If you’re still looking for an over-the-top charter this summer, there’s still time to head for St. Tropez, surely one of the most glamorous destinations in the world. Yachts are still available, and more slots will open up as the fall season begins. If you need more reasons to charter in St. Tropez, look here: http://www.boatbookings.com/blog/2016/08/04/st-tropez-in-a-nutshell/
Here’s a great video combining two world-class brands: Hinckley Yachts and Mystic Seaport. The Seaport itself is a wonderful cruising destination, whether for a weekend or longer. (I spent one of our best weekends ever tied up to the sea wall there with my family many years ago on my Grand Banks.) And a gathering of Hinckleys is a cause for celebration, no matter where they are. Take a look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nABkqdr7QXA&sns=em
If you haven’t been to Portland, Maine, lately, go. It’s not only a great cruising destination on Casco Bay, but it’s also a great city in its own right, with a lively foodie and arts scene. Here’s a terrific story in The New York Times that gives a good idea of things to do and places to stay. I may see you there; Portland has been one of my favorite spots, on land or on the water, for many years. (I’m sorry that other people have discovered Becky’s Diner, although you can still get a seat without waiting if you…
Migration, a Nordhavn 68, is now cruising at 80 degrees north, just 630 nm from the North Pole, in a land of glaciers, floating ice and polar bears. For more about the ultimate high latitude cruise: http://www.nordhavn.com/interactive/nordhavn_live/migration.php
Here’s a great blog and pictures of an American Tug 365 delivery from the factory in LaConner, Washington, 269 miles down the coast to Astoria, Oregon. (I’ve done this, and you definitely want to be careful out there.)http://americantugnews.blogspot.com/2016/04/delivering-american-tug-365-to-astoria.html
Great story about Tangier Island in the lower Chesapeake, which is being threatened by rising sea levels, in The New York Times Magazine today. The future there seems pretty bleak. I took the picture above four years ago on Smith Island, just a few miles north of Tangier, which is facing the same fate. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/magazine/should-the-united-states-save-tangier-island-from-oblivion.html
The Moorings, the world’s premier yacht charter company since 1969, has just come up with a new idea: The Ultimate Dive Vacation in the British Virgin Islands. This sounds like a natural to me, a combination of a luxurious Moorings 5800 catamaran with a seven-day dive charter in some of the most beautiful water on the planet.
This isn’t exactly the New York Yacht Club annual cruise, but it is two Aussies on a leased C-Dory 26, with a single 150-hp Honda outboard, doing the Great Loop. They started this spring in Florida and they’re now in Canada. Good on ’em. Here’s their daily blog. http://balakera.com
Sean and Lois Johnson, two Brits with a lot of salt water in their veins, are now in the Dominican Republic on their Nordhavn 64, Kapowai, after a circumnavigation of the Atlantic – from Miami up to Canada, across to Europe, and then back to the Caribbean. They had already crossed the Atlantic twice since they bought Kapowai just two years ago. If you’re interested in learning about long-range cruising from the people who’ve been there, here’s their latest blog postings before they head back to Miami.http://www.kapowaicruising.com
It’s no secret that Nordhavn owners are an adventuresome group. After all, the brand has built its reputation on crossing oceans and circumnavigating the world. Now a group of Nordhavn owners is organizing a rendezvous this July in Alaska, and they already have commitments from owners coming from Africa, Australia, the Caribbean and various ports in the U.S. So far some 30 owners have signed up for the Nordhavns2Alaska rendezvous (N2AK, for short) from July 8-10 in Petersburg, which is about halfway between Ketchikan and Juneau along the Inside Passage. Petersburg is a small (pop: 2,824), old commercial fishing village…