Last Sunday’s military incursion by the U.S. military into Venezuela to remove the country’s president Nicolas Maduro involved a large build-up of ships, air power and troops in the Southern Caribbean.  For a few days, the U.S. imposed no-fly zones in the islands and along South America’s north coast to the inconvenience of thousands of holiday tourists. To find out how the military presence in the Caribbean has affected the cruising community, we reached out to old friend Elaine Lembo who is the editor of Caribbean Compass magazine and well connected to information sources throughout the area. As it turns…

Several years ago, I got a phone call from our yacht club’s manager in the middle of the day. He was looking for my son’s phone number because, he said, “His boat is on fire on its mooring off the club.” On fire? I called my son and then raced down to the water front and low and behold his 21-footer was engulfed in flames, If you have never seen a fiberglass boat with full fuel tanks burn, it is a terrifying sight. The fired burned through the mooring lines and the flaming hulk began drifting with the wind toward…

At the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show last month, I had the chance to visit with the Aquila team and have a look at the brand new 46 Yacht that was being introduced to the North American market. The cruising cat had made its debut at the Cannes, France, boat show in September to great acclaim. The new 46 is replacing the 44 in the Yacht line which is no small ask since the 44 has seen 200 cats delivered. But from a first look, the new boat will be up to the task. The whole Aquila concept is to…

Since April 30 when Michael Reardon, founder of Daedalus Yachts, announced that he had purchased Catalina Yachts, which also builds True North motorboats, rumors have been circulating about the health of the business and the status of the boat building operations. This week, Catalina’s president Patrick Turner issued the statement below to bring America’s boating community up to speed on the current state of affairs at one of America’s oldest and most respected boat building companies. I want to share an important update directly with those who matter most to this company — our owners, future owners, and the…

Here’s a story we have been following from time to time because weather forecasts are such an essential element of our lives on the water. NOAA is at the epicenter of those forecasts. This week, the U.S. Senate confirmed Dr, Neil Jacobs to be the new Administrator of NOAA, the umbrella agency that supervises the National Weather Service, the National Hurricane Center and dozens of other agencies dedicated to earth science, weather and climate issues. Dr. Jacobs is eminently qualified for the position as a scientist and a veteran of NOAA. Under Trump 1.0, he served as the acting administrator,…

One of the highlights for me at this year’s Newport International Boat Show, last week, was taking part in Palm Beach Yachts’ thirtieth anniversary celebration. The elegant dinner was hosted by Palm Beach’s founder and CEO Mark Richards who in turn invited a dozen or more Palm Beach owners and a whole gang of the Palm Beach team to be part of the event. In after-diner remarks, Mark emphasized that he might be the visionary who launched Palm Beach thirty years ago, but it is the owners and the dedicated staff that make the whole process of building the boats…