On Watch with Peter Janssen

On Watch

By Peter Janssen on February 2, 2017 Destinations, On Watch with Peter Janssen

Moving On – and Moving Up – With a Dedicated Cruising Couple It would be hard to find a couple more committed to the cruising life than Jim and Lisa Favors. Indeed, they’ve been boating for most of their lives, starting with a 20-foot Four Winns in their home town of Traverse City, Michigan, moving up to a 32-foot Silverton, a 42-foot Silverton and finally a 40-foot Fathom trawler. They lived aboard the two 40-footers full-time for five years after Jim retired, completing the Great Loop once and returning to favorite spots to almost complete it a second time, cruising…

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

Report from New York: The Start of a Golden Age I’ve had a special fondness for Beneteau powerboats ever since I spent a week on a Beneteau Swift Trawler 34 a few years ago, cruising the Great Loop from the top of Lake Michigan down to St. Louis. There were two of us on board, and the living was easy, the 18-knot cruising speed sure and steady, and the boat’s contemporary French looks drew compliments everywhere we went. So, when I learned that a new Beneteau, the Grand Turismo GT49, was this year’s queen of the Progressive Insurance New York…

On Watch

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

New York Boat Show: Keeping the Dream Alive by Peter A. Janssen Even when I was living on my Grand Banks at Norwalk Cove, Connecticut, in the middle of winter, I always looked forward to the New York Boat Show each January. It’s easy to get a bit discouraged when the dock lines are covered with ice and the side decks are under a few inches of snow, but then I’d dig out my boat shoes and head for the show. It was, of course, an opportunity to see a lot of new boats and boating stuff, but what was…

Dreaming Large on an Aspen 40 Power Cat: 10,000 nm Around the U.S.

By Peter Janssen on January 12, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Dreaming Large on an Aspen 40 Power Cat: 10,000 nm Around the U.S. by Peter A. Janssen How’s this for a shakedown cruise? This May, David Jenkins, who usually cruises on his Albermarle 27 out of Annapolis, will buy a new Aspen 40 power catamaran in Seattle, and then he and Capt. Blake Eder, his brother-in-law and professional delivery captain, will embark on their “shakedown cruise” from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska, looking for an adventure. I’ve taken that trip several times and I can guarantee two things: 1) It’s one hell of a shakedown cruise, and 2) they’ll certainly find…

By Peter Janssen on January 5, 2017 On Watch with Peter Janssen

TRENDING NOW: MORE OUTBOARDS ON CRUISING BOATS by Peter Janssen Who knows what the new year will bring. I personally can’t wait for the Miami show next month to at least get a taste of what’s in store to make cruising easier, safer and more fun. But I already know one thing for sure. The trend toward outboard power, even in cruising boats, will only get stronger and stronger. The reasons are easy enough: Outboards are now increasingly powerful, quiet, fuel-efficient, easy to use, easy to maintain, easy to replace. They open up space under the salon or cockpit that…

Happy Holidays from Cruising Odyssey

By Peter Janssen on December 23, 2016 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Big Changes in Miami

By Peter Janssen on December 15, 2016 On Watch with Peter Janssen

BIG CHANGES IN MIAMI by Peter Janssen The Miami boat shows, yes, both of them, won’t be the same this year. The big yacht show along Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, which has been free for years, now will charge $20 admission. And the National Marine Manufacturers Association/Progressive Insurance boat show leaders say they have learned from last year, when they moved from the Miami Beach Convention Center down to the marine stadium on Virginia Key, and promise to have many more free shuttle buses and larger water taxis to make it easier to get down there. Both shows run…

The Right Stuff

By Peter Janssen on December 8, 2016 On Watch with Peter Janssen

How’s this for a trans-Atlantic adventure? Chris Bertish, a 42-year-old world champion surfer, just left Morocco on a SUP (although a very tricked-out SUP) and plans to arrive in Miami some four months and 4,600 miles from now with stops in the Canaries and the BVI along the way. Oh, and Bertish, who’s already set some SUP distance records, will be doing this solo, all by himself, with no support from anyone at all. The last time anyone tried to do a solo trans-Atlantic on an SUP a year ago he had to be rescued after less than a day…

What’s Next for Cuba?

By Peter Janssen on December 1, 2016 On Watch with Peter Janssen

What are the chances you’ll ever see the picture above, in person? It’s the entrance to Marina Hemingway, the largest marina in Cuba, lying about eight miles west of Havana and about 100 nm from Key West. Until the past few weeks, I’d say the chances were pretty good, if you had wanted to go there. Indeed, last year President Obama himself went to Cuba in an effort to normalize relations, the U.S. opened an embassy in Havana, and the Administration eased regulations restricting travel, banking and even recreational boating. It seemed that Cuba, with 3,000 miles of coastline, scores…

The First Thanksgiving

By Peter Janssen on November 23, 2016 On Watch with Peter Janssen

. The voyage from Plymouth, England, to Cape Cod took the Mayflower 66 days, and for most of them the 102 passengers and 30 crew on board were cold and miserable. The fall weather was often brutal, the aging 100-foot-long square rigger couldn’t sail into the prevailing westerlies, and it leaked. The Mayflower finally dropped anchor off Cape Cod on Nov, 27, 1620, and everyone spent that winter on the boat; half of them died of malnutrition or exposure. The next spring Squanto, a Pawtuxet who spoke English (he had been kidnapped by a British sea captain), got the Pilgrims…

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