Cruising Life

Lyman-Morse Completing Hood 35 Hardtop Express

By Peter Janssen on March 2, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Hull number one of the instant-classic Hood 35 Lyman-Morse Hardtop Express is nearing completion in Thomaston, Maine, and will be launched this summer. And Lyman-Morse is already working on hull number two, a flybridge version, that will be ready next year. (The boat is also offered in a soft top version as a day boat.) In any configuration, the new 35 has the elegant, Down East lines that never go out of style. And it has superior performance from twin 440-hp Yanmar diesels with Hamilton water jets. The water jets, of course, offer a safety factor and low draft of…

Ship Carrying New Porsches, VWs, Sinks Off Azores

By Peter Janssen on March 1, 2022 Cruising Life

The cargo ship carrying thousands of VWs and Porsches from Germany to the U.S. that caught fire almost two weeks ago off the Azores just sank in the Atlantic. The 650-foot Felicity Ace was battered by waves and “lost stability and sank,” according to the Portuguese Navy, while it was being towed by a large salvage tugboat. The ship sank 253 nm off the Azores on Tuesday morning. It tilted about 45 degrees to starboard, and then went down in more than 9,000 feet of water. The Felicity Ace was carrying 3,965 new cars from the Volkswagen Group from the…

Climate Change Increasing Too Fast: UN Report

By Peter Janssen on March 1, 2022 Cruising Life

Climate change is happening so fast that we may not be able to turn it around, according to a new report by a global group of scientists working with the United Nations. Rising sea levels are a particular concern, along with increasingly intense storms, particularly on the Gulf and East Coasts of the United States. By 2050, sea levels could be as much as 10 to 12 inches higher than they are today, affecting metropolitan areas, waterfront communities, power plants and oil refineries. The report, issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, involved 270 scientists from 67 countries. It…

Autonomous Ferry Cruises 149 Miles, Docks Itself

By Peter Janssen on March 1, 2022 Cruising Life

What claims to be the world’s first autonomous ship has completed a 149-mile trip and then docked itself, without any human intervention. The 728-foot, 15,000-ton Soleil ferry navigated Japan’s Seto Inland Sea with a cargo of cars and reached speeds of 26 knots entirely on its own, setting a milestone for autonomous boating. Autonomous boating is still in infancy stage and has to operate under international regulations. Soleil had crew of seven on board for its autonomous run but they didn’t do anything. Mitsuyuki Unno, executive director of the Nippon Foundation, said, “I hope this will lead to further development…

CL Yachts Launching New 65 Family Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on March 1, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

CL Yachts, the luxury brand from Cheoy Lee Shipyards, is expanding its B Series of family-friendly cruisers. A freshly designed CLB88 was on display at the Miami show last month, and the Hong Kong-based company just announced that its brand-new CLB65 will be ready for its debut at the Newport International Boat Show in September. The 88 is notable for its design. Indeed, it won a Good Design award from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. The new 65, designed by veteran naval architect Howard Apollonio with Interiors by Carmen, will try to follow that success. A flybridge…

Ukrainian Sailor Tries To Sink Russian’s Yacht

By Peter Janssen on February 28, 2022 Cruising Life

A Ukrainian sailor, upset about Russia’s invasion of his homeland, just tried to scuttle a 156-foot yacht owned by a Russian oligarch in the harbor of Port Adriano in Mallorca. The sailor, identified as Taras Ostapchuk, 55, was the chief engineer on the Lady Anastasia, a 476-ton superyacht owned by Alexander Mikheev, the CEO of a Russian arms export company and the former head of the Russian helicopter federation. Ostapchuk got angry when he saw a video of Russian missiles hitting Kyiv, his home town. He thought that Mikheev’s company supplied the missiles to the Russians. He went below and…

Yanmar Invests in GetMyBoat Rental Business

By Peter Janssen on February 28, 2022 Charter, Cruising Life

Yanmar just announced that has bought a majority stake in GetMyBoat, which it says is the world’s largest boat rental marketplace. All told, Yanmar America, a subsidiary of Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd, invested $21 million in GetMyBoat. The money will be used to expand GetMyBoat and accelerate its international growth as travel markets reopen after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yanmar, with headquarters in Osaka, Japan, has been working with GetMyBoat since an initial investment in 2018. Despite the pandemic, Yanmar says GetMyBoat has exceeded a 10 times growth in revenue since 2019. Launched in San Francisco in 2013,…

Maritimo Building New Long-Range 75 Flagship

By Peter Janssen on February 27, 2022 Cruising Life

Maritimo just announced that it’s building a S75 Sedan Motor Yacht, a new flagship that’s designed for long-range cruising and has an extended “adventure deck” aft that just seems to go on forever. The four-stateroom, three-head cruiser has a fuel capacity of 2,600 gallons, so it can take you just about anywhere you want to go. Standard power is twin 1,150-hp Scania diesels, with options going up to 1,615-hp MTUs. Because of the Australian builder’s experience with offshore yachts, the fuel is split between two wing tanks with the main tank centered at keel level; that means the boat’s balance…

New Z-Triton, a Fun Bike, Boat and RV

By Peter Janssen on February 23, 2022 Cruising Life

Here is the product of a fertile mind. Take a look at the new Z-Triton, a combination bike/boat/RV, all rolled into one unique vehicle. It’s made by a Latvian startup named Zeltoni, which says one of its founding principles is that its “work and projects simply have to be fun and bring joy.” With the Z-Triton, you can explore the world on land and on the water, and have a place to sleep along the way. It has two 250-watt electric motors, a Li-ion battery pack and solar panels on the roof to provide energy. In the bike mode, you…

Coast Guard Rescues Man Bitten by Shark Off Bimini

By Peter Janssen on February 23, 2022 Cruising Life

Here’s the Coast Guard story about how they rescued a man bitten by a shark near Bimini. See the video below: MIAMI —The Coast Guard rescued a 51-year-old man, Monday, after he was bitten by a shark while fishing aboard a vessel near Bimini, Bahamas. A Coast Guard Air Station Miami MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and crew arrived on scene, hoisted the man and transferred him to awaiting emergency medical technicians at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami reportedly in stable condition. An Air Station Miami HC-144 airplane and crew assisted with communications efforts with the Dolphin aircrew. The motor vessel Shear…

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