I know, I know. Hardly a cruising boat. But I just saw the video and couldn’t resist. (I want to be Lewis.) Take a look. It won’t take long, and it probably will leave you smiling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHSDIkFAc5Q
Browsing: Cruising Life
Hurricane season has just started, running from June 1 through Nov. 30, so it’s definitely time to prepare before one heads your way. This season is likely to be lively: NOAA is predicting 11 to 17 named tropical storms this year due to much warmer waters along the Atlantic coast. What to do now? Here’s a very thorough list from the Coast Guard that pretty much covers everything, from how to inspect your boat, get the right gear, tie up or anchor out, find a hurricane hole, secure the engines, and even recover your boat once the hurricane has passed…
Here’s one of best on-the-water demonstrations of docking and around-the-docks maneuvering I’ve seen for a twin inboard shaft boat with a bow thruster. It seems a bit laid-back at first, but stay tuned. The video is an excellent introduction if you’re new to boating, or a good reminder if you’re an old salt. Take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yQZSgUy2hQ
Stephens Waring Yacht Design, the custom naval architecture and engineering firm in Belfast, Maine, doesn’t exactly follow the crowd. If you’re interested in a plastic floating condo that holds 12 for drinks, is top-heavy and gets 0.6 nm per gallon, you probably don’t need to go there. But if you love classic designs and old-world craftsmanship, combined with modern materials and technology, then you’ve found the right place. Their latest, which they write about after extolling the virtues of expedition yachts (business-like, seaworthy and serious), is a 49-foot mini-expedition yacht called Kodiak, which they say “speaks to the adventurer in…
It’s not something we usually think about – until we need it. But there’s no question that having the right insurance on your boat is not only important, but also necessary. Yet what exactly does that insurance cover? How many of us actually read the fine print on our policy? Sure, we know what the premium is, we know about the deductible, we know about the total amount covered. But the devil is in the details. Here’s a very good story by BoatU.S. about what you really should look for in your policy: http://www.boatus.com/pressroom/release.asp?id=1302#.WTVjDcdlmT-
It was just after 7 last Friday evening, and the Stillwater Lift Bridge, connecting Stillwater, Minnesota, with the Wisconsin shoreline across the St. Croix River, was starting to come down after a scheduled opening. The captain of a northbound 1967 37-foot cabin cruiser tried to make it under the descending bridge. He crashed into it, instead, wiping out the upper portion of his boat. The captain was not injured, but a woman on board was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The bridge was closed temporarily while officials checked for damage. For more: http://www.stillwatercurrent.com/breaking-boat-crashes-stillwater-lift-bridge-causing-friday-evening-bridge-closure/
Like most of us, Larry Polster has dreamed about building his own ideal cruising boat. The difference between Polster and the rest of us, however, is that he’s actually doing something about it. Indeed, Polster, who’s a partner and vice president of Kadey-Krogen Yachts, is building hull number one of the new Kadey-Krogen 50 Open, and we’ve been following him as he writes progress reports about all the decisions he and his wife Janet are making about making this cruising boat their own. Here’s Polster’s report number six, with pictures and discussions of the hull, from its fine entry to…
Now, from the same people who brought you an over-the-top $25,000 one-person, carbon-fiber kayak with gold-plated fittings, comes a totally upscale stand-up paddleboard built to the same standards. Five years ago, New Zealand designers McLellan Jacobs (Jamie McLellan and Andy Jacobs, who both happen to be boaters) introduced Kayak 1, with the gold, carbon fiber and teak, at the Monaco yacht show. It was 12’10” long with a 2’7” beam and weighed only 40 pounds. Kayak 1, with its singular good looks, was an instant hit with the superyacht set. Some people ordered them with wooden inlays in the teak…
How’s this for a sea trial gone wrong? Last Sunday afternoon the owner of a 1983 Carver 36 filled up the boat at the Mississippi Pub, a riverside restaurant with a fuel dock in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, on the banks of the Mississippi River. A potential buyer climbed on for a sea trial. The owner started the engines and the boat caught fire and exploded. A fast-thinking fuel dock attendant shut off the breakers at the dock as everyone on the Carver climbed off the burning boat. No one was injured. They untied the boat to get it off…
At 6 p.m. on Sept. 23, 1779, John Paul Jones, now known as “the father of the American Navy” and then the captain of the 900-ton, 42-gun converted merchant ship Bonhomme Richard, opened fire on a more heavily armed British warship about five miles off the coast of Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, England. In the middle of the battle, after half the men on both ships had been killed, the English captain asked Jones if he wished to surrender. Jones’ reply, which lives to this day, was, “Sir, I have not yet begun to fight.” Indeed, at 10:30 that night it…