On Watch with Peter Janssen

Restored Nantucket Lightship for Sale: Asking $4,950,000

By Peter Janssen on April 30, 2020 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Looking for a new liveaboard? Or perhaps a sturdy, long-range cruiser with a storied past? Then consider the Nantucket Lightship, a floating lighthouse now docked on Boston’s Commercial Wharf. It has a steel hull, six elegant staterooms, a 3,500-nm range, a crow’s nest, and a double Fresnel lens on its foremast. And it’s for sale for $4,950,000. The 128-foot lightship, WLV-612, was built for the Coast Guard by Curtis Bay in Maryland and launched in 1950. It cost about $500,000 then. The vessel served outside the Golden Gate as the San Francisco lightship and then as the lightship for Portland,…

Lock 33 Erie Canal. Credit: BoatUS

New Closings on the Erie Canal?

By Peter Janssen on April 21, 2020 On Watch with Peter Janssen

This isn’t good news for anyone planning on cruising the Great Loop or the inland portions of the Northeast this summer. Now, on top of all the problems with closings and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it turns out that the Erie Canal might not open on time. The Canal, a historic 363-mile stretch from Albany, on the Hudson, to Buffalo, on Lake Erie, may not open as scheduled on May 15 because of delayed maintenance and repair work on seven locks there, starting with Lockport, at the western end of the canal, and running east. An eighth canal…

Jock Williams, 80, Completes Down East Loop in His Stanley 36

By Peter Janssen on April 14, 2020 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Last summer, when he was 80 years old, Jock Williams completed the 2,700-nm Down East Loop in a Stanley 36, a boat that he built in his own yard in Maine. Now, Williams says he’s ready to go cruising again, although he’ll have to wait for the coronavirus pandemic to end. Williams, who owns the John Williams Boat Company on Somes Sound on Mt. Desert Island, is no stranger to cruising. (He’s on the right in the picture above, with Reg Elwell, a cruising companion.) Williams grew up on Martha’s Vineyard, joined the Navy after graduating from Colby College, worked…

New Cruising Grounds: Home. Here’s How To Enjoy It

By Peter Janssen on April 9, 2020 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Many of us are locked down at home, trying to make it through the seemingly endless coronavirus pandemic. We miss the water, we miss our boats, we miss going places. But there are things we can do to ease the pain. In fact, some of them are fun, and you might even want to keep doing them once we get back to the days when we have a choice in where we can go, what we can do. And those days will return. First, you can dream a bit. The Moorings is here to help you with that (see the…

Cruising Update: New Orders in Florida, Delaware, Washington and More

By Peter Janssen on April 2, 2020 On Watch with Peter Janssen

The stark, red-letter quarantine warning pictured above is a sign of the times. And the times are getting scary. In Newport, Rhode Island, the harbormaster is ordering all vessels arriving from out of state to self-quarantine for 14 days. The governor of Florida just issued stay-at-home orders for 30 days. The governor of Maryland basically prohibited recreational boating there. Washington state closed all recreational fishing and closed the parks. Many marinas in Washington are closed to transients; most fuel docks are still open because they’re considered essential to commercial activity. The U.S.-Canada border is closed for recreational boats. Across the…

How To Stay Sane in a Time of Crisis

By Peter Janssen on March 26, 2020 On Watch with Peter Janssen

For those of us who love to go cruising, these are trying times. We’re all heading into uncharted waters here, roiled by confusion and often competing narratives, and we don’t know how long this will last or how it will end. Many of us live in areas where we have been urged, or ordered, to stay in place, or at the very least to practice social distancing. Now, it seems to me that cruising people are unusually independent people, self-sufficient and capable on the water; we can take care of ourselves, our crew, and our vessels. On land, however, it’s…

New 25-Knot Summit 54 Flagship: A Solid, Spacious Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on March 19, 2020 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Hull number one of the Summit 54, the flagship of the new cruising brand from Kadey-Krogen, has just run down to Stuart, Florida, from Savannah, Georgia, and is ready for its worldwide debut at the rescheduled Palm Beach boat show, starting May 14. The Summit, with a hull by legendary designer Michael Peters, lived up to all its expectations, performing well throughout the speed range. Kadey-Krogen developed the Summit brand for people who wanted the well-established quality of a Kadey-Krogen but with a faster turn of speed. Summits are built at the Asia Harbor yard in Taiwan, which has launched…

Palm Beach Show Postponed: Grand Banks 54 To Debut Later

By Peter Janssen on March 9, 2020 Boat Reviews, On Watch with Peter Janssen

We just learned that the Palm Beach show, scheduled to start on March 26, has been postponed as a result of the coronavirus crisis. We will have details later, when we learn more. The new Grand Banks 54, with its classic lines and semi-displacement, warped-hull performance, was scheduled to make its worldwide debut there. Powered by twin 725-hp Volvos with straight shaft drives, this latest Grand Banks tops out at 31 knots, cruises at 26 knots, and has a range of about 1,000 nm at 10 knots. The new 54 has the same high-tech hull as the popular Grand Banks…

New Tiara 49 Coupe: Lots of Light, IPS Performance

By Peter Janssen on March 3, 2020 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Tiara’s new 36-knot, bright and open 49 Coupe will be on display at the Palm Beach show, starting March 26. The 49 Coupe features a salon filled with light from windows all around (and the large sunroof, when it’s open), and two staterooms with two heads below. Power comes from twin 600-hp Volvo IPS800 pod drives; they deliver a top speed of 36.1 knots and an optimal cruising speed of 26.2 knots with a range of 219 nm. Volvo is a long-time partner with Tiara (I tested the very first IPS on a Tiara in the Great Lakes more than…

Increasingly Popular Palm Beach Show Opens March 26

By Peter Janssen on February 27, 2020 On Watch with Peter Janssen, Palm Beach Boat Show

The Palm Beach International Boat Show, which has been growing in size and importance the past few years, starts on Thursday, March 26, and runs through Sunday, March 29. A handful of significant cruising powerboats will make their debuts there this year, while hundreds more will be on display. Now in its 35th year, the Palm Beach show has become increasingly popular because of its location and its manageable size. The show’s on Flagler Drive on West Palm Beach, where downtown meets the Intracoastal Waterway. It’s easy to get to, with lots of nearby parking, and it doesn’t have all…

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