Cruising Life

Manatees Return: Here’s How to Keep Them Safe

By Peter Janssen on November 9, 2016 Cruising Life

Manatees are back in Florida; the manatee slow-speed restricted zones go into effect this Sunday, Nov. 13. These smile-producing creatures grow to 9-10 feet and weigh about 1,000 pounds, and they’re totally harmless. Every year this time they head south as the water cools; they can’t tolerate water colder than 68 degrees, and they tend to congregate near power plants. Unfortunately, they also swim where boats cruise; last year 80 were killed by boats in Florida alone. Here’s a good story about what you can do to keep them alive and well: https://southernboating.com/manatees-return/?utm_source=SE+non-spon+manatees+20161108&utm_campaign=SE+%28manatee%29+11%2F9%2F16&utm_medium=email

Cruise into San Francisco with Alex Benson on His Selene 53

By Peter Janssen on November 9, 2016 Cruising Life

Alex Benson has been cruising up and down the West Coast, from Alaska to Mexico, on his Selene 53 Wild Blue ever since he retired from his real estate business many years ago. Here he is in Alaska: Benson, the past commodore of the California Yacht Club in Los Angeles, most recently cruised from Anacortes, Washington, to San Francisco.. Here’s his blog about that trip, including a fun video about entering San Francisco Bay (this definitely made me homesick). Take a look: http://mvwildblue.blogspot.com

Nordic Tugs Head Down the Waterway to the Keys

By Peter Janssen on November 9, 2016 Cruising Life

Here’s a group of cruisers who are living the dream. So far, ten Nordic Tug owners have joined Ben Wilde’s “ICW Nordic Tugfest,” cruising down the Waterway together, heading for Marathon in the Florida Keys. Wilde, who runs Wilde Yacht Sales, the largest Nordic Tugs dealer in the world, started out on his personal Nordic Tug 54, Nordic Lady, from his office in Essex, Connecticut. The cruise officially got underway from his other office in Rock Hall, Maryland, on the Chesapeake. The picture above is of the group leaving Spring Cove Marina on Solomons Island on the Chesapeake. The Nordic Tug…

Smaller Seakeeper Gyro for 30- to 39-Foot Boats. See Video

By Peter Janssen on November 7, 2016 Cruising Life

The newest Seakeeper gyro stabilizer, just introduced at the Fort Lauderdale show, is specifically designed for boats from 30 to 39 feet, and it runs exclusively on 12-volt DC power without any need for a genset or AC input. The new Seakeeper 3 model is 30 percent lighter, and 25 percent smaller, than any previous Seakeeper, and is the first streamlined for smaller boats. The Seakeeper 3 has a new touch screen control panel with an intuitive user interface and the company says installation is easy, without requiring any structural modifications, and can be completed in two days. Seakeeper is…

MJM 35Z: An Elegant, Fast, Outboard Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on November 1, 2016 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

We first reported on plans for the new MJM 35Z back in September. Now we can flesh out the details of this latest collaboration between Douz Zurn, the designer, and Bob Johnstone, the founder of MJM, and so far the new outboard-powered 35Z is living up to our expectations. It’s no surprise that the new boat has all the classic Down East lines of earlier MJMs, with its low profile, gentle tumblehome and long sheerline. Or that it’s a serious offshore boat, with a 20-degree deadrise at the transom and the highest rating for stability and seaworthiness for any boat…

Fog: How to See It Coming, How to Cope

By Peter Janssen on November 1, 2016 Cruising Life

I grew up in San Francisco, so I’ve always thought of fog as my friend, my reminder of home. That is, as long as I’m landlocked. Step on a boat, and fog is a different matter. Recently I’ve been in fog so thick – at the top of the Bay of Fundy, coming through the Cape Cod Canal – that I could barely see the bow of the boat in the middle of the day. With reduced (or no) visibility, you rely on radar, AIS, GPS and your own experience. Still, fog can be scary. Here’s some of the best…

Video: Tipsy Captain Hits Palm Beach, Now Sues Town

By Peter Janssen on October 28, 2016 Cruising Life

This is hard to believe. You may remember that the captain of the 72-foot Time Out missed the inlet and ran his boat into the beach at Palm Beach at 2 a.m. after he said he had consumed a few Long Island iced teas last month. At the time, the police charged him with boating under the influence. Now he’s suing the city, saying he was prevented from protecting his boat after the accident. See the video: http://upnorthlive.com/news/offbeat/owner-of-beached-yacht-suing-palm-beach-police-department

Great Video: See Passing Sailor Save Family of 10 as their Boat Sinks

By Peter Janssen on October 26, 2016 Cruising Life

This is an incredible video of how a family of ten realized their motor yacht was starting to sink about seven miles off Egmont Key at the mouth of Tampa Bay. Florida. The captain of a sailboat, only a mile away, heard the Mayday call and went to help. See how this story unfolds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSTX6JLr-Ak&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

Fort Lauderdale Show: 1,500 New Boats Worth $4 Billion!

By Peter Janssen on October 26, 2016 Cruising Life

All across the United States, indeed, all around the world, there are boat shows and there are boat shows. Shows for big boats, shows for small boats, shows for regional boats and shows for different kinds of boats. But nowhere, to my mind, can you find a better show, in a better place, and with more boats (from 15-foot runabouts to 250-foot megayachts) than at the 57th annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, which runs from Thursday, Nov. 3 through Monday, Nov. 7. The Lauderdale show (or FLIBS, as it’s called in the industry) is centered, as always, around the…

Further’s Blog: Still Strong in the South Pacific After 11 Years

By Peter Janssen on October 24, 2016 Cruising Life

It’s been 11 years since Brian Calvert left Friday Harbor, Washington, on his Selene 48 Further, heading for Alaska, Mexico and the South Pacific. He’s now in Raja Amput, a remote section of Indonesia, and reports that the boat’s Cummins QSL diesel has 8,049 hours and is still running strong. In fact, all is well except that he broke a stabilizer on a treacherous passage and then had to hire a local bike mechanic to try to fix it. Spoiler alert: It didn’t work. Read more in Brian’s blog here: http://www.furthuradventures.com/blog/2016/10/15/Seven-Year-Report–the-Boat

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