On Watch with Peter Janssen

On Watch

By Peter Janssen on August 30, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Newport ’18: First Show of the Season Is Larger than Ever. Plus, Our Reviews of 29 New Cruising Boats You Can See There By Peter A. Janssen The Newport International Boat Show has always been my favorite. It’s the first of the fall show season, so almost all the new boats are there, and then, well, it’s in Newport. Enough said. This year the show, the 48thannual, runs from Thursday, Sept. 13, through Sunday, Sept. 16, with most of the docks and engine and accessories tents at the Newport Yachting Center, but also spilling over to neighboring docks. There’s also…

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By Peter Janssen on August 23, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Nordhavn Owners, Anxious to Cruise, Hold Their Own Rendezvous in Puget Sound By Peter A. Janssen It’s not news that a lot of boat companies have summer rendezvous for their owners, usually at sought-after resorts or marinas. But it is fairly unusual for owners to organize their own gatherings, just because they love cruising on their boats and want to spend time with like-minded people. That’s exactly what just happened at the first meeting of NAPS, or Nordhavns Around Puget Sound, when 15 sets of Nordhavn owners got together at Port Ludlow Marina, an upscale waterfront resort with 300 slips…

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By Peter Janssen on August 16, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

After Circling the Pacific, the Youngbloods on Mystic Moon Are Back in Alaska, Counting the Bears By Peter A. Janssen John and Kathy Youngblood are closing in on the finish line of their six-year circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean on their 2004 Selene 53 Mystic Moon. When we first wrote about them in April, they were in Japan; now they’ve made it up to the Aleutian Islands (the picture above shows Mystic Moon in Kiska Island, at the very tip of the Aleutians) and on to Katmai National Park, just across from Kodiak Island. They hope to complete their circle around the…

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By Peter Janssen on August 8, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Slowboat Flotilla Runs Down West Coast of Vancouver Island, a Quintessential Pacific Northwest Cruise By Peter A. Janssen The Slowboat Flotilla of five cruising boats is now on its third week of running down the west side of Vancouver Island, a quintessential Pacific Northwest cruise in the ocean that isn’t all that popular. Most cruisers in that part of the world take the much more protected Inside Passage, starting on the east side of Vancouver and going up to Alaska. Indeed, the Slowboat people took another flotilla up that way earlier in the summer. The west side of Vancouver is…

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By Peter Janssen on August 2, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Grieving Mother Orca Carries Dead Baby Around the San Juan Islands for More than Nine Days By Peter A. Janssen A grieving mother orca has been carrying her dead calf through the waters north of Puget Sound and around the San Juan Islands for more than nine days, with her orca family staying close to her, taking turns staying at her side. The calf was the first to be born to the endangered pod of orcas, killer whales, in three years. The death was a setback to the orca population; it numbered 98 in 1995, but it’s down to 75…

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By Peter Janssen on July 26, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

The Maine Boat & Home Show: Great Boats, Artisans, Boatyard Dogs and More By Peter A. Janssen For a totally different kind of boat show, take a look at the Maine Boat & Home Show in Rockland, Maine, from August 10-12. It’s full of Maine-built boats (and boats that are like Maine-built boats), artisans, custom furniture, a small-boat love-in, and its trademark annual Boatyard Dog Trials. It’s more than a boat show; it’s really a state of mind. And it’s fun. Did I mention the live Dixieland band, the food trucks with lobster rolls, and the friendly, welcome-aboard attitude of…

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By Peter Janssen on July 18, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

The Leopolds Cruise Their Ranger Tug 27 Up the Inside Passage to Alaska, All Three of Them (and Moxie) By Peter A. Janssen When Mark and Peggy Leopold drove a trailer with their 27-foot Ranger Tug out of their driveway in Anacortes, Washington, on June 2, heading for the launch ramp to start their 3,000 nm round-trip to Juneau, Alaska, they left the davit crane that they usually use to lift their daughter Nicole on board behind. Instead, given the uncertainty of docks they would be encountering along the way, they brought a two-person sling, with secure straps, to carry…

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By Peter Janssen on July 11, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

New Aspen Power Cat Knot Wafflen’ Finishes 10,000 Mile Tour of U.S. from Alaska to Annapolis By Peter A. Janssen They made it. The 10,000 Mile Tour is over. Knot Wafflen’, the 40-foot Aspen Power Catamaran that left Anacortes, Washington, last May, on a voyage around the United States, is home in Annapolis, Maryland, some 10,540 nm and 1,001 engine hours later. And its owner, David Jenkins, who calls himself a serial entrepreneur, is happy. “The boat was as advertised,” he told me. “It held up as I thought it would, based on my factory tour of its construction. Mileage,…

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By Peter Janssen on July 2, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

The Gardyne Family Cruises to Alaska on Their Nordhavn 40: Next Stop, the World By Peter A. Janssen The Gardyne family from Alameda, California, across the bay from San Francisco, didn’t want to wait for their retirement to start cruising around the world. Two years ago, they bought a 2002 Nordhavn 40 in Seattle and drove it home, on something of a trial cruise. And they were hooked. On April 17, the Gardynes – Dougal and Jen and their daughter Cassidy, 7 – passed under the Golden Gate Bridge on their Nordhavn, appropriately named Cassidy, and turned north. “Our goal…

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By Peter Janssen on June 27, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Trade Wars Already Hurting U.S. Boating. Sales Are Cancelled, Layoffs Are Threatened By Peter A. Janssen The Trump Administration’s trade wars are already hurting U.S. boat manufacturers, as European and Canadian sales are cancelled because of higher tariffs. Some manufacturers say they will have to cut production and lay off workers if the trade wars continue. In retaliation to the tariffs that President Trump imposed on some imports, the European Union has imposed a 25 percent tariff on sail- and power-boats built in the United States. For its part, Canada will start a 10 percent tariff on U.S.-made boats starting…

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