On Watch with Peter Janssen

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By Peter Janssen on December 21, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

How Will the New Tax Law Affect Boat Owners? By Peter A. Janssen The other shoe has dropped. The House and Senate worked out their differences and passed the new tax reform package, and President Trump just signed it. Here’s what it means to boat owners: Second-Home Deduction: The new law preserves the mortgage interest deduction on first and second homes (and boats and RVs that have the equivalent of a bedroom, bathroom and cooking facilities), but it lowers the cap from $1 million to $750,000 for new mortgages. It does not affect any existing mortgages. The preservation of this…

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By Peter Janssen on December 14, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Cruising to Remote but Beautiful Stuart Island in the San Juans on a Ranger Tug 29 By Peter A. Janssen One of the best things about cruising is that no matter how long you’ve done it, there’s always someplace new to go – a new island, a new cove, a new destination somewhere. Exploring places, seeing new things, having new experiences is basically what it’s all about. All this is particularly true for Jim and Lisa Favors, from Traverse City, Michigan, who’ve already done the Great Loop and trailered their Ranger Tugs 27 pocket cruiser across most of the U.S.,…

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By Peter Janssen on December 7, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Life on the Loop: Heading South for the Winter – Plus Brunch at Tacky Jack’s and Pizza and Popcorn for Dinner By Peter A. Janssen This is the time of year when the annual migration of cruising boats from the Great Lakes and Midwest reaches the Gulf Coast, having moved down the Mississippi and the Tombigbee, looking for warmer weather. The movement is timed to the end of the hurricane season, for insurance (as well as safety) reasons, and means that a large group of Loopers are now gathering in the Mobile and Pensacola area before cruising farther south around…

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By Peter Janssen on November 30, 2017 Cruising Life, On Watch with Peter Janssen

Holiday Boat Parades, from Virginia to California, With Advice About How To Stay Safe By Peter A. Janssen Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, it’s full speed ahead for the holiday season. And for boat owners, that means holiday boat parades, where people decorate their boats in everything from simple strands of lights to Hollywood-like productions filled with Santas and reindeer and almost anything else you can imagine. Most of the parades end, of course, with parties back on shore, which are at least half the fun. For those of us in the north, it’s getting too cold for…

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By Peter Janssen on November 23, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Will Boat Owners Lose a Tax Break? Or Will Tax Reform Put More Money in Your Pocket? By Peter A. Janssen Is owning a boat – or taking out a loan to own a boat – about to become more expensive? The answer is yes, according to the tax reform bill recently passed by the House. It would end the mortgage interest deduction for second homes (which also applies to boats and RVs, as long as they have facilities for sleeping, eating and bathing). The Senate version of the bill, passed by the Finance Committee last week, retains the current…

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By Peter Janssen on November 16, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

The Best Boats for Cruising the Loop: From 86 to 25 Feet By Peter A. Janssen The wide – and healthy – variety of U.S. cruising, particularly Great Loop cruising, has come into focus recently with two unrelated events. On the one hand, at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Outer Reef celebrated the debut of its 86-foot Deluxbridge Skylounge yacht, designed specifically for the Great Loop. On the other, Pat and Patty Anderson, a retired lawyer and school teacher from Birch Bay, Washington, celebrated their completion of the Loop, after 226 days, on their 12-year-old, 25-foot Cape Dory Daydream…

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By Peter Janssen on November 9, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Ensenada’s the Place to Be, with Pendana, Knot Wafflen’ and the CUBAR Boats All There at the Same Time By Peter A. Janssen One of the best things about cruising is the serendipity of it all. You never really know what’s going to happen next. One of the pleasures of cruising on a well-found boat is that you can act on a feeling, an impulse, or just a hope, and change course to take in something that looks new, different, enchanting. And you never know who you’ll run into along the way. That was certainly the case with James Ellingford,…

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By Peter Janssen on November 2, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Report from Fort Lauderdale: More Boats, More People and More Toys than Ever Before By Peter A. Janssen Put aside the super yachts with helicopters, or the 208-footer with six small boats (including a mahogany sloop) sitting as toys in the cockpit, or the 190-footer with the personal gym that slides out of its superstructure, or all the new Ferraris and Lambos parked along the face dock, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show actually has a lot going on the for the rest of us. In fact, the opening day, helped along with gorgeous weather and a lot of people…

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By Peter Janssen on October 26, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Looking for Fort Lauderdale – and More Memories I couldn’t possibly count the number of times I’ve flown down to Fort Lauderdale. I know that I’ve been going to the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show for more than 30 years, and the new one, starting Nov. 1, will be one more trip there. And in the old days, before Twitter, my magazine, Motor Boating & Sailing, had an office in Lauderdale, so I flew down from New York about every other week. (Actually, for many years the office was in very good hands; Peter Truslow, now the president of Bertram,…

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By Peter Janssen on October 19, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

SPECIAL REPORT: Fort Lauderdale Show, Plus Our Reviews of 34 New Boats You Can See There By Peter A. Janssen With new owners, new docks, new signs to help you get around and more boats than ever before, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show will open at a new time this year, starting on Wednesday, Nov. 1 and running through Sunday, Nov. 5. And you need to put on your walking shoes. This year the show will have 1,500 boats at seven different locations, although the main event is still centered at the Bahia Mar Resort and Yachting Center, where…

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