On Watch with Peter Janssen

On Watch

By Peter Janssen on May 10, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Unlawful Search Part 2. Can Local Officials Stop and Search Your Boat, Even If They Have No Reason To Think You’ve Done Anything Wrong? Or Are They Violating Your Fourth Amendment Rights? What Do You Think? By Peter A. Janssen Last week we wrote about Frederick Karash, 37, of North East, Pennsylvania, who was fishing with four friends on his 23-foot boat in Lake Erie two years ago when he was stopped by an officer with the Pennsylvania Fish and Game Commission who checked to see everyone had fishing licenses. They did, but the officer then conducted a safety inspection…

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By Peter Janssen on May 3, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Lake Erie Boater Fights $75 Fine for Missing PFD, Says State Violated His Fourth Amendment Rights By Peter A. Janssen Here’s a court case that challenges our thinking about our constitutional right against unlawful search and seizure vs the enforcement of standard boating safety. But first, the facts: On May 23, 2016, Frederick W. Karash, 37, of North East, Pennsylvania, was fishing with four friends on Lake Erie on his 23-foot boat. At 7:30 p.m. James Smolko, an officer with the Pennsylvania Fish and Game Commission, who was patrolling the lake, stopped Karash’s boat to check for fishing licenses. After…

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

After 48,350 Miles, Mystic Moon Cruises to Japan and Needs Help from Google Translator By Peter A. Janssen As even the most experienced long-range cruisers can attest, when you’re in foreign ports it helps to have a sense of humor, a lot of patience, and a handy Google Translator. At least that’s been the case for John and Kathy Youngblood on their 2004 Selene 53 Mystic Moon during their stay at Marinoa Marina in Fukuoka, Japan. But to start at the beginning… In 2003, the Youngbloods went to the Seattle boat show with the idea that they wanted to cruise around the…

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By Peter Janssen on April 19, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Aspen Power Cats Working on Two New Cruisers with Outboard Power, but Same Proa Hulls By Peter A. Janssen Aspen Power Catamarans is working on two new outboard-powered cruising boats, a first for the company, but they still will have Larry Graf’s innovative asymmetrical proa hulls. They also will be Aspen’s first twin-engine cruisers, and they join a growing trend to outboard power for cruising boats up to the 50-foot range. The new Aspens will start with a 3070 and a 3480 (pictured above). The 3070 will have a 200-hp outboard on the cat’s larger starboard hull providing the main…

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By Peter Janssen on April 12, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Maine Builder Back Cove Planning Its First Outboard-Powered Boat, a 34O, with Twin 300-hp Yamahas By Peter A. Janssen There’s big news this week from Back Cove, the Maine company that’s been building single-engine, diesel-powered cruising boats since 2003: It is now working on the Back Cove 34O, and the O stands for outboard power, as in two 300-hp Yamahas. The boat will be ready for sea trials in August and will make an appearance at the fall shows. This is a big change for Back Cove, which is part of Sabre, and an acknowledgement that the market, even for…

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By Peter Janssen on April 5, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Energy Observer Starts a Tour of the World, Powered by Hydrogen Produced from Seawater By Peter A. Janssen The first vessel in the world to produce hydrogen from seawater, Energy Observer, which looks a bit like something from outer space, just crossed from Marseille, France, to Corsica at the start of its six-year, 50-country trip around the world. It will spend this summer cruising the Med, and ultimately will make it to the Americas in 2020. Energy Observer was launched last April in Saint-Malo, pictured above, and made the first of its planned 101 stops around the world in Paris.…

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By Peter Janssen on March 29, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

The Best of Both Worlds: A Kadey-Krogen 39 in the Pacific Northwest, and a Ranger Tugs 27 Anywhere East of the Mississippi By Peter A. Janssen John and Laurie Gray could easily serve as role models for the rest of us. They keep their big boat, Tribute, a 2004 Kadey-Krogen 39 pilothouse trawler, at their home port of Everett, Washington, just above Seattle. And they keep Trilogy, which they call “our other boat,” a 2012 Ranger Tugs 27, on a trailer almost anywhere east of the Mississippi River, ready to go cruising when and where the mood strikes. The Grays…

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

Hinckley Building All-New, Carbon-Fiber, Outboard-Powered Line of 42-foot Sport Boats. A 63-mph Hinckley? By Peter A. Janssen Hinckley is on a roll. Last September it launched the first luxury all-electric, carbon-fiber 28-foot Dasher, named after hull number one of its iconic Picnic Boat, at the Newport boat show. Now, on the opening day of the Palm Beach show, it said it is building an entirely new line of carbon-fiber, outboard-powered, 42-foot sport boats. Powered by standard three 300-hp Mercury Verados, the company said the boats will top out at 52 mph, while two monster 667-hp Seven Marine outboards will push…

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By Peter Janssen on March 22, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Dashews End Quest for Functional Power Boats; Will Go Cruising Instead By Peter A. Janssen After more than a decade, Steve (Skip) and Linda Dashew are throwing in the towel. They are no longer designing or building their iconic FPB (Functional Power Boats) line of aluminum-hulled, long-range cruisers. Dashew wrote on their blog, “The time has come for us to do some cruising. Although we would have rather had the FPB marque continue, we simply could not find an approach that guaranteed our standards would be upheld.” The Dashews have been cruising together around the world for abut 40 years,…

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By Peter Janssen on March 15, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Legendary Alaskan Long-Range Cruisers Staging a Comeback By Peter A. Janssen Alaskan yachts, the legendary, long-range, Art DeFever-designed trawlers, just got a shot in the arm. Seattle Yachts announced that they bought the Alaskan brand and hired Phil Friedman, the former CEO of Palmer Johnson, to modernize and reintroduce the lineup, starting with a new 66-footer. Friedman, who just finished construction of a semi-custom 80-footer in Taiwan, where the new Alaskans will be built, said the cruisers will embody “value engineering” by concentrating on things that are core to the boat’s mission. “Our primary objective is to deliver a rugged,…

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