Cruising Life

New Cutwater 30: Easy Cruising with Twin Yamaha 300s

By Peter Janssen on December 14, 2016 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The trend toward outboard power keeps getting stronger and stronger. Now Cutwater Boats is introducing a new 30-footer with twin Yamaha 300-hp outboards because, says Cutwater President John Livingston, “We’ve had customers asking us to build a boat like this for a while now.” Livingston also says the new boat is “our biggest, fastest and most exciting Cutwater to date. The boat absolutely screams across the water.” I haven’t tried the new 30 yet, but two summers ago I drove a Cutwater 28, with a single 260-hp Volvo diesel, from New York Harbor to Quebec City, and it cruised easily…

Murder at Sea: U.S. Skipper Charged with Killing Two Brits on His Boat 38 Years Ago

By Peter Janssen on December 12, 2016 Cruising Life

How’s this for a true crime story? A 75-year-old California man was just charged with stabbing and killing a young British couple on his boat off Belize – in 1978. Their bodies, which had been bound and weighted down, were found off a beach there at the time, but the murder trail turned cold until police in Sacramento interviewed the son of Silas Duane Boston recently about the disappearance of Boston’s wife. The son said he witnessed a violent struggle between his father and the Brits on the boat, when the son was only 13. At his hearing Boston, wearing…

Office on Board: Working in a Two-Story Houseboat in Fort Lauderdale

By Peter Janssen on December 11, 2016 Cruising Life

Living aboard is one thing (I know, I’ve done it), but working aboard is something else. Take a look where Tucker Fallon, a yacht broker with Bradford Marine spends his working time: A two-story custom houseboat on the New River in Fort Lauderdale. Actually, Fallon is not alone. The Bradford houseboat has 15 offices, two conference rooms, a reception area and a back porch. Sounds like a pretty good working environment to me. See the story from the Business pages of The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/09/business/selling-yachts-in-an-office-that-rises-and-falls-with-the-tides.html?ref=business&_r=0

Best Video of the Year: Incredible Rough-Water Test of British Stealth Boat

By Peter Janssen on December 9, 2016 Cruising Life

Motor Boat & Yachting, the British monthly, has just published its most-watched video for the past year and it’s incredible. The video starts with a sea trial of the Safehaven Barracuda stealth boat in some pretty rough conditions, which is the whole point. The Barracuda is not an everyday boat, and this not an everyday test. The boat is built for the military and it’s literally meant to be bulletproof. Take a look at this video of the MBY test; it’s not like any boat test I’ve ever been on: https://youtu.be/30bieFJ25zc

More Great Boating Gift Ideas for Christmas – and Beyond

By Peter Janssen on December 7, 2016 Cruising Life, Gear

Now here’s an appealing Christmas gift guide that I really like. It has just about everything a cruising boat owner could want, including multifunction tools, hand warmers, foul-weather gear, wooden charts (these are very cool), SPOT Satellite Messenger (a great safety device), a drone, and even information on booking a charter if you really want to get away from it all. And if Santa doesn’t bring you everything on this list, save it and keep it for next spring when you make your first trip down to the chandlery. Take a look: http://blog.dockwa.com/christmas-gift-guide-for-sailors-and-boaters?utm_campaign=Blog+Subscribers&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=38810354&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–KK9ScHXEmuZFs7mtbDSw-4L6a4x328OYmweH3riQybuFomHwIqZXEji9BjUwW1snaUftG-bsrQ68575YEviouxXKEmA&_hsmi=38810354

‘Tis the Season: Best Ways to Decorate Your Boat for the Holidays

By Peter Janssen on December 6, 2016 Cruising Life

It’s that time of year – holidays, Christmas, New Year’s – when it’s fun to deck out your boat with lights and shapes and general cheer and goodwill to man. But, how to do it, and – more important – how to do it safely? Here are some great tips from BoatU.S. about how to choose colors and designs and install them without obscuring your boat’s nav lights or blowing out all your power. And remember to leave room for your crew to handle lines and fenders. Lots of good ideas here. Take a look: :http://www.boatus.com/magazine/2013/december/designing-a-holiday-lights-display-for-your-boat.asp

“Nap Time” Cruiser Runs into Ferry While Captain Using the Head

By Peter Janssen on December 6, 2016 Cruising Life

You’ve got to see this. Nap Time, a recreational cruising boat, runs into the starboard side of a huge Washington State ferry going from Tacoma to Vachon Island in broad daylight, while the ferry is sounding its horn. Hard to believe. Yes, the boat on the right has the right of way, but it’s supposed to give way to a commercial ferry, no? And what was Nap Time’s captain thinking? Well, it turns out, according to a local TV station, that Nap Time’s captain, the only person on board at the time, was below, using the head. Still, a great video:…

Carbon Monoxide: Winter’s Silent Killer. Save Your Life. See This Video.

By Peter Janssen on December 5, 2016 Cruising Life

The boat in the picture above is where a British couple and their dog died recently of carbon monoxide poisoning, a silent killer because you can’t see it or smell it and the symptoms can make think you just have the flu, a headache or need to take a nap. Bad stuff, particularly this time of year when people tend to keep boat doors and windows shut, while possibly running a heater, engine or genset. To make boat owners aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide, the Royal Yachting Association produced this short but very hard-hitting video. Take a look. It…

New VanDutch 55: Elegant, Cutting-Edge – and Fun. See the Video.

By Peter Janssen on December 5, 2016 Cruising Life

There’s nothing complicated here, just fun, fun on the water, on an elegant, cutting-edge 55-foot VanDutch whose captain is having a great time carving turns in front of the camera in Fort Lauderdale recently. Designed by Frank Mulder, the VanDutch 55 has two cabins, one head with shower, and two 900-hp Volvo diesels that propel it to a top speed of about 40 knots. The company says it rides like a luxury sports car, which I believe from this video. Take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVmiRLYKwLs

Canadian Couple Completes Great Loop, Tells All in New Book

By Peter Janssen on December 4, 2016 Cruising Life

You can’t say that Carole Duval and Michel Mailloux aren’t adventuresome. Indeed, the couple from Brossard, Quebec, near Montreal, recently completed more than 6,100 nm on the Great Loop and the Bahamas on their 1990 Carver 41, named Emotion III. During those 13 months, they ran through just about every kind of experience – and emotion – you’d expect on such a long cruise, including getting stuck for three days on a dredged inlet in the Suwannee River near the Gulf of Mexico (see picture above). When they got home, Duval wrote a book about their trip, appropriately called “The…

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