Cruising Life

Best New Radars: New Technology, Sharper Images, Shorter Ranges, Easier Tracking

By Peter Janssen on July 12, 2017 Cruising Life, Electronics

Choosing the right radar for your boat certainly isn’t easy, and a lot of people already have their own ideas about which brand is best, or the most user-friendly, or technologically advanced, or is most compatible with their other electronics. Meanwhile, almost all the major manufacturers keep coming up with their own technologies to produce sharper images, better tracking of nearby vessels and overall improvements in situational awareness and safety. Here’s a look at eight new radars from Furuno, Garmin, Koden, Lowrance, Onwa, Raymarine, SI-TEX and Simrad, from the editors of Marine Electronics Journal. They asked each manufacturer to supply…

Origins of Nautical Terms: Where Did Hunky-Dory Come From?

By Peter Janssen on July 12, 2017 Cruising Life

I hope we all know what “going overboard” means; ditto, “high and dry” – both fairly self-explanatory nautical terms that are now part of our everyday language. Their nautical origins are obvious. But “hunky-dory.” Not quite so obvious, at least not to me. I will admit that I learned the origination of “posh” many years ago in a Stanford course on the history of the British Empire (port out, starboard home, referring to the preferred cabins, overlooking the continent, on the way to India). But here’s a fun look at other nautical terms that we use without thinking of what…

The Care and Feeding (and UItimate Replacement) of Teak Decks: Advice from a Pro

By Peter Janssen on July 11, 2017 Cruising Life, Maintenance

There’s nothing quite as elegant, or as salty, as a teak deck. Whether on a brand new yacht or an ancient trawler, teak decks are a statement. You can look at them, and walk on them, with pride. Until…The problem is that teak decks do not just take care of themselves. (I know; I used to have a Grand Banks with enough teak to duplicate a Malaysian rain forest.) The normal care and feeding of teak, the slight sanding, the varnishing, the repeat sanding, the repeat varnishing, is well known. But there does come a time in the life of…

55-Foot Custom Sport Fishing Boat Sinks in Tournament off Charleston. Ten on Board All Safe

By Peter Janssen on July 11, 2017 Cruising Life

A 55-foot custom Paul Mann cold-molded-wood sport fishing boat sank off Charleston, S.C., on Saturday during the MegaDock fishing tournament, but all ten people on board were rescued by a passing boat before the Coast Guard arrived. The boat, Sportsmann from Kiawah Island, apparently hit something in the water. Charleston marine authorities said the boat had already taken on too much water before they arrived for them to save it. Saturday was the last day in the MegaDock three-day tournament. About 20 boats had entered, including Sportsmann. The tournament’s website says it is designed “to show off the latest trends…

Greenline 33 Charter on Portugal’s Douro River, a UNESCO Heritage Site, with Great Video of a 100-foot Deep Lock

By Peter Janssen on July 11, 2017 Charter, Cruising Life

If you’re looking for a different kind of charter, take a look at the Douro River in Portugal. Ellen and John Goncalves, a cruising couple from Valparaiso, Florida (where they’re Harbor Hosts for the America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association), recently cruised the Douro on a Greenline 33 for 260 miles and loved it. They cruised the length of the river from Porto, on the Atlantic, to Spain and back, running ten days through ten locks (five each way), including the Carrapatelo Lock, one of the deepest in the world, with more than a 100-foot vertical drop (see the video below).…

Rare, Close-up Pictures of 20 Humpback Whales in Alaska

By Peter Janssen on July 11, 2017 Cruising Life

Here’s a rare treat – some great, close-up pictures of about 20 humpback whales near Hoonah, Alaska, which is west of Juneau and south of Glacier Bay. They were taken by Laura Domela, whose day job is a photographer in Portland, Oregon, but who also cruises on Airship, a Nordic Tug 34, that she runs with her husband, Kevin Morris. They lead the annual Slowboat flotilla from the San Juans up to Sitka. To my mind, much of the appeal of cruising in that part of the world is the random, sudden encounter with whales – and eagles and bears,…

Sunreef Launches Supreme 68 Power Cat With Lots of Light and Space

By Peter Janssen on July 11, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Sunreef will introduce its new, massive Supreme 68 power catamaran at the Cannes yacht show in September, the newest model in the Supreme line that runs from 48 to 88 feet. The amount of attractive, modern, bright living space on the new Sunreef Supreme 68 is simply stunning: Indeed, the company says the new cat has 3,250 square feet of living space, more than many upscale New York City apartments. You enter the boat from two wide staircases leading up from the swim platform, and walk into the salon through large glass doors. Filled with light, the salon has sole-to-ceiling…

Aspen Power Cats’ 10,000-Mile Tour Already Reached Alaska, Now Heading South

By Peter Janssen on July 6, 2017 Cruising Life

Aspen Power Catamarans’ epic 10,000-mile tour is off to a good start, with Knot Wafflen’, the company’s new 40-footer, already having cruised from Anacortes, Washington, all the way up to Glacier Bay, Alaska. It’s now in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, on its way south, before ultimately circling most of the U.S. and ending up in Annapolis in October, 2018. The owners of the boat, David and Sue Ellen Jenkins, are both from Annapolis, and were looking for a major adventure after Jenkins, who calls himself a serial entrepreneur, sold Golden Malted, the largest waffle company in the U.S. Referring to…

Five Short Blasts: Danger, Doubt, or What? A Pro’s Look at the Rules

By Peter Janssen on July 6, 2017 Cruising Life

If you don’t remember any other sound signal, you really do need to know that five (or more) short blasts signal danger. Something is wrong. Your vessel and another vessel are in danger of a collision. The danger signal is clearly spelled out in COLREGs, the Rules of the Road, but even so, in the real world, it can lead to some confusion. The problem lies in failing to understand the actions or intentions of the other vessel, and knowing, even if you have the right of way, when to take action to avoid a collision. Drawing from the COLREGs,…

Increased Drug Smuggling Puts Strain on Coast Guard Resources

By Peter Janssen on July 5, 2017 Cruising Life

If you had seen this on Miami Vice, you probably wouldn’t have believed it, but drug smugglers from Guatemala and El Salvador increasingly are turning to homemade submarines in an effort to evade U.S. authorities, particularly the Coast Guard. This doesn’t always work, as evidenced by the picture above of the Coast Guard boarding a narco-sub in the Pacific. Indeed, the Coast Guard seized six narco-subs just last year, all filled with cocaine. And the subs are vastly outnumbered by fishing boats and speedboats (which the smugglers call pangas) in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. The Coast Guard’s problem…

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