On Watch with Peter Janssen

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By Peter Janssen on March 1, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Aspen Power Cat Arrives in New Orleans in Middle of the Night: “Crazy Boating” on the Mississippi By Peter A. Janssen A year ago, when he was planning a 10,000-mile tour around the United States on his then still-being-built Aspen C120 power cat, David Jenkins told me that he and Larry Graf, the company’s founder, president and “chief adventurer,” had to make a decision. Basically, how to get the boat from the west coast of Mexico to the Gulf coast of the United States. They looked at the normal route, through the Panama Canal, but decided it would take too…

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

Report from Miami: “Bigger is Better,” More Outboards Than Ever, and “A Very Robust Market” By Peter A. Janssen Whatever else was going on (and a lot was going on), the people at Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats hit a home run at the Miami International Boat Show on Virginia Key. They had a bigger display than ever before, with three models from each brand, and there were people than ever before. “It was a great show for both brands,” said Sam Bisset, the communications director for Ranger and Cutwater, “and there were certainly buyers in the crowds.” Based in…

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

Miami Show Opens Big: More Boats, More People, More Enthusiasm By Peter A. Janssen The Miami International Boat Show got underway under beautiful blue skies with more people, more boats, more outboards, more hybrids, more cats and more enthusiasm that I’ve seen in a long time. The mood on the docks, and in the lines waiting for water taxis and shuttle buses to and from the show at Virginia Key, was distinctly upbeat. Power boating has been coming back lately. The Lauderdale show in November was the best in years, the New York show last month was so good that…

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

You Can See More Cruising Boats than Ever at the Miami Shows Next Week. Here Are Our Reviews of 38 of Them By Peter A. Janssen It would be hard to find a larger or more impressive display of new cruising boats anywhere in the world than what you can see in Miami next week. At the ever-larger Miami International Boat Show on Virginia Key, you’ll find more than 1,400 boats (including many more in the 40- to 80-foot range), while at the Miami Yacht Show up on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, there are 500 more. (And that’s not…

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

You Can See More Cruising Boats than Ever at the Miami Shows Next Week. Here Are Our Reviews of 37 of Them By Peter A. Janssen It would be hard to find a larger or more impressive display of new cruising boats anywhere in the world than what you can see in Miami next week. At the ever-larger Miami International Boat Show on Virginia Key, you’ll find more than 1,400 boats (including many more in the 40- to 80-foot range), while at the Miami Yacht Show up on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, there are 500 more. (And that’s not…

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By Peter Janssen on February 1, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Cruising the Bahamas on Bumfuzzle: The Schulte Family Stays on the Move By Peter A. Janssen Pat Schulte says that he and his wife Ali are “not ones to settle down.” That’s a considerable understatement. In fact, ever since they quit their jobs in Chicago in 2003, they’ve been on the move, sailing around the world, driving from Alaska to Argentina, and now cruising the Bahamas on their 1986 Grand Banks 42 Bumfuzzle with their two children. And loving every minute of it. While he was still in college in Chicago, Schulte started working in the commodities pit as trader.…

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By Peter Janssen on January 25, 2018 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Revolutionary New Hybrid Propulsion System on Adler Suprema 76: Cross the Atlantic at 8 Knots Without Refueling By Peter A. Janssen In a major move forward for hybrid technology, the Adler Suprema 76 now has a trans-Atlantic range of 3,400 nm on a single tank of fuel at 8 knots, using its own propulsion system combining electric, hybrid or twin diesel power. Adler’s new HMS (Hybrid Marine Solutions) lets the captain choose among the three systems, but its default mode is fully automatic, and the boat simply accelerates through the most efficient system at the time. The new carbon-fiber, semi-displacement…

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

Fishermen Jump Over the Side as Bayliner Runs Into Their Boat: Frightening Video By Peter A. Janssen This is one of the most graphic, you-are-there videos I’ve ever seen, a real nightmare that easily could have been fatal, but wasn’t. We know about it because it was captured, from start to finish, by a GoPro camera mounted on the deck of a 20-foot Weldcraft fishing boat that was run down by a 31-foot Bayliner near the mouth of the Columbia River last summer. Although the circumstances here may be unique, because we can see them unfold in real time, this…

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

Fountaine Pajot MY 44 Named Best Passagemaker in London Awards Ceremony By Peter A. Janssen When he took us (George Day, our publisher, and me) through the new Fountaine Pajot MY 44 at the Fort Lauderdale boat show two months ago, Laurent Fabre, the U.S. head of the French company, talked about the “wow factor,” particularly the owner’s stateroom in the cat’s port hull. He was right; you could hold a party down there. But we thought then that the “wow factor” applied to the whole boat – and now a lot of other people agree with us. In fact,…

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By Peter Janssen on January 3, 2018 Miami Boat Show, On Watch with Peter Janssen

Here’s a Guide to the Big Miami Shows (All of Them) in February By Peter A. Janssen You’ll find lot of changes at the Miami boat shows (all of them) next month. The big yacht show along Collins Avenue has rebranded itself so it’s now officially called the Miami Yacht Show, although it’s in exactly the same place but with some nicer amenities. It also has a sub-show for superyachts, available by invitation only, down on Watson Island. Meanwhile, the big Miami Boat Show down on Virginia Key, which used to be only for powerboats, now has incorporated what used…

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