Cruising Life

Boston Start-Ups Create Boats that Can Drive Themselves. Hmmm

By Peter Janssen on September 19, 2017 Cruising Life

A self-driving boat? Doesn’t that kind of take the fun out of it? Or am I just tilting at windmills, denying the future of boating? In any event, several startups in the Boston area, often joining with scientists at MIT, are developing boats that can drive themselves. More precisely, they operate in an “autonomous driving mode,” meaning people can control them from their laptops nearby. Take a look at the Steadfast, pictured above. Scientists from Sea Machines Robotics, Inc., a three-year-old Boston startup, bought the former Coast Guard RIB in May for $90,000 at a government auction. According to Bloomberg,…

See This Chart To Find the Chances of Your Anchor Holding

By Peter Janssen on September 18, 2017 Cruising Life

It’s not news that we’re supposed to put out 7:1 scope so our anchors will hold in normal conditions. But what was news to me was this chart from Captain John at Skipper Tips showing the odds of an anchor holding at greater or lesser scope. A 5:1 scope has a 77% chance of holding, for example, while a 10:1 scope gives a 100% chance. Take a look at this good story and chart from Skipper Tips: “Scope gives a ratio that shows the amount of anchor rode for each foot of water depth. For example, let’s say you are…

Hunt Design Introduces 80-foot Fast Express Cruiser: Will Top Out at 40 Knots

By Peter Janssen on September 18, 2017 Cruising Life

Ray Hunt Design, the people who brought you the award-winning Hunt 72 last year, now have a new elegant fast cruiser on the drawing boards – an 80-foot Fast Express Cruiser. The new 80 certainly has a family resemblance to the Hunt 72, which was named Best Powerboat at the Newport International Boat Show last year, and it has the iconic low-profile, long sheerline and clean, timeless lines that have set Hunts apart for more than half a century. When I asked Winn Willard, the president of Ray Hunt Designs, about the new 80 a few days ago at this…

After Irma, Foxy’s, with Almost Nothing Left, Is the Command Center for Jost Van Dyke

By Peter Janssen on September 17, 2017 Cruising Life

Now, a week after Hurricane Irma tore through the British Virgin Islands with historic force, Foxy’s, the iconic beachfront bar on Jost Van Dyke, the must-stop destination for most of us who’ve cruised or chartered there, is a mess (see the picture, above). As The New York Times reports, without electricity, running water or phone lines, the island’s 298 inhabitants are surviving on what they have left: a sat phone, a chain saw, some food. But Foxy’s has a working generator and people are rationing food and cooking meals twice a day there. “Anyone that comes, we feed,” said Tom Warner, Foxy’s…

In a Major Breakthrough, Hinckley Unveils First Luxury Electric Boat at Newport Show

By Peter Janssen on September 14, 2017 Cruising Life

Hinckley Yachts unveiled its first electric boat at the opening day of the Newport, Rhode Island, boat show, another breakthrough for the iconic Maine builder. The 28.5-foot open boat is named Dasher, after the first Hinckley Picnic Boat that started a worldwide trend when it was launched in 1994. “There is nothing else like it,” said Scott Bryant, Hinckley’s director of new product planning. “This is just as innovative as the original Dasher Picnic Boat.” The new electric boat is powered by two 80-hp Torquedo motors and can run for 4 1/2 hours at 10 mph. Top speed is about…

Simrad Adds Two New Chartplotters to Its Popular GO Series

By Peter Janssen on September 13, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Simrad has just added two new chartplotters with larger displays and radar compatibility to its award-winning GO series. The new GO12 XSE and GO7 XSR, now part of Simrad’s popular GO stand-alone chartplotter series, are both multi-touch chartplotters for power boats with user-friendly navigation features for cruising, fishing and watersports. The new GO12 XSE (pictured above) has a 12-inch display, while the upgraded GO7 XSR has a restyled glass-helm design, plus radar capability that was not previously available on that model. Both units have bright displays and easy-to-use interfaces. The multi-touch controls are intuitive, and probably will seem similar to…

Miami Fisherman Tries To Ride Out Irma On His Boat. Boat Sinks. Storm Surge Pushes Him To Shore

By Peter Janssen on September 13, 2017 Cruising Life

Andres Lopez is lucky to be alive. A commercial fisherman, he’s been living on his 25-foot boat off Miami’s Coconut Grove (along with many other liveaboards) for several years. Then came Irma. Lopez decided to ride out the hurricane on his boat. But once the storm hit, the boat started to list dangerously. He went up on deck and thought about his options. “Drown or go,” he told the Miami Herald. “I got to go.” So he jumped into Biscayne Bay and started swimming. As he looked back, his boat flipped over. Lopez made it to a breakwater where he…

Walker Bay Makes Upgrades in Its Smaller Generation Line of RIBs

By Peter Janssen on September 12, 2017 Cruising Life

Walker Bay has upgraded two of the smaller RIBS in its Generation Line to match the designs and features it already has built into its 17-foot model. The upgrades are for the 450 and 400 models (14’9” and 13’1” respectively), which now will have the technology used in Walker Bay’s top-of-the-line Generation 525 model. “After we added new ideas into the larger 17-foot boat, we went back to the drawing board to see how we could trickle those improvements down to the rest of the line,” said Stefano Rista, Walker Bay president. “The unique construction process of the 525 makes…

The Favors Get Their New Ranger 29 and Start New Cruising Adventures

By Peter Janssen on September 12, 2017 Cruising Life

Jim and Lisa Favors from Traverse City, Michigan, are hardly new to cruising, or to Ranger Tugs, for that matter. They’ve been boating most of their lives and have completed the Great Loop once (plus many, many side trips), and they’ve trailered their red-hulled Ranger Tugs 27 Kismet all across the United States. But last winter they decided they wanted to move up a bit (and have room for visiting grandchildren), so they sold Kismet – and bought another Ranger Tug, this time a 29. They just took delivery of their new Ranger Tugs R29, also called Kismet, also with…

Remembering 9/11 and the Heroes on the Water. Heart-Wrenching Video

By Peter Janssen on September 12, 2017 Cruising Life

Here’s a heart-wrenching video about how a civilian flotilla of boats – ferries, tug boats, recreational boats – carried half a million people across the Hudson to safety after the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. It shows real people becoming real heroes. The boat lift they carried out is now known as the largest boat lift in history. In this video, Tom Hanks narrates the story. Take a look, and remember: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=95&v=MDOrzF7B2Kg

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