Cruising Life

Bavaria Launches 36 Family Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on April 16, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Bavaria Yachts has launched its new SR36 family cruiser, a scaled-down version of the popular SR41 it introduced a year ago, but with slightly more aggressive styling. The sporty new 36 from the German builder of sail and power boats is a two-cabin, one-head family cruiser that’s designed for safe cruising and comfortable living and entertaining on board. Bavaria is offering the boat with a variety of power options, from twin 240-hp to 350-hp gas or diesel engines. The lines for the Bavaria SR36 are from Marco Casali of Too-Design, an architect and superyacht designer in Rome who says that…

Cranes Unloading Ever Forward in Chesapeake

By Peter Janssen on April 13, 2022 Cruising Life

Cranes have started lifting containers off the grounded 1,095-foot container ship Ever Forward that’s been stuck in the Chesapeake since March 13. The idea is to lighten the ship enough so that it may be refloated at the full moon early next week. The Ever Forward, registered in Hong Kong, ran aground after leaving Baltimore, heading for Norfolk, Virginia, with a pilot on board. AIS data say it was running about 13 knots when it left the Craighill Channel and stopped suddenly outside the Patapsco River in about 24 feet of water. The ship draws more than 42 feet. The…

Sergio Davi Heading Up Mexico Coast

By Peter Janssen on April 13, 2022 Cruising Life

Three weeks ago, when we last wrote about Sergio Davi, the 65-year-old Italian adventurer, he had just gone through the Panama Canal on his 10,000 mile expedition on his 36-foot RIB from Sicily to Los Angeles. Now, Davi has reached Manzanillo, Mexico, just below Puerto Vallarta, on his 16th stop since he left Palermo on Dec. 15. He wrote that he had “a particularly challenging leg” because of headwinds and he cruised close to the coastline to get some protection. It took Davi 27 hours to cruise the 530 nm up from Crucecita, Mexico, on his Nuova Jolly Prince RIB,…

Can Lettuce Save the Manatees?

By Peter Janssen on April 12, 2022 Cruising Life

Florida manatees, particularly those in the 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon that stretches from the Ponce de León Inlet up to Cape Canaveral, have been dying in record numbers as pollution destroys their food supply. But this year, in an experiment to save them, federal and state wildlife officials (helped by $116,000 donations from the public) have been feeding them lettuce, lots of lettuce. It turns out the slow-moving mammals love the stuff. In the first three months of this year, they ate 202,000 pounds of lettuce, including romaine. And during those months, January, February and March, manatee deaths fell to…

Leen Finishing 72 Explorer Trimaran

By Peter Janssen on April 12, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Leen Trimarans is putting the final touches on its new flagship 72 in its factory in New Rochelle, France. It plans to sea trial the massive tri in the next few weeks, and then deliver it to its American owner in time for the Annapolis power boat show in October. The Leen 72 is meant to be a fuel-efficient, stable, long-range explorer yacht. The trimaran design has the main 330-hp Cummins diesel in the center hull, with an electric motor is each outer hull. The two electric motors help with low-speed maneuvering and provide silent running with no emissions when…

Elling E4: Tough-As-Nails Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on April 11, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

To say that the 49-foot, Elling E4 cruiser is built to be a safe boat is a bit of an understatement. Just take a look at the video below, showing the boat doing a complete rollover, with company head Anton van den Bos at the helm. And that’s a standard E4, complete with a washer, dryer, pop-up TV and furniture. After the boat righted itself, van den Bos fired up the boat’s 425-hp Cummins and went out for a spin around the harbor. Because they’re built like a lifeboat, Ellings have a CE ocean Category A rating for safety. Back…

88-Foot Superyacht Burns in Spain

By Peter Janssen on April 10, 2022 Cruising Life

An 88-foot Sanlorenzo yacht caught fire and burned in Puerto de Valencia, Spain, a few days ago. Port authorities said the fuel tanks, with a capacity of 2,457 gallons of diesel, were not affected, and no one was injured in the fire. (See a video of the fire below.) Orange and black smoke poured from the yacht, offering a stark contrast with the Mediterranean blue waters. It took three platoons of firefighters 12 hours to put out the fire. The yacht, named Pesa, was launched in 2020. Local reports said that fire officials thought the fire may have been caused…

Soel Unveils 62 Electric Long-Range Cat

By Peter Janssen on April 9, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Soel, the innovative Dutch builder, just unveiled a new Senses 62 electric-powered catamaran with a massive 564 kWh battery that the company says provides “trans-ocean range.” The 62 is Soel’s latest and largest yacht, and it uses battery packs and solar panels to replenish its power supply at sea. It’s also a massive yacht, with a 33’ 6” beam that represents more than half the cat’s length. That means it carries a lot of luxury space, inside and out. The 62 has sleeping accommodations for nine passengers, plus three crew, who have separate cabins with outside access for privacy. It…

How To Swing Your Compass

By Peter Janssen on April 9, 2022 Cruising Life

Here’s a great primer from Ritchie about how to adjust your compass for deviation and compensation: As any new boat owner soon learns, the sport has a lingo all its own. But even old salts often have a hard time grasping the magnetic compass dialect. Ritchie Navigation explains two unusual but easily understood terms that are vitally important to the accuracy of a compass: Deviation and Compensation. Compass needles or dials react to the earth’s magnetic field and point true north. The trouble is, certain electrical equipment or metal items on the boat—and even local magnetic fields—can interfere with the…

Boating Luxury Tax (Again) in Canada

By Peter Janssen on April 6, 2022 Cruising Life

To quote Yogi Berra, this is a case of déjà vu all over again. Canada’s on-again, off-again 10 percent luxury tax on boats costing more than $250,00 looks like it’s on again, with new draft legislation calling for it to start on Sept. 1. Canada’s Liberal government last year enacted legislation for the tax to take effect on the first of January, 2022. But vigorous lobbying from the boating industry and others warned that the tax would lead to millions of dollars in lost sales, while costing almost 900 full-time jobs. In December, the government postponed the Jan. 1 deadline.…

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