Thursday, March 28

Browsing: Cruising Life

The National Marine Manufacturers Association just announced the winners of its annual Innovation Awards at a breakfast during the Miami boat show. The awards recognize companies that produce new and innovative products. The winners were chosen by a panel of even judges from Boating Writers International, including Ben Stein, Zuzana Prochazka, Alan Jones, Lenny Rudow, Gary Reich, Frank Lanier, and Ryan Gullang. They considered practicality, cost-effectiveness and innovation in 14 categories. The winners are: Cabin Cruisers, Motor Yachts, Trawlers: Azimut Yachts Grande Trideck (pictured above). Center Console/Walkaround Fishing Boats: Pursuit Boats, S 428 Sport. Consumer Electronics, Mobile Applications and Software: Raymarine…

During the Miami boat show, the Ferretti Group announced that it will offer an innovative “Watchit” system on all its boats, a new technology that combines artificial intelligence with state-of-the-art sensors to avoid collisions at sea. Watchit is a new system patented by Aqua Marine Tech, an Israeli company that develops advanced high-tech solutions for saving lives at sea. On boats, the idea is that Watchit warns captains of dangers ahead. The Watchit system processes data from existing onboard sensors along with data from charts, using AI and automatic learning algorithms to constantly assess the risk of collisions and to…

Mercury just announced at the big Miami show that it’s building its first-ever, all-electric outboard engine, and it will be ready for delivery in 2023. The new engine, called Avator, is the first in a range of five other models that will be announced later this year. It represents a major innovation for Mercury, and a step toward the future of electric power. Indeed, Chris Drees, the president of Mercury Marine, says the company wants to achieve an 80 percent reduction in outboard emissions by 2025, with Avators playing a large part toward reaching that goal. At the other end…

If you ordered a new Porsche, Audi, VW or even a Bentley or Lamborghini lately, you may have to wait a while. Last week, a 650-foot cargo ship named Felicity Ace carrying 3,965 cars from the Volkswagen Group in Germany to the United States caught fire about 90 nm southwest of the Azores. As the fire spread, the 22 members of the crew abandoned ship. (You can see a video of their rescue below.) The Felicity Ace was on its way from the Port of Emden on the North Sea, where Volkswagen has a factory, to Davisville, Rhode Island. It…

Large yachts and charter yachts are increasingly vulnerable to attack from cyber criminals, a cyber-security expert warns, while new regulations require large vessels to prove that they have cyber protections on board. The new regulations, intended to fight the growing cyber threat, come from the International Maritime Organization (IMO); they went into effect on January 1. The IMO now requires vessels to prove they have taken cyber-security precautions. The regulations apply only to vessels over 500 tons, but cyber experts warn that the threat applies to much smaller private yachts, and charter yachts in particular. Cyber attacks on yachts increased…

The Coast Guard has new rules for disposable fire extinguishers on your boat, starting April 20. Extinguishers now must have a 12-year expiration date stamped on the bottom, and they must meet a new Underwriter Laboratory classification to be carried on certain boats, depending on the model year. Read an explanation here from BoatUS: ANNAPOLIS, Md., Feb. 15, 2022 – A rite of passage for every boater is the annual spring commissioning. Newly added to the boat owners to-do list this spring will be to check all disposable (non-rechargeable) fire extinguisher dates of manufacture, as well as the label for…

U-Boat Worx, the Dutch company, just introduced the lightest personal submarine ever at its facility in Curacao. It weighs just 4,400 pounds, and you can tow it behind your truck, launch it from land, or deploy it from your yacht. The new sub, called Nemo, comes in one- and two-person versions, and can dive down to 330 feet. The two-seater weighs 5, 510 pounds. The company says that it has the same footprint as two jet skis. The actual dimensions are 9’ 2” long, 7’ 8” wide, and 5’ 1” high. Nemo is built to be owner-operated, so now you…

You may have missed the news here (there’s a lot going on in the world), but this is Whale Week. Who knew? But the good people at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric  Administration, who keep track of these things, say this is the time to celebrate whales, among the largest and oldest animals on Earth who can be found on every ocean on Earth. NOAA has put together a lot of stories and videos about whales in the link at the bottom of this story, but I particularly enjoyed this one: 11 Cool Facts About Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, marine…

The new Greenline 40 Hybrid is a cruiser’s boat. It’s user-friendly, easily handled by two people, but not too big to be overwhelming. And it has a state-of-the-art hybrid power system, delivering 22-knot speeds under twin Volvo diesel power, while also providing silent running at 11 knots under solar-electric power. The two staterooms and one head make it large enough to hold a family, or another couple, on an extended cruise, and its bridge clearance of just 12’ 2 inches are meant to slide under those structures on the Great Loop or the Intracoastal Waterway in the Southeast. Greenline started…

Silent-Yachts, the pioneering Austrian builder, is in a major growth mode. It’s launching its first Silent 60 solar/electric luxury catamaran this month (pictured above), and its rebranding itself to start new businesses – from tenders to resorts – all centered around its renewable energy theme. In the past few years, Silent has staked out a leading position in the global electric yacht market. It now makes yachts from 60 to 120 feet. Last week, it announced that it had a record 21 orders for new boats in 2021. Now the company is rebranding itself as well as expanding. Because of…

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