shanghai called the Coast Guard saying that 70 to 73 containers had been lost. The 1,063-feet-long, 10,081-ton ship was built in 2016 and flagged in Liberia. The World Shipping Council, which measures these matters, says an average of…

Fisherman Hooks 3,000-pound, 16-foot Great White Shark Off Hilton Head. “Holy ….!” See the Video

By Peter Janssen on March 5, 2018 Cruising Life

Chip Michalove, a charter fishing captain from Hilton Head, South Carolina, went out looking for great white sharks recently. He found more than he bargained for. At first, Michalove hooked a 10-foot great white, but it got away. He was going to call it a day, when he saw a giant 16-foot, 3,0000-pound great white swimming under his boat. With only one other person on board (two of his regular crewmen had taken the day off), Michalove called a nearby boat for help. The reinforced crew hooked the great white and brought it near the boat, as you can see…

Simrad Announces Software Update for NSS evo3 MFDs. More Color, Easier Controls

By Peter Janssen on March 5, 2018 Cruising Life, Electronics

Simrad just launched new software for its NSS evo3 multifunction displays with more intuitive controls and lots of color to help you navigate and determine where you’re going and where you’ve been. The software has new control bars so you can make faster autopilot and audio adjustments, and you can expand the autopilot control button to access heading, rudder and steering information. New color tracks are based on SOG (speed over ground), STW (boat speed through water), TWS (true wind speed), and AWS (apparent wind speed). One new feature is a heat map that’s a chart overlay showing a history…

Sudden Gale Destroys Marina in Wales, Damages 80 Boats, Leaves Wake of Accusations

By Peter Janssen on March 5, 2018 Cruising Life

An end-of-winter storm with gale force winds tore through Holyhead Marina on the northwest coast of Wales, the United Kingdom, damaging at least 80 boats, destroying the marina and leaving a wake of accusations and fears of environmental pollution. The marina is on a peninsula on Anglesey Island, almost due east across the Celtic Sea from Dublin in Ireland. As you can see in the video and pictures below from the BBC and the Daily Post, the sudden storm tore boats from their moorings, destroyed the docks at the marina, and sank some boats while tossing others, including large commercial…

Diesel Duck Designer George Buehler Passes Away. Believed in the “Concept of Simplicity”

By Peter Janssen on March 4, 2018 Cruising Life

George Buehler, the iconoclastic designer of salty Diesel Ducks trollers, just passed away in Washington state after suffering from an aortic aneurysm. He was 69. Born in Oregon, Buehler wrote that he was always “boat crazy” and even worked in custom boatyards in Maine while he was in high school. But his fancy always returned to the rugged, single-diesel, fuel-efficient salmon trollers of the Pacific Northwest. He decided to apply those same principles to his Diesel Ducks, designing safe and comfortable trollers for a couple who wanted to cruise long distances. Buehler saw a niche for his trollers after looking…

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