Wednesday, November 6

Browsing: On Watch With Peter Janssen

The 2024 Ft. Lauderdale boat show, known as FLIBS in the marine trade, kicks off next Wednesday, October 30 at noon. The show is America’s largest in-the-water show and will have more than 1,300 boats on display ranging from small personal watercraft to 300-foot mega-yachts. The show runs through the weekend and show management expects more that 100,000 people to attend. FLIBS is truly an international show. You will find boat brands on display from the four corners of the world and from the most prestigious builders. An all-powerboat show, you will find the latest designs and some new radical…

On October 4, Zeelander launched hull number two of their 79-foot 8 model. The gala party for the launch was held at the builder’s facilities in The Netherlands and was attended by the family that bought the new 8, many other owners and the Zeelander staff. The new 8 represents the apex of the Zeelanded line and is a highly refined motor yacht that combines the company’s unique curvaceous hull and cabin designs with the highest of high-tech engineering and onboard systems. As the builder likes to say, Zeelander yachts are not for everyone. The 8 is a three-season cruising…

Here’s an announcement from Outer Reef Yachts that will really catch the eye of cruisers who are seeking true seafaring expeditions to the earth’s far corners aboard a vessel that is a special combination of strength, seakeeping-ability, self-suffiency and luxury. Enter the new Adventure 780 that was introduced to the world this week. The new design, which is the first in Outer Reef’s new Adventure series, is the first new yacht to emerge from the recent merger between Outer Reef and the Dutch shipyard Lynx Yachts. The 780 is now in build in The Netherlands and will be ready to…

At the Newport International Boat Show in September, Sabre Yachts announced the design completion of their brand-new Sabre 51 Salon Express. An all-weather couple’s cruising boat, the design emphasizes entertaining, weekending and ultimately long-term living aboard and cruising. It is always exciting news when this highly respected Maine builder of Downeast-style cruising boats comes out with a new design since the company has been a trend setter for more than 40 years.  The new boat will fit neatly between the 48SE and the 58SE The new 51 is the fruit of a deep-dive, information gathering process to find out just…

At the Cannes Boat Show in early September, Azimut and Volvo introduced the all-new diesel-electric propulsion system that the engine manufacturer has been working on for years and which Azimut has selected to power its brand-new 72-foot Seadeck 7. Unlike current marine hybrid propulsion systems, the new Volvo engines operate in much the same way automotive hybrids. The engines switch from diesel to electric as the loads change. When you accelerate, the diesels kick in and when you level off at cruising speed and further acceleration is not needed the diesels switch off and the electric motors take over while…

While at the Cannes show last week, I had a chance to spend an hour with Eric LeVine, Benteau’s. director of sales and marketing for all of their in-board power cruisers, aboard the new Swift Trawler 54. The 54 is the sixth model in the Swift Trawler line and fits neatly between the ST48 and the ST62. The 54 is a big boat with high topsides and very full hull sections that create a huge amount of interior volume. Beneteau is stressing their commitment to indoor-outdoot living and a close connection with the marine environment. The aft cockpit is spacious…

One Monday, September 9, at the Cannes Boat Show in the South of France, French catamaran builder Fountaine Pajot announced that they will expand their partnership with French power-boat builder Couach to create an entirely new line of cruising power cats to be called the Code 07 series. Fountaine Pajot has become one of the largest catamaran builders in the world with over 4,000 cats launched and now employing over 1,000 skilled craftsmen in their ever expanding French facilities. Couach began building boats in 1897 in France, developed some of the first marine engines and has since developed a worldwide…

This month, Tiara Yachts of Holland, Michigan, announced the introduction of the all new 56 LS Luxury Sport cruiser with four 600-horsepower Mercury  Verado V-12s on it transom.  The new 56 will join the 43 and 48LS in the builder’s outboard sport line Weighing in at 39,000 pounds and with a dead rise of 21 degrees in the deep V hull, the new 56 will be both very quick and provide a truly soft ride through chop and larger waves. The addition of an optional SeaKeeper stabilizer will add to that sense of stability. The 56 is designed for indoor-outdoor…

One of the lead news stories of the week was the tragic and somewhat baffling capsize and sinking of the 183-foot yacht Bayesian near Porticello, Sicily, with the loss of seven souls. Fortunately, 15 of the 22 people on board survived. The consensus among Italian officials has solidified on the likelihood that the yacht was hit by a very local and very powerful waterspout that forced it over onto its side leading to massive flooding and ultimately, in minutes, to its sinking into 180 feet of water. Everyone has the same question: How could this have happened?  I have cruised…

This year, Groupe Beneteau is celebrating its 140th year in the boat building business. Known as a builder of sailboats for most of that time, the expansion into the cruising powerboat world three decades ago certainly made waves across the boating market. The company’s Swift Trawler line helped define the market transition from 8-knot trawlers to roomy, ocean-going, trawler-like cruising boats that could run long distances at speeds in the mid-to-high teens. The new Swift Trawler 54 Passagemaker that the builder announced this summer will be the sixth model in the Swift Trawler line and fills a gap between the…

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