On Watch with Peter Janssen

After Four Years, Dirona Comes Home to U.S.

By Peter Janssen on June 3, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

After four years of cruising in Europe, James and Jennifer Hamilton (and their cat, Spitfire), are back home. Earlier this week, they tied up Dirona, their 2009 Nordhavn 52, in Charleston, South Carolina, after a 2,922-nm , 19-day leg from Horta in the Azores. “It’s great to be home,” James wrote on their blog, mvdirona.com. They cleared customs, got their first Covid vaccinations two hours after landing, and picked up dozens of Amazon packages that were waiting for them. The Hamiltons, who had already completed a circumnavigation, left Newport, Rhode Island, in May, 2017, and cruised through northern Europe for…

Solar-Electric Boat Tackles Inside Passage to Alaska

By Peter Janssen on May 26, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

A father and son team are heading 1,000 nm up the Inside Passage from Bellingham, Washington, to Juneau, Alaska, and back, on a 27-foot solar-electric boat. They say they will be on the first totally solar-electric boat to make the trip. The boat is a Solar Sal 27, built by Sam Devlin at Devlin Boat with the father and son team, David and Alex Borton; the electric power was designed by BRJ Solutions. (David is a retired professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.) The boat, named Wayward Sun, has a 4kW Torqeedo electric motor, an array of…

New Silent 60: Solar-Powered Cat with a Kite

By Peter Janssen on May 25, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Silent Yachts just launched its first new 60, and it comes with a sail-kite to give the solar-electric cat an extra 5 knots or so of speed. The new 60 was built at the company’s yard in Thailand; eight more are under construction there. The basic boat is powered by two 50kW electric motors with a 143kW lithium battery and a 100kW generator, producing a cruising speed of 6 to 8 knots and a top speed of 14 knots. The boat’s most advanced power comes from two 340kW electric motors, a 268kW lithium battery, and a 150kW generator, with the…

Hamiltons in Mid-Atlantic, Heading Home on Nordhavn 52

By Peter Janssen on May 19, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

After cruising in northern Europe for the past four years, James and Jennifer Hamilton are heading back home to the United States on their Nordhavn 52, Dirona. They’re now in mid-Atlantic, about half way between their last stop, Horta in the Azores, and their final destination, Charleston, South Carolina. The Hamiltons already have a circumnavigation and two Atlantic crossings under Dirona’s hull. A high-tech couple from Seattle, they bought Dirona new in 2009 and have been living aboard and cruising since 2012. On this latest venture, they left Newport, Rhode Island, in May, 2017, and have been cruising in the…

Grumpy About Half Way Through Loop, Again

By Peter Janssen on May 12, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Here’s an update about John Hauck, the retired Army Special Forces major and helicopter pilot who says he’s going to celebrate his 82nd year by completing the Great Loop, solo, for the second time, on his 25-foot Rosborough Grumpy. Hauck completed his first trip around the Great Loop on Aug. 2, 2019, crossing his wake back in his home port of Demopolis, Alabama, traveling 6,303 miles in 110 days. He started his second trip, also in Demopolis, on March 10. Earlier this week, Hauck was tied up at the marina at the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia, having run…

MarineMax Buys Cruisers, Gets Bigger and Bigger

By Peter Janssen on May 4, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

About 20 years ago, I sat next to Bill McGill, the founder and president of MarineMax, at a black-tie dinner in Rimini, on the Atlantic coast of Italy, a gorgeous seaside resort often seen in Fellini movies. We were at a Ferretti Yachts presentation, and McGill, who had just started MarineMax in 1998, was in an expansive mood. From its headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, MarineMax has indeed grown during the intervening years. It is now the largest boat retailer in the world, with 77 dealers at 100 locations. This week MarineMax got even bigger: It just bought Cruisers Yachts in…

Cruisers Yachts Expands in Boating Boom

By Peter Janssen on April 28, 2021 Boat Reviews, Cruising Life, On Watch with Peter Janssen

Cruisers Yachts of Oconto, Wisconsin, is on a roll. It’s enjoying rave reviews of its new 42 GLS with its fold-down bulwarks and three outboards, it has a strengthening dealer network, and it just bought the former Carver and Marquis plant in nearby Pulaski so it will have more room to expand. The good news about boating, of course, is not limited to Cruisers. Boat sales across the United States have been booming for the past year because of the pandemic. The National Marine Manufacturers Association just reported that sales of new powerboats in February were up 34 percent, compared…

New Hydrogen/Electric Cat with Unlimited Range

By Peter Janssen on April 25, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Here’s a creative idea for a 110-foot hydrogen/electric powered luxury catamaran from the award-winning French designer Alexandre Thiriat. The self-sustaining cat has the potential for unlimited ocean-crossing range. Thiriat named the cat the Corellian 110, and he says it can serve as “a private island for adventures around the world.” It is powered by hydrogen fuel-cell technology and twin 500kW electric motors, moving it to a top speed of 18 knots. Solar panels provide power to run the onboard amenities for off-the-grid cruising. The Corellian 110 offers world-wide cruising with no noise, no fossil fuel emissions, no smoke and no…

Bahamas Eases COVID Protocols for Boaters

By Peter Janssen on April 22, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Here’s some good news finally for anyone thinking about cruising to the Bahamas. On April 21, the Bahamian government announced new protocols for boaters and Bahamas marinas. The most important one is that starting May 1, anyone traveling to the Bahamas will be exempt from taking a COVID 19 test if they have been fully vaccinated and are past the two-week immunity period. This should make life much easier for anyone cruising to the Bahamas from Florida or anywhere else in the U.S. In addition, boaters who are already in the Bahamas and have been fully vaccinated will be exempt…

Ranger Tugs Launches New 43 CB Flagship

By Peter Janssen on April 14, 2021 Cruising Life, On Watch with Peter Janssen

Ranger Tugs has a new flagship, the 43 CB (Command Bridge), that’s powered by twin 340-hp Volvo IPS450 pod drives and hits a top speed of 29 knots but burns only 10 gph at a more tug-like 11 knots. (See the boat in action in the video below.) With two staterooms and two heads, the new Ranger can be just about anything you want it to be: A waterfront property that moves, a comfortable liveaboard, a floating office, or most likely, a family cruiser for everything from an overnight near home to a journey around the Great Loop. And you…

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