Cruising Life

Nordic Tugs To Show Latest 40 Pilothouse

By Peter Janssen on May 17, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Nordic Tugs just launched its latest 40 pilothouse cruiser, and it will be on display at the show in Anacortes, Washington, this weekend. With its nostalgic looks, full keel and solid build, the Nordic Tug is a serious pilothouse cruiser. It can be handled easily by a couple, but it also can sleep six people on a cruise and hold many, many more for onboard entertaining. Powered by a single 370-hp Volvo diesel, it tops out at more than 17 knots, and has a range of about 1,000 nm at 8 knots. The first Nordic Tug, a 26, was introduced…

Sealine Launches 40-Knot Sport Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on May 16, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Sealine just launched its latest sport cruiser, the S335v, with a five different layouts, lots of space, and 40-knot power from twin 300-hp Mercury V8 Verado outboards. The new Sealine is designed by Bill Dixon from the UK and made by Hanse near Greifswald on Germany’s Baltic coast. It’s one of Sealine’s 12 models from 33 to 53 feet. The new S335v has an open deck layout with sun roofs over the helm deck and the cockpit. There’s seating on the foredeck and on a large U-shaped settee aft in the cockpit with a table that can be converted to…

Spirit of Ulysses Starts One More Ocean Crossing

By Peter Janssen on May 16, 2023 Cruising Life

Spirit of Ulysses, an ocean-crossing 2007 Nordhavn 76, just transited the Panama Canal on its way from Fort Lauderdale to Australia. The Nordhavn’s latest trip will take two months and cover almost 9,900 nm before it reaches its newest home in Perth. It left Fort Lauderdale on May 2, stopped in Key West and then cruised on to Panama. Next stops: The Galapagos, Samoa, Fiji, and then Brisbane. Hull number eight of the 76 series, Spirit of Ulysses has already cruised the Pacific from Alaska to New Zealand, transited the Panama Canal to the Atlantic and then made a transatlantic…

First Sargo 45 Flagship Heading to U.S.

By Peter Janssen on May 15, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Sargo 45, the flagship of the Finnish builder’s fleet, is heading for Liberty Landing Marina in New Jersey, where it will be the first 45 in North America. After commissioning there, it will cruise up the Hudson and take the basic Great Loop route to Chicago or Duluth, where it will be put on a truck and driven to the Inside Passage Yacht Sales docks on Lopez Island, Washington (unless it’s sold along the way). A tough, user-friendly, all-season cruiser, the Sargo 45 has wide side doors opening to the pilothouse, plus a gate in the hull side…

How To Use Prop Walk To Dock Your Boat

By co_admin on May 15, 2023 Cruising Life

Understanding prop walk, or how to use the direction the propeller is turning, will help you control your single-screw boat in low-speed and docking situations. Here’s a great primer from iNavX that tells how to do it: When your propeller spins in gear, it produces thrust that drives your boat forward. Indeed, most of the force of the propeller contributes to the direction of motion. But not all of it. A propeller is far from 100% efficient, and a simple unidirectional propeller pushes water in multiple directions. The primary direction of thrust is aft when the transmission is in forward…

5 Ways To Summon Help: BoatUS

By co_admin on May 15, 2023 Cruising Life

National Safe Boating Week is coming up (starting May 21), and BoatUS is taking the occasion to remind everyone about how they can be seen, and heard, if they run into trouble this summer. Here are their five tips that can help you summon help if you need it: VHF Radio – A VHF (Very High Frequency) radio is the most reliable way to communicate with other boats and emergency responders on most waterways. New Digital Selective Calling (DSC) radios with a red distress button can even send an emergency call and other important information such as your location to…

New, Cruiser-Friendly Offshore 54 PH

By Peter Janssen on May 10, 2023 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

The new Offshore 54 Pilothouse is the latest iteration of a popular cruising design built for easy handling by a couple. Offshore says the 54 is the “finest Offshore yet,” and that’s saying something since the company has built more than 300 yachts since its founding in 1948. The 54 PH has a semi-displacement hull with a fine entry for parting the waves and a full keel for directional stability and protection for the props. Standard power comes from twin 715-hp Cummins with straight shafts, producing a top speed of a bit over 20 knots and a cruising speed of…

Manatees Gather for Mating Season

By Peter Janssen on May 10, 2023 Cruising Life

The Save the Manatees organization just posted a new video of a herd of the big friendly mammals gathering in Blue Spring State Park in Florida for mating season. You can see it via the link here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=964779371542876 Save the Manatees said they counted more than 30 manatees last week at Blue Spring, about halfway between Orlando and Daytona Beach, for the cool water and their annual mating ritual. During mating season, a female manatee is generally pursued by as many as half a dozen males and the female (cow) will mate with several males (bulls) to provide the largest…

Suzuki Cruise Promotes New Eco-Friendly Fuel

By Peter Janssen on May 10, 2023 Cruising Life

A 26-foot Sea Pro center console just cruised 941 miles from Florida to Washington, D.C., powered by two Suzuki outboards using new eco-friendly fuel. The boat took ten days to travel from Jacksonville to the Capitol. Its Suzuki DF140 outboards burned 479 gallons of new EcoGen90 fuel, developed by VP Racing, along the way, for an average of just under 2 mpg in the deep-V boat. The boat’s arrival on Washington earlier this week was timed to coincide with the start of the annual American Boating Congress, organized by the National Marine Manufacturers Association. It then was used for demo…

New Radar Helps with Search and Rescue

By Peter Janssen on May 9, 2023 Cruising Life, Electronics

The Coast Guard just announced that it’s buying a new radar system that will improve their search-and-rescue efforts significantly. The new next-generation weather radar system, the Honeywell IntuVue RDR-7000, uses automated technology; it will be used to upgrade the radar now on Coast Guard Jayhawk and Dolphin helicopters, replacing the current manual systems with fully automated tilt-and-gain controls. With the current system, a pilot has to manually adjust the controls to direct the radar beam. The new automated system, which captures weather as far as 80 nm away, will be particularly valuable to Coast Guard crews on search-and-rescue missions that…

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