Cruising Life

How To Keep Your Pet Happy on Board

By Peter Janssen on June 19, 2017 Cruising Life

Now that we’re getting into the heart of another summer cruising season, it’s time to think about keeping our pets safe and happy on board. That’s particularly true if you have a new pet or one who’s new to life on the water. Here’s some good, common-sense advice from Waterway Guide about how to make sure your pet enjoys a cruising lifestyle as much as you do. First, introduce the pet to the boat while it’s still at the dock. Let him wander around, explore, settle into his own spot. Start the engine, still at the dock, so he gets…

Coast Guard Tests Diesel Outboards on Small Boats. Is a Diesel Outboard in Your Future?

By Peter Janssen on June 19, 2017 Cruising Life, Engine Room

In a move that could make your cruising life easier, the Coast Guard is testing diesel-powered outboards on some of its Fast Rescue Boats. If the tests are successful, and more diesel outboards move to the recreational boat market, it could mean that you wouldn’t have to carry separate gas on board for your RIB or dink if you have a diesel-powered cruising boat. It’s also possible that diesel outboards will become more popular as the primary engine(s) on larger recreational boats. The Coast Guard test involves 175-hp Mercury Optimax outboards, as well as 200- and 300-hp units, and will…

Fountaine Pajot Launches New Luxurious 44-foot Cat. See Video

By Peter Janssen on June 19, 2017 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Fountaine Pajot just launched a new luxurious, spacious three-stateroom, three-head 44-foot catamaran that will make cruising a delight. In this latest design from the famed French builder, there’s room for everyone, inside and out; in fact, there’s room to spare. And as you can see in the video, the boat handles well, running at its cruising speed or maneuvering around the docks, controlled by Volvo’s IPS joystick. The new 44 will be introduced to the U.S. at the Fort Lauderdale boat show next fall. For interior spaces, the salon has a long, inviting L-shaped sofa along the port side, with…

How in the World Did a U.S. Navy Destroyer Get Hit by a Container Ship?

By Peter Janssen on June 19, 2017 Cruising Life

All of us, anyone who has ever cruised anywhere, can relate, and also can ask the question: How did this happen? How did a U.S. Navy destroyer get hit by a Philippine container ship on a clear night, even in a busy shipping lane? Think of times you’ve been cruising on your own boat near a container ship in a busy shipping lane. Think Delaware Bay, San Francisco Bay, New York Harbor. Think of how aware you were of their size, their inability to change course quickly, their mammoth wake. Scary. You make sure you’re well clear of these behemoths.…

Nantucket Ferry Hits Hyannis Jetty; Six Passengers Hurt

By Peter Janssen on June 17, 2017 Cruising Life

Here’s a case where we know what happened but we don’t know yet why it happened. What happened is that about 9:30 on Friday night the high-speed ferry from Nantucket, carrying 48 passengers, six crew and three food service workers somehow ran into the jetty at the entrance to Hyannis Harbor. Six people were injured, and the Coast Guard, local police and fire and other first responders worked for hours by boat and helicopter to get people off the ferry safely. Fire Captain Thomas Kenney said in his 36 years of experience he’s seen several small boats crash into the…

President Trump Orders Tougher New Rules for Americans Going to Cuba

By Peter Janssen on June 16, 2017 Cruising Life

We still don’t know exactly what this means for Americans cruising to Cuba on their own boats, but President Trump has just reinstated some travel restrictions making it harder for Americans to plan their own trips there. In a six-page directive, which he signed after making a speech in Miami’s Little Havana, President Trump ordered the Treasury and Commerce Departments to write the new restrictions in the next 30 days. The new regulations will end some of the more relaxed travel policies that President Obama had started in an effort to normalize relations between the two countries. The New York…

All-Time Great Video of Cruising Through the Arctic’s Northwest Passage

By Peter Janssen on June 15, 2017 Cruising Life

We usually don’t cover superyachts, but I’ve been fascinated by the Northwest Passage ever since my friend Sprague Theobald cruised across it on his Nordhavn 57 with his family in 2009. (Theobald wrote a great book about his adventure, transiting some of the most dangerous – and often frozen – waters on the planet, called “The Other Side of the Ice.”) Here’s a great you-are-there video about two trips through the Passage on Latitude, a 148-foot Vripack, in the summers of 2014 and 2015, complete with polar bears, whales, icebergs, glaciers and even a trip to the memorial to the…

Keep Your Crew Happy: Soundproof Your Boat

By Peter Janssen on June 14, 2017 Cruising Life, Engine Room, Gear, Maintenance

Ask any builder of modern cruising boats, and they’ll readily confirm that sound levels are extremely important to their owners and potential buyers. Not only at the helm and salon, but also even in the staterooms, particularly since many master staterooms now are located midships, just forward of the engine room. A noisy boat with a lot of decibels coming from the engine or the generator (or both) can make for an uncomfortable cruise; it makes talking difficult at best, and it can lead to a headache and a longing to return to the peace and quiet of home back…

After the Abandon Ship, What’s Life Really Like on a Life Raft?

By Peter Janssen on June 14, 2017 Cruising Life

If you’re cruising offshore, let’s hope you have a life raft stowed somewhere on your boat. If the worst happens – your boat hits a whale or shipping container, a fire starts in the galley or engine room, a freak wave swamps the boat – you certainly want a raft to keep you and your crew afloat. But what is life actually like once you’re in the raft and free of the mothership? To find out, two editors from Yachting Monthly launched a raft from a simulated sinking ship in the Bay of Biscay. The two men were on a…

4,465 Milles of the Great Loop Alone on a 14-foot Walker Bay

By Peter Janssen on June 14, 2017 Cruising Life

You’ve got to love Dave Pike (at least I do). On his blog, where he explains why he’s doing the Great Loop in a 14-foot Walker Bay RIB, he introduces himself by saying, “I’m a 67-year-old male with a bit of adventure in my DNA.” He’s climbed mountains, paddled canoes through the Canadian wilderness, and started cruising when he and his wife Ann chartered a trawler in Alaska 15 years ago. And now he’s just gone through the Erie Canal on his Walker Bay, putting 4,465 Great Loop miles behind him, as he starts the last leg of his solo…

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