Cruising Life

GM Gives Big Boost To Electric Boats

By Peter Janssen on January 12, 2022 Cruising Life

General Motors just gave a big boost to electric boating when Pure Watercraft, with the help of a major investment from GM, unveiled its electric-powered pontoon boat at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Founded 11 years ago in Seattle, Pure Watercraft says it wants to disrupt the boating industry with its new electric outboard motors. GM, the automotive giant, bought a 25 percent stake in Pure Watercraft in November, investing $150 million. GM said its goal was to help create a new generation of zero-emissions boats. The new pontoon boat that Pure Watercraft just unveiled is 24’ 7”…

Marlin Spears Hole in Ocean Rowing Boat

By Peter Janssen on January 12, 2022 Cruising Life

A marlin poked a hole in the side of one of the boats rowing 3,000 nm across the Atlantic in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. None of the four Englishmen on the boat, who call themselves “The Wrekin Rowers,” was injured in the attack, but the marlin speared a hole in the deck and through the lockers where the crew stored their food. The rowers left the Canary Islands on Dec. 12 as one of 36 teams in the race, and they were on target to reach the finish line in Antigua in 38 days before the marlin attack. But…

The Sad Story of an Abandoned Superyacht

By Peter Janssen on January 11, 2022 Cruising Life

The 147-foot Bella T superyacht, built for an American industrialist in 1973 and once owned by a sultan in Malaysia, is in a state of disrepair in Cape Town, South Africa. With multiple changes of names and owners, unpaid and overdue yard bills, lawsuits and countersuits, the yacht, which once hosted the first series of the TV show Survivor, now will be put up for a court-ordered auction on March 1. The yacht originally was the dream of Roy Carver, who made a fortune in the tire retreading business. He hired Arthur de Fever and Doug Sharp to design it,…

Fossil of “Sea Dragon” Found in Britain

By Peter Janssen on January 11, 2022 Cruising Life

British paleontologists have found the fossil of a 180-million-year-old, 33-foot-long “sea dragon” ichthyosaur in a lagoon about 100 miles north of London. They say it’s the largest ichthyosaur ever found in Britain. It had a long snout, big eyes and big teeth. Ichthyosaurs, marine reptiles, first appeared in the early Jurassic Period and then disappeared about 90 million years ago. The fossil’s skull weighs more than a ton. “It is a truly unprecedented discovery and one of the greatest finds in British paleontological history,” Dean Lomax, the leader of the group that excavated the fossil, said in a statement. The…

Pardo Building GT52 Cruiser with Volvo IPS

By Peter Janssen on January 10, 2022 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life

Pardo, the two-year-old Italian builder, is on a roll. It introduced its new Endurance 60 cruising flagship last fall, and now its starting a GT52 that’s something like a combination of the 60 and the company’s earlier walkaround sport cruisers. The GT52 will use the same hull as the open Pardo 50, but with a longer swim platform. And the Volvo IPS650 pod drives have been shifted aft to free up more interior space in the middle of the boat. But the GT52 will still have Pardo’s trademark slightly reverse bow, its long flush foredeck and a forward-raked pilothouse. It…

Ten People on Boats Killed in Brazil Tragedy

By Peter Janssen on January 10, 2022 Cruising Life

In a freak accident, ten people were killed when a cliff face fell onto their boats on a popular tourist lake in Brazil. Another two dozen were injured, but only two remained in the hospital overnight. Local authorities said the rock face fell after several days of intense rain the area. The accident occurred on Lake Furnas in Minas Gerais state, about 260 miles north of Sao Paulo. The lake is along a series of picturesque destinations popular in the summer, and visitors take boats out to watch the waterfalls in the emerald-colored water. Brazil’s navy sent a team to…

10,000-Mile Adventure Hit by Covid

By Peter Janssen on January 9, 2022 Cruising Life

Sergio Davi, the Italian adventurer, hit an unexpected road bump on his 10,000-nm voyage from Palermo to Los Angeles on his Nuova Jolly 38 RIB. He tested positive for Covid after he landed on Grand Canary Island (see the picture above). Davi has just mild symptoms and self-isolated in a hotel. He hopes to be able to resume his Ocean to Ocean RIB Adventure in one or two weeks. The longest ocean crossings of the entire trip will face him when he starts again; first, an almost 900-nm leg from Grand Canary to Cape Verde, and then an almost 1,800-nm…

Coast Guard: New Rules After Dive Boat Tragedy

By Peter Janssen on January 6, 2022 Cruising Life

The Coast Guard just announced that it will issue a new set of interim rules covering small passenger vessels as a result of its investigation of the fire that sank that dive boat Conception off the coast of Southern California on Sept. 2, 2019, killing 33 passengers and one crew member. The interim rules are the Coast Guard’s first step toward implementing requirements required by statute. They address additional fire requirements, including fire detection and suppression systems, escape avenues, exit drills, firefighting training, watchman monitoring devices, and the handling of flammable devices, particularly rechargeable batteries. The rules follow many of…

Futuristic RaceBird for Electric-Boat Racing Circuit

By Peter Janssen on January 5, 2022 Cruising Life

The 24-foot, electric-powered, foiling RaceBird certainly doesn’t qualify as one of the cruising boats that we usually cover, but I think it illustrates the growing interest in electric boats around the world. The RaceBird is now being built at Victory Marine in the UK. It was designed by SeaBird Technologies and has partnerships with Mercury Racing for its propulsion system and Simrad and Navico for its electronics. A prototype of the boat was introduced at Monaco this fall, launched by the founders of the new E1 racing circuit; that’s similar to the Formula 1 circuit for cars but this is…

Okeechobee Lock Closed Until March 31

By Peter Janssen on January 5, 2022 Cruising Life

Well, it’s happened. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has closed the St. Lucie Lock, effectively shutting down the Okeechobee Waterway for boats hoping to take the shortcut from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast of Florida until March 31. The closure started on Jan. 4. The Army Corps said the lock is closed or maintenance for the first total closure in ten years. The maintenance is needed to repair the lock’s aging and damaged infrastructure, and the lock will have to be dewatered so crews can replace corroded steel structures, install new gate seals, and repair Manatee Protection…

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