On Watch with Peter Janssen

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…

Crew Rescued from Stricken Ship: See Video

By Peter Janssen on April 7, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Here’s a searing video of the rescue of all 12 members of the crew of a 366-feet-long cargo transporter ship after it threatened to capsize in 50-feet seas off the coast of Norway. A helicopter lifted eight crew members off the slanting deck and picked up the other four after they had put on survival suits and jumped into the swirling water. The Dutch ship, the Eemslift Hendrika, was on a voyage from Bremerhaven, Germany, to Kolvereid, Norway, and was about 60 nm off the Norwegian coast when it ran into trouble in a storm. Heavy seas caused a list…

London Couple Renovate Ship, Live Aboard. Video

By Peter Janssen on March 31, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

A few years ago, Christina Miles and Rohan Tully were living in a small flat in central London, and they wanted to find something larger. The problem was that London real estate prices were going sky high. Their solution: Live on a boat. Christina was new to boating but game; Rohan had been boating all his life. After some searching, they found a rusted, 1965, 130-feet-long steel cargo ship in Belgium. They bought it for less than $100,000 and had it taken to The Netherlands for major repairs. First, they cut 32 feet out of the middle of the boat,…

Grand Banks Tests New 85 Long-Range Flagship

By Peter Janssen on March 23, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Now here’s a boat with a great attitude. Take a look at the running surface of the new Grand Banks 85 flagship on its maiden sea trial near Singapore (click on the link below for a short video). With its sharp bow and patented V-Warp hull, the boat is running almost flat, and leaving very little wake behind. All that’s due to the influence of Mark Richards, the world-class sailor (he’s won the grueling Sydney-Hobart race a record nine times) who’s the CEO of Grand Banks and its sister company, Palm Beach Motoryachts. Richards believes in high-tech solutions to boat-building,…

Azimut Launches 53 with “Floating Bridge.” Video

By Peter Janssen on March 14, 2021 Boat Reviews, On Watch with Peter Janssen

Azimut just launched its new 53, a low-profile, 31-knot cruiser with a “floating flybridge” and a wide bow to make more room for a large social area on the foredeck and more interior volume in the VIP stateroom below. The new Azimut has the line’s large raked windshield for a moving-even-when-standing-still look, and a large transparent black band around the flybridge. Alberto Mancini, the yacht’s designer, says the band “gives us a wraparound feature that looks like a floating flybridge.” Both the foredeck and the bridge on the new Azimut are special. The foredeck has super-sized, plush walkaround sun pads…

Grumpy Takes on the Great Loop – Again

By Peter Janssen on March 10, 2021 On Watch with Peter Janssen

John Hauck, a retired Army Special Forces major and helicopter pilot, doesn’t know when to quit. Not even two years ago, on Aug. 2, 2019, he completed the Great Loop on his 25-foot Rosborough named Grumpy when he was 80 years old. Now he’s at it again. Earlier this week, Hauck loaded Grumpy at the dock behind his lake house in Titus, Alabama (pictured above), and trailered it 125 miles to Demopolis, where he launched it in the Tombigbee River to start the loop one more time. He will turn 82 next month. “You guessed it,” he wrote on his…

Browsing: On Watch with Peter Janssen