Cruising Life

Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot Heads for East Coast Shows

By Peter Janssen on August 1, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Hull number one of the 20-knot Nordhavn 59 Coastal Pilot is on its way to the east coast, where it will be displayed at the fall boat shows, starting with Newport, Rhode Island, in early September. This three-stateroom, two-head Nordhavn, which tops out at twice the speed of previous Nordhavns, is the first to be built for coastal cruising, as opposed to the open-ocean, blue-water boats that have made the company famous. “This is a boat for people who don’t need ocean-crossing capabilities,” says Jim Leishman, vice president of PAE, Nordhavn’s parent company. Designed for owners moving down from larger…

New High-Tech FLIR Cooled Thermal Camera Detects Targets Nine Miles Away

By Peter Janssen on July 31, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

FLIR has just introduced a cutting-edge cryogenically-cooled thermal camera that allows for early detection of other vessels, landmarks and nav aids up to nine miles away. A multi-sensor marine camera, the FLIR M500 has a 14x optical zoom lens to improve situation awareness, a gyrostabilizer to produce steady images in rough seas, and a video tracker to monitor a selected moving or stationary target. The new camera does all this by detecting small temperature variations in targets, providing greater detail even at great distances or in reduced visibility. It is the first cooled thermal camera in FLIR’s award-winning M Series…

Captain of Capsized Alaska Fishing Boat Jumps in Water To Save Crew. See Coast Guard Video

By Peter Janssen on July 27, 2017 Cruising Life

The captain of a capsized fishing boat jumped into 47-degree water near Kodiak, Alaska, and swam 50 yards to pull one of his crewmen back to safety. The crew of a Coast Guard helicopter, sent to rescue all four men from the capsized boat, recorded the captain’s heroic effort (see the video below). The problems began about 3:25 on Monday afternoon, when the Coast Guard received a Mayday call. The fishing boat Grayling, with four men on board, had taken on water and capsized. The Coast Guard diverted a Jayhawk helicopter, already in the air on a training mission, for…

Charter an Iconic Huckins for a Cruise on the St. Johns River

By Peter Janssen on July 26, 2017 Charter, Cruising Life

Here’s a charter opportunity that combines some beautiful, iconic Huckins yachts with some very different – and appealing – destinations, all starting from Classic River Cruises in Jacksonville, Florida. The small charter company has four classic Huckins plus assorted Boston Whalers, kayaks and SUPs, all in Jacksonville on the St. Johns River, which offers a wide variety of marine life (dolphins, manatees, alligators) along its 310-mile length. You can charter a crewed Huckins for an hour or for several days, for a cocktail cruise, a football game or a long family reunion. The company suggests a few favorite itineraries, including…

12 Best Beaches in the Caribbean Rated by U.S. News & World Report. See If You Agree

By Peter Janssen on July 26, 2017 Cruising Life, Destinations

Here’s a great list of the 12 best beaches in the Caribbean, at least in the opinion of U.S. News & World Report, which specializes in rating these kinds of things. Not that I’m one to disagree, since I have only been to a few of these; they all look terrific to me. It’s not hard to imagine dropping the hook off any of these beaches and taking the dink in for some exploring and sunning on shore. Many of them also have waterfront bars or other attractions in case the lure of some of the most beautiful sand in…

iPad or Chartplotter: Which One’s Best for Your Boat?

By Peter Janssen on July 26, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Take your pick for your boat: A mobile, easy to take home or carry around your boat iPad tablet, or a fixed-mount chartplotter. You say you’ll take both? You’re not alone. But each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, and you’ll probably end up relying on one more than on the other. An iPad, of course, is a modern platform for navigation, and there are a lot of apps and products available to protect and even mount a tablet on your helm. But how does it compare to a traditional, fixed-mount chartplotter? Both come in various sizes, although chartplotters…

50 Boats Cruise to Poets Cove in the Canadian Gulf Islands for Ranger Tug Rendezvous

By Peter Janssen on July 26, 2017 Cruising Life

About 50 boats cruised up to the recent Ranger Tugs rendezvous in Poets Cove resort and marina on Pender Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands, one of the most beautiful cruising destinations around. Poets Cove, nestled inside Bedwell Harbour Bay, is a great destination in its own right, or a convenient stop on the way to or from the Inside Passage. (I’ve stayed there many times over the years and have always wanted to go back.) The Ranger rendezvous was a major success, filled with families, pets, kids and good times. The highlight was the blindfolded dinghy race (pictured above);…

San Francisco Couple Moved Aboard 58-foot Trawler Ten Years Ago To Beat High Housing Costs. Still Love It

By Peter Janssen on July 26, 2017 Cruising Life

A lot of us dream of living aboard. I know. I actually did it for a few years, including winters, in Connecticut on my Grand Banks 36. We do it for a variety of reasons: It’s a great experience; you get to spend more time on your boat; you become much more aware of the day-to-day marine environment; you are part of a small community on your marina with shared interests and passions. And it’s fun. It also can be less expensive than living ashore, particularly if you’re in a soaring real estate market, such as San Francisco. That was…

40-Ton Humpback Whale Leaps Entirely Out of the Water: Incredible Video

By Peter Janssen on July 26, 2017 Cruising Life

You don’t see this very often – if ever. Here’s an incredible video of a 40-ton humpback whale leaping entirely out of the water in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mbotyi, South Africa. The video was taken by Craig Capehart, a scuba diver who was sitting on his inflatable when the whale appeared nearby. Given that the average adult humpback whale weighs in at about 40-tons (the same as 24 grown hippos), it’s hard to imagine the strength required to take the leaps shown in the video. Above all, through all the acrobatics, the whale simply seems to…

Jock Whitney’s Iconic Aphrodite Now Queen of Watch Hill, RI

By Peter Janssen on July 25, 2017 Cruising Life

Once the pride of the Gold Coast commuter boats that whisked financiers from their Long Island homes to their Wall Street offices in the 1930s, Aphrodite, one of the most easily recognized boats on the water, is now the pride of Watch Hill, Rhode Island, having been totally restored back to her former glory. Even in its original incarnation, Aphrodite was never just another pretty commuter boat. It was commissioned by John Hay “Jock” Whitney in 1937 from the Purdy Boat Company in Port Washington, on the north shore of Long Island. Whitney lived in Manhasset, across the bay from…

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