On Watch with Peter Janssen

John Hauck, 80, Starts a New Adventure, Alone, on Grumpy

By Peter Janssen on May 2, 2019 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Even at 80, John Hauck is looking for new challenges. “I like adventure,” he told me. “I’ve been an adventurous individual my whole life.” Hauck’s latest adventure is to take on the Great Loop, by himself (“All my adventures have been solo,” he said) on his 2003 Rosborough RF-246 Grumpy with twin 150-hp Mercury outboards. He left Demopolis, Alabama, on April 15, and he’s now cruising down the Gulf Coast of Florida, aiming to complete the 5,600 mile Loop in two to four months. “I thought this would be a good way to celebrate my 80th…

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New Jersey Couple Ride the Great Loop on Their Yamaha WaveRunner, and Love It

By Peter Janssen on April 25, 2019 On Watch with Peter Janssen

When most people start planning a cruise on the Great Loop, they have to decide whether they want to do it on a 30-foot, 40-foot or even a 50-foot boat or more. Not John Cacciutti, a builder of luxury vacation homes from Ocean City, New Jersey. Cacciutti thinks outside the box. He and Barbie Evangelisti, his riding partner, are doing the 5,800-mile Great Loop on their Yamaha WaveRunner. And they’ve already put 1,700 Loop miles behind them. Cacciutti and Evangelisti are not the first people to do the Loop on a PWC. Indeed, Larry Harcum completed the Loop in 87…

Living the Dream: Mystic Moon Cruises Up to Glacier Bay, Alaska

By Peter Janssen on April 18, 2019 On Watch with Peter Janssen

John and Kathy Youngblood have just left Glacier Bay, one of the most beautiful spots in the world, on their 2004 Selene 53 Mystic Moon. The picture above shows Kathy in front of Reid Glacier, one of the 50 named glaciers there; it’s 11 miles long. The Youngbloods have cruised some 35,000 nm on Mystic Moon in the Caribbean and the Pacific, so they’re not easily impressed by the works of nature. But when they were leaving Glacier Bay a few days ago they quoted one of their friends who talked about “such beauty so close to home.” They wrote on…

After Three Months in Mexico, the Schultes Head South on Their Grand Banks 42 Bumfuzzle

By Peter Janssen on April 11, 2019 On Watch with Peter Janssen

After three months in Mexico, Pat Schulte, his wife Ali, daughter Ouest, 9, and son Lowe, 7, are heading south on their 1986 Grand Banks 42 Bumfuzzle, continuing to live the dream, no matter what country they’re in. They arrived in Isla Mujeres from Key West in January. Pat took the boat over by himself since Ali and the kids were back home in Minnesota visiting family. (That wasn’t exactly the way they planned it, but a weather window opened up, and he took advantage of it.) They enjoyed their time there, touring the Yucatan, celebrating Carnaval (it was pretty…

The Hamiltons Cruise from Amsterdam up to Sweden on Their Nordhavn 52

By Peter Janssen on April 4, 2019 On Watch with Peter Janssen

The worldwide cruising adventures of James and Jennifer Hamilton continue, as the Seattle couple arrived earlier this week in the Swedish town of Kalmar on the Baltic Sea on their Nordhavn 52 Dirona. Pushing the season, they left Amsterdam at 0500 on March 19, with frost on the deck, to head for a spring and summer in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The Hamiltons had been in Amsterdam for five months, and they wrote on their blog that it was time to go. “We’re loving being underway again. It’s been such a long time since we were at sea.” They hit…

New Zurn 60 Powercat, Filled with Light, Space and Innovation

By Peter Janssen on March 27, 2019 On Watch with Peter Janssen

With his new Zurn 60 Powercat, Doug Zurn has definitely stepped out of the box – again. There’s a lot going on in this boat, originally designed for an experienced ocean-cruising owner, from its innovative layout to its 23-knot top speed, but the main themes are privacy, space and light. Ever since he drew the first Shelter Island Runabout two decades ago, Zurn has designed low-profile, long-sheerline, Downeast-style boats with generous tumblehome, head-turning looks and head-snapping performance. Bob Johnstone saw that boat and had Zurn design the first MJM, a 34z (the “z,” of course, is for Zurn), in 2003.…

Popular Palm Beach Boat Show Opens March 28 with Strong Showing of New Cruising Powerboats

By Peter Janssen on March 20, 2019 On Watch with Peter Janssen

The increasingly popular Palm Beach International Boat Show starts next Thursday, March 28, and runs through Sunday, March 31. The show’s location, in downtown Palm Beach along the Intracoastal Waterway, makes it easy to get to and easy to enjoy; it does not have the logistics problems and large crowds that hampered the big Miami shows last month. It also has the reputation as both a buyer’s and seller’s show, as people get ready for the spring and summer boating seasons. As a result, it will have a strong showing of a wide variety of new cruising powerboats. This will…

Is Your Boat Smarter Than You Are?

By Peter Janssen on March 14, 2019 On Watch with Peter Janssen

We already have smart phones, smart cars, and perhaps even smart refrigerators. Now we’re getting smart boats too. Consider this: Numarine will introduce its new 78HTS as “the world’s most innovative smart yacht” at the Palm Beach International Boat Show, starting March 28. The boat actually was displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January to promote its new artificial intelligence systems worked out with Furrion, the luxury innovation company. The Numarine 78 (pictured above) is indeed smart. On board, you can interact with Angel, a virtual onboard concierge, and with a series of Smart Mirrors that…

Florida Couple “Enjoyed Every Second of Every Day” on Great Loop. Plan To Do It Again

By Peter Janssen on March 7, 2019 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Steve and Jane McKinney just completed the Great Loop in Sabbatical, their 1988 Albin 36, crossing their wake just north of red day beacon 74 in Charlotte Harbor in Florida. The trip took 369 days and lasted for 6,845 miles, and they had such a good time they’re going to do it again. “We enjoyed every second of every day,” Jane told me. The McKinneys are not life-long cruisers. Indeed, they didn’t start thinking about the Loop until two years ago. They’d been married for 33 years and have four grown children, and they were approaching a time in life…

Virginia Couple Cruises Puget Sound on Their Brand-New Ranger Tugs 29

By Peter Janssen on February 28, 2019 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Before last summer, Jackie and Mike Quinn did most of their boating near home in Hampton, Virginia. They live in an inlet there, and they’d take day cruises on the James River or the lower Chesapeake on their 24-foot Crownline. But last August they expanded their cruising area, by about 2,900 miles. They spent five days cruising Puget Sound in Washington State on their brand-new, red-hulled Ranger Tugs R-29 CB, as part of Ranger’s Pacific Northwest Factory Delivery Experience. They loved it. “We had a great factory delivery experience and continue to have an awesome post-delivery experience,” they told me…

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