Cruising Life

New, Fast AquaDart Nano Scooter

By Peter Janssen on August 7, 2023 Cruising Life, Gear

Here’s something fun for the rest of the summer, or beyond. The new AquaDart Nano underwater scooter that the company says is lighter, faster and more powerful than the competition. The new AquaDart Nano is the latest from iAQUA, a Hong Kong company, and it’s nothing if not versatile. You can use it as a fun underwater scooter in its own right or carry it on your yacht as one more accessory It also can be used for water safety and search-and-rescue operations. The 48.5 pound AquaDart Nano is powered by the company’s new Dual-Jet Technology that produces speeds of…

24 Hours Offshore on Swamped 12-Foot Boat

By Peter Janssen on August 7, 2023 Cruising Life

The Coast Guard rescued a 25-year-old man after his 12-foot jon boat was swept out to sea off St. Augustine, Florida, and he was missing for a day and a night. The boat was half-filled with water and bobbing up and down 12-miles offshore when a Coast Guard search-and-rescue plane spotted Charles Gregory, 25, who had thrown his outboard motor overboard earlier in an effort to stay afloat. .Gregory, an experienced fisherman, left the Lighthouse Park boat ramp at 4 a.m. on Friday. But the tide rose faster than he expected, a wave hit the boat (a flat-bottomed aluminum craft)…

Ten Tips for Docking Safely with Crew

By co_admin on August 2, 2023 Cruising Life

Here is some easy-to-remember and easy-to-use advice from SkipperTips about how to prepare to dock safely, particularly in a crowded marina. Read on: You study the narrow marina entrance and note a gusty wind blowing across the channel. And, it looks like you’ll be bucking a strong tidal current once inside the marina. What steps can you take to prepare your boat and crew for the challenges ahead? 1. Point your bow into the dominant element. If wind and current are equal strength, head into the current. If docking under sail, use a close reach. 2. Line both sides of…

Cruising Club of America

How To Cruise Like a Viking: CCA

By Peter Janssen on August 2, 2023 Cruising Life

The Cruising Club of America just published a new book that follows the routes of the Vikings across the treacherous waters of the North Atlantic hundreds of years ago, written by club members who have recently cruised there themselves. The book is the CCA Essential Passage Guide to the Viking Route, and it includes the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, and Labrador. It’s edited by William Strassberg, MD, who has cruised the Viking route himself, with the help of other club members who have also cruised all or part of it. The guide is unique in that it covers the specific…

Girl Killed When Thrown from Boat by Wake

By Peter Janssen on August 2, 2023 Cruising Life

An 11 year old girl was killed last week when the wake from a passing boat threw her and eight others off their 23-foot boat on the Intracoastal Waterway just north of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The girl, Olivia Knighton, the daughter of retired Major League Soccer goalie Brad Knighton, was hit in the head by her boat’s prop. She was taken to McLeod Seacoast Hospital in Little River, where she died. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said the boat Olivia was riding in “was rocked by a large wake caused by another boat, resulting in nine of…

Feds Approve 3 New Offshore Wind Farms

By co_admin on August 1, 2023 Cruising Life

Here’s a new report from gCaptain about the Biden Administration finalizing plans for three new wind farms off Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. We don’t know yet how these will affect cruising and fishing in those areas: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has finalized three offshore Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) in federal waters off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, which could potentially support between four and eight gigawatts of energy production. The three WEAs total approximately 356,550 acres. The first, known as WEA (A-2), is 101,767 acres and located 26 nautical miles (nm) from Delaware Bay. The…

Eastern 27: User-Friendly Pocket Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on July 31, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The outboard-powered Eastern 27 Islander a user-friendly, no-frills, Down-East styled pocket cruiser. It’s also the top of Eastern’s fleet of 10 models from 20- to 27-feet. Easterns have been made in Milton, New Hampshire, since 1981.The company now also makes Rosborough Boats and Seaway Boats. The Eastern 27 Islander is designed as a couple’s cruiser, with a V-berth below plus an extra berth (or storage area) tucked under the helm deck. The V-berth can be converted to a settee with a table. There are also shelves, a hanging locker, and an enclosed head with shower. The helm deck can be…

Aegean Explorer 26M To Debut at Cannes

By Peter Janssen on July 31, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Denison Yachting will show the first hull of the Aegean Explorer 26M long-range cruiser series at the Cannes Yachting Festival starting Sept. 13. The second hull in the series is under construction at the Aegean yard in Bodrum, Turkey. The 85-foot Aegean 26M has a steel hull and aluminum superstructure for a combination of strength and light weight. It’s powered by twin 650-hp MAN diesels, with a top speed of 12.7 knots and a range of more than 3,500 at a slower speed. Explorer and adventure yachts have become a popular category in the past few years. The Aegean 26M…

New Powerdock With Solar Panels

By Peter Janssen on July 31, 2023 Cruising Life

Faroboats, a fairly new company in Lisbon, has a creative idea about how you can recharge the batteries on your electric boat. They’ve just launched the Faro Powerdock, a floating dock with solar panels. The Powerdock will work with any electric boat, but it will charge a 16-foot Faro5 electric boat in less than three hours. The Powerdock’s roof holds four 450-watt solar arrays of four panels each, with a total output of 2.7 kW. You also can order it with wind turbines to help produce more energy than just the solar panels. Under sunny conditions, the batteries on the…

New Leopard 40 Makes U.S. Debut

By Peter Janssen on July 30, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The all-new Leopard 40 power catamaran just made its debut in Fort Lauderdale, with a cruise along the ICW and a then a run over to Bimini. Leopards are made in Cape Town, South Africa, by Robertson and Caine. The company calls the new 40 a third-generation power cat, following the Leopard 46 and Leopard 53. The Leopard 40 is a three-cabin, three-head, stable and seaworthy cruiser The Leopard’s beam is 21’ 8”, slightly more than half its length, so it has vast amounts of usable space inside and out. The salon is full of light from large side windows,…

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