Cruising Life

Pardo To Build New GT65 with IPS1350s

By Peter Janssen on January 22, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Cantiere del Pardo, the large Italian builder, just announced at the Düsseldorf show that it’s planning a new Pardo GT65 cruiser with a walkaround deck, flexible layout, and Volvo IPS power. The 65 will be the third model in Pardo’s GT series, falling between the existing 52 and the 75 that’s coming later this year. The new GT65 will carry all of Pardo’s signature lines, with its reverse bow and low profile. It has wraparound glazing, a folding aft window in the salon that opens to the cockpit, a sliding glass sun roof in the salon, and large windows and…

Yamaha Unveils New, Light, V6 F350 Outboard

By Peter Janssen on January 22, 2024 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Yamaha just announced that it’s making a new 4.3L V6 Offshore F350 outboard that weighs just 629 pounds and that delivers a powerful 11:1 compression ratio. The new F350, available for OEM or repowering applications, fits between Yamaha’s F300 and EXT Offshore 425 outboards. It replaces the V8 350 that Yamaha produced from 2007 to 2019, which was popular for its horsepower but had a high power-to-weight ratio. The new V6 F350 comes in at 175 pounds less than the old V8; indeed, Yamaha says the new F350 has the best power-to-weight ratio in its class. It produces 70 amps…

Bolide 80: 73 Knots, Loro Piana Interior

By Peter Janssen on January 22, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

You probably won’t want to take the new Bolide 80 on a trip around the Great Loop, but it sure would be fun for a run over to Bimini, or Key West, or Catalina. One thing’s for sure: It would get a lot of attention, wherever it goes. The Bolide 80 looks fast and it is fast. Powered by three 2,000-hp MANs, that are staggered in the engine compartment, the Bolide 80 tops out at 73 knots. The long, low, aerodynamic hull has steps for efficiency; the Bolide has a range of 240 nm at 50 knots (not that it’s…

Shark Bites Boy at Bahamas Resort

By Peter Janssen on January 18, 2024 Cruising Life

A 10-year-old boy from Maryland was bitten by a shark at a resort on Paradise Island, the Bahamas, on Monday afternoon. The Royal Bahamas Police Force issued a news release saying “the boy was bitten on the right leg while participating in an expedition in a shark tank at a local resort.” The boy was taken to Doctors Hospital in Nassau in serious but stable condition and was recovering from surgery. He was to be airlifted back to Maryland. The attack occurred at Atlantis Paradise Island Blue Adventures. Stuart Cove’s, the organization that runs the shark diving program, said it…

New Schaefer 660: A Winner from Brazil

By Peter Janssen on January 18, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Today, when we think of larger, luxurious motoryachts, Brazil probably isn’t the first place that comes to mind. But Schaefer has built more than 3,500 yachts there in the past 31 years; it’s now Brazil’s largest builder, with models from 33 to 82 feet, and U.S. headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. The new Schaefer 66 flybridge motoryacht compares well with other builders around the world. The 66 has modern lines that won’t go out of style but that are appealing to the eye. And the 66, with four cabins and three heads below, has all the room for cruising with a…

Zeelander Building New 79-foot Flagship

By Peter Janssen on January 16, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Zeelander just announced that it’s building a new 79-foot-long Zeelander 8 flagship in its recently expanded plant in Holland. This latest Zeelander will be launched this summer, and it will carry the same unmistakable low profile reminiscent of America’s commuter boats of the 1930s and the company’s tapered transom and extendable beach club that set new standards for creating more space on the water. The Zeelander fleet already has a model 5, at 48’ 3”; a 6, at 55’ 9″; and a 7, at 66’ 7”. They all have the same lines, and the new 8 will have the same…

Mercury Debuts 2 New Electric Outboards

By Peter Janssen on January 16, 2024 Cruising Life, Engine Room

Mercury just introduced two new, more powerful, Avator electric outboards at the big Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Mercury now has a total of five electric outboards on the market. The new outboards are called the Avator 75e (10-hp) and the Avator 110e (15-hp). The high-torque, portable and rechargeable outboards are designed for small boats or tenders for cruising boats. The appeal for larger boat owners is that they can have an environment-friendly outboard for their tender and they don’t have to carry gas on board if they have a diesel-powered cruiser. The new Avators require minimal maintenance, and…

How To Avoid a Collision

By co_admin on January 15, 2024 Cruising Life

Crossing the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas, transiting Delaware Bay, heading into San Diego harbor, wherever you cruise, you’ll end up sharing the water with something larger than your vessel, including freighters or tankers that have very limited maneuverability. Consider that a ship cruising at 20 knots travels one nm every three minutes; you may be on a collision course sooner than you think. Here’s some great advice from Skipper Tips about how to track another vessel to avoid a collision, taking visual bearings. Even in an age of radar and AIS, you need to know how to do this…

Popular Prestige 520: Still Going Strong

By Peter Janssen on January 15, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Ever since it was first introduced at the Cannes Yachting Festival in 2017, the Prestige 520 flybridge motoryacht has been one of the French builder’s most popular models. Taking a good look at the newest 520, continually updated through the years, helps to understand why. The Prestige 520 is an elegant, comfortable, easy-to-handle cruiser, with separate social areas in almost every direction. The salon, with an aft galley that serves the cockpit as well as the flybridge, has large windows that provide views all around. In the salon, says Camillo Garroni, of Garroni Design in Genoa, who designed the yacht,…

Quarken Launches New 35 Weekender

By Peter Janssen on January 14, 2024 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Quarken, the Finnish builder, is introducing its new 35 Cabin at the big Düsseldorf show, starting Jan. 20. The 35 is Quarken’s largest boat yet. The 35 has the same lines as Quarken’s 27, just stretched quite a bit – a fairly plumb bow, an asymmetrical wheelhouse to provide as much interior room as possible, with a wider deck on the starboard side. But it also has a forward cabin below that’s large enough to sleep two adults and a sofa that can be extended to hold two children. The enclosed head has a shower. The new Quarken’s windshield is…

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