Cruising Life

A Dock Box Built for Two

By Peter Janssen on March 15, 2017 Cruising Life, Gear

You probably won’t see this featured in the next issue of Architectural Digest, but it actually can make your life more comfortable around the dock. The new Waterside Lounger from Better Way Products is a lockable dock box that doubles as a love seat, giving you and a companion a comfortable spot to sit when you’re off the boat. Made from heavy-duty fiberglass with a UV-resistant exterior, the Waterside Lounger holds 14 cubic feet of storage inside. It also has the company’s EZ Drain system, gas lifts and stainless steel stays for easy opening, and large hinges. The external dimensions…

New Curved Side-Power Vector Fin Stabilizer Gets U.S. Patent

By Peter Janssen on March 15, 2017 Cruising Life, Gear

Side-Power just won a U.S. patent for its new curved Vector Fin stabilizer, according to IMTRA, the New Bedford, Mass., company that imports Side-Power products from Norway. The new Vector Fin has a curved foil design that greatly reduces roll at any speed while offering greater fuel efficiency. The unique, patent-winning curve of Side-Power’s Vector Fin is an evolution of traditional stabilizers. The company says it greatly increases the efficiency of the stabilizer system while reducing any side-effects. The curved design creates lift at speed, meaning the boat can be as fuel efficient with the stabilizers as it would be…

Mia Wilson, Age 6 with a Congenital Heart Defect, Is on the Great Loop with Her Family

By Peter Janssen on March 14, 2017 Cruising Life

When she was born with a congenital heart defect, Mia Wilson was given a 10 percent chance to live. Now, after three open-heart surgeries, Mia, 6, is on the Great Loop with her family and loving every day of it. Mia and her family, father Bobby, mother Wendy and big sisters Nina, 19, AnnaMay, 9, and Ella, 7, are cruising the 6,000-mile Great Loop on a Bayliner 32 named La Cigale, despite Mia’s need for 40 different medicines a day; she’s also hooked up to a feeding machine most of the time since she can’t swallow. The Wilsons tie…

Deputy Saves Two Jet Skiers from Oncoming Cruise Ship: “Oh My God” Video

By Peter Janssen on March 14, 2017 Cruising Life

Here’s a video of some very lucky people, who were pulled out of the water by a fast-acting deputy sheriff after their jet ski turned over in front of an oncoming cruise liner. The video, taken from the deck of the liner, shows how close a call this really was. All this occurred in Port Canaveral, Florida, as the 1,004-foot-long Carnival Magic was leaving the harbor. Harbor Pilot Captain Doug Brown was navigating the liner when he saw the jet ski, with two people on board, circling nearby. He radioed Deputy Sheriff Taner Primmer who also was nearby on a Brevard…

New Video Shows the Changes at Grand Banks, Previews New 60 Flagship

By Peter Janssen on March 13, 2017 Cruising Life

There’ve been a lot of changes at Grand Banks recently, ever since the company acquired Australia’s Palm Beach Yachts and named Mark Richards, the Palm Beach president, as the head of both companies in 2014. Richards, pictured above inspecting the hull of the new Grand Banks 60, is one of the most successful sailboat racers in the world, having won the fear-inducing Sydney-Hobart race a record eight times. At Grand Banks’ factory in Malaysia, he’s used his racing expertise to build high-tech, low-weight, low CG, faster and more fuel-efficient hulls. The flagship 60, with three staterooms and two heads, is…

Wasting Away Again in….Daytona Beach?

By Peter Janssen on March 13, 2017 Cruising Life

What happened to Margaritaville? Well, seems that Jimmy Buffett’s first retirement community (what’s wrong with this picture?) is not opening in Key West but instead in Daytona Beach, Florida. Buffett’s Margaritaville Holdings has formed a partnership with Minto Communities to develop a housing resort for senior Parrotheads, and others, in what they say are some of the nation’s most popular tourist destinations. Latitude Margaritaville in Daytona Beach is first up. John Cohlan, CEO of Margaritaville, says, “With Minto’s expertise in creating master planned developments and Margaritaville’s inherent ability to deliver fun and escapism, Latitute Margaritaville has the exact coordinates for…

A Washington, D.C. Couple Take Their First Cruise to Florida on a New Prestige 550

By Peter Janssen on March 9, 2017 Cruising Life

When last seen, Jonathan Murray and Desiree Van Welsum, from Washington, D.C., were just leaving Annapolis on their new Prestige 550, heading south to Florida, even though they’ve only been boating for about a year. They’re now in Palm Beach, after a great cruise down, and are planning to head over to the Bahamas. Here’s a look at their trip so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss_Gi6JlaVg

Veteran Cruisers, The Goldbergs Now Head for the Marquesas on Their Nordhavn 50

By Peter Janssen on March 9, 2017 Cruising Life

Ron and Nancy Goldberg got the cruising bug in the early ‘90s, when they took an Annapolis Sailing School class in the BVI. After more charters in the Caribbean, they switched to power and bought a Monk 36 to cruise the Chesapeake. After many years there, and many lessons learned (Ron says main lesson was “how not to pump out the holding tank – do not remove the hose attached to the tank itself’), they sold their house, moved up to a Nordhavn 46 named Duet, and cruised back and forth to Florida and the Bahamas. After more years and…

Cruise Liner Heads for Waterfront Home in Port Everglades

By Peter Janssen on March 9, 2017 Cruising Life

You don’t see this very often. The owner of a $2.3 million waterfront home in Port Everglades, Florida, rushes out to confront a 1,040-foot-long, 122,000-ton cruise ship as it appears to be heading for his backyard. The problem was that the cruise liner Equinox, carrying 2,850 passengers, was taking a different route because its regular dock was closed overnight. But Bill Todhunter thought it was lost; his wife Yasmine took the video. “When the cruise ship’s thrusters stopped, there was silence, and I yelled ‘somebody’s going to get fired,’ and everybody on the cruise liner started applauding,” he told a…

Chartered 100-Foot Hargrave Catches Fire, Sinks, in BVI

By Peter Janssen on March 9, 2017 Cruising Life

The only good news here is that the six passengers and five crew are safe. But Limitless, a chartered 100-foot Hargrave, sank after catching fire in the waters west of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. The fire apparently started in the engine room. The captain put of a Mayday call and then ordered everyone to abandon ship. Some of the passengers jumped in the water before they were picked up by the yacht’s tender and taken to Scrub Island nearby. Limitless, a luxurious four-cabin yacht with a Jacuzzi on the flybridge, was launched in 2005 and had a…

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