Cruising Life

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

Two Destroyers Involved in Collisions “Had To Train on the Margins,” Says GAO Report to Congress

By Peter Janssen on September 11, 2017 Cruising Life

The two Navy destroyers recently involved in collisions in the Pacific, killing 17 sailors, both had long records of failing to fulfill key training requirements, according to the Government Accountability Office. The USS Fitzgerald had expired training certifications for 10 out of 10 key warfare mission areas in June, while the USS John S. McCain had expired certifications in six out of the ten. John Pendleton, the GAO’s director of defense force structure, testified before Congress that the Navy’s aggressive deployment, particularly in ships based in Japan (including the Fitzgerald and the McCain), gave the Navy a greater presence in…

See What Happened When Irma Drained Water Out of Bays in the Bahamas and Florida. Videos and Pictures

By Peter Janssen on September 11, 2017 Cruising Life

One of the most bizarre scenes during Hurricane Irma was the sight of water draining away, going out into the ocean, leaving the shoreline empty of water occasionally for hundreds of yards. This effect was most pronounced in parts of the Bahamas, in the Florida Keys and in Fort Myers and even Tampa Bay. One scientist explained that Irma was so strong that it was sucking water from its surroundings into its core. At one point, for example, the wind on Long Island in the Bahamas was from the southeast to the northwest. On the northwest side of the island,…

Get Away from It All in the Similan Islands of Thailand

By Peter Janssen on September 11, 2017 Cruising Life, Destinations

If you really want to get away from it all, head for the Similan Islands, a chain of nine small islands about 50 miles from Phuket in Thailand. They’re the home of incredible landscapes, spectacular diving and not a whole lot of other people. The Similans are numbered one through nine, going from north to south, and they’re a national park in the Andaman Sea. You can swim in the turquoise waters of all of them, but you can only step foot on the white sandy beaches of Number Four, which has simple bamboo bungalows, and Number Eight, the largest…

“I Rowed the English Channel in a Bathtub” – A Very British Story

By Peter Janssen on September 11, 2017 Cruising Life

Only in England. I admit this isn’t one of our usual cruising stories, but it is fun in a very British way. And just in case you think it’s not serious enough for us to bother with, well, I’ll say that even the Queen is involved. To make this perfect, the sponsor, the company that supplied the tub, is Thomas Crapper and Company. Read on: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tim-fitzhigham/english-channel-bathtub_b_17908212.html

St. Martin: “All the Food Is Gone. People Are Fighting in the Streets for What’s Left.”

By Peter Janssen on September 11, 2017 Cruising Life

Irma absolutely devastated many islands in the Caribbean. St. Martin, along with Barbuda, was one of those hardest hit. Now that the storm itself has passed and some communications are opening up again, we’re finding out how bad it really is. Looting had already been reported in St. Martin, but now, as survivors struggle with severe food and water shortages, the social fabric is unraveling. “All the food is gone,” one said. “People are fighting in the streets for what is left.” Read more: :https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/10/world/americas/irma-caribbean-st-martin.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-abc-region&region=span-abc-region&WT.nav=span-abc-region&_r=0

Churning Along at 17 Knots, the Capt. Brian A. McAllister is the Fastest Tug in New York

By Peter Janssen on September 9, 2017 Cruising Life

Let’s hear it for the Capt. Brian A. McAllister (above), the fastest tugboat in New York. In fact, the Capt. Brian A. McAllister, a one-year-old, 100-foot-long, 6,770-hp monster, just beat 12 other tugboats to come in first in the 25th annual Great North River Tugboat Race & Competition. Its winning speed over the one-nautical-mile course in the Hudson River off Manhattan’s Pier 84: A blazing 17 knots. As the winner, the Capt. Brain A. McAllister got a trophy of a bronze tugboat. And its captain, Jackie Benton Jr., got major bragging rights. This was his first race, and he was…

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