On Watch with Peter Janssen

Tiara Yachts Has Reasons to Celebrate in 2024

By George Day on July 11, 2024 Cruising Life, On Watch with Peter Janssen

This year, Tiara Yachts has many reasons for celebration. The family owned and run company is marking the 50th anniversary of the Tiara brand and the new Tiara 54 EX, introduced at the 2024 Miami show, was named a Top Product by Boating Industry magazine. Tiara, based in Holland, Michigan, was launched by Leon Slikkers in 1974 as a premium powerboat brand. It soon became one of America’s leading lines of center consoles and weekenders. Tiara was not the first brand introduced by Leon Slikkers. He learned the boat building trade while working at Chris Craft in the early 1950s…

Thank You, Peter, and Grand Banks Previews New GB 62

By George Day on July 11, 2024 Boat Reviews, On Watch With Peter Janssen, On Watch with Peter Janssen

Peter Janssen is absent from On Watch this week for the first time in almost eight years. He has retired at the venerable age of 88. As the co-founder and editor of the newsletter, he produced 400 editions and wrote more than four thousand articles. For a seasoned journalist, that is a lot. For a man already in his eighties when we founded Cruising Odyssey, the achievement is legendary. So, as I take the helm and steer Cruising Compass into its next chapter, I want to offer Peter my gratitude and appreciation for all he did and all he does.…

Riveting Video of Ferry Docking in Greece

By Peter Janssen on June 25, 2024 Cruising Life, On Watch with Peter Janssen

Don’t try this at home. But here’s a can’t-look-away video of a large ferry almost crashing into the bow of another ferry that’s already docked in the port of Tinos, Greece. The video starts with the sleek Super Runner Seajets ferry entering the harbor on its run from Mykonos, a popular route. Then the captain spins the Seajets around to make his stern-to docking, swinging cross the bow of an already docked red-hulled Fast Ferry Andros. The starboard stern quarter of the Seajets seems to pass just inches away from the Andros’ bow, as passengers watch from the foredeck. Social…

Sabre Building New 51 Salon Express

By Peter Janssen on June 18, 2024 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Sabre just announced that it’s making a new 51 Salon Express that will be launched in the fall of 2025. The Sabre 51 carries all the classic low-profile, long-sheer Downeast lines that mark the entire Sabre fleet, which now runs consists of a 38 , 43, 45, 48 and 58. The new 51 features social spaces from the cockpit to the foredeck providing lots of room for relaxing or entertaining on a sunset cruise or a two-week vacation. In a large yacht touch, there’s even a forward bench seat and a sunbed on the foredeck, while the cockpit has aft-facing…

CO Tests the New MJM 42 Express Cruiser

By George Day on June 13, 2024 Boat Reviews, On Watch with Peter Janssen, On Watch With Peter Janssen

By George Day Part One: Running fast and efficiently on the Pamilco River In early June, I travelled from Newport, Rhode Island, to Washington, North Carolina, to visit with our friends at MJM Yachts and to test drive the new MJM 42. Washington is an old southern town and port that sits on the edge of the Pamilico River. And, it is a boat building mecca. It has lovely late 18th Century architecture –rebuilt after Northern troops burned the town during the Civil War—and a picturesque waterfront with several marinas and a waterfront park. It was in a marina at…

Valhalla Building V-55 Sport Luxury Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on June 4, 2024 On Watch With Peter Janssen, On Watch with Peter Janssen

Valhalla Boatworks just announced that it’s building a V-55 Sport that will emphasize comfort, style and accommodations in a high-performance luxury cruising yacht. The V-55 represents a major move by Valhalla, part of Viking Yachts, which has concentrated on center console fishing boats since it was started in 2019. Pat Healey, the Viking president, made the announcement this week at a Viking and Valhalla dealer meeting in Atlantic City. “The V-55 Sport represents our ability to diversify within a model to meet the needs of more owners,” he said. “It takes the proven performance of our 55 hull and merges…

Ohio Billionaire Building New Sub for Titanic

By Peter Janssen on May 30, 2024 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Larry Connor, 74, has made billions as an Ohio real estate investor, but he’s also a record-setting skydiver, a NASA-certified astronaut, and a deep-sea diver. Now he wants to build a $30 million, 14-foot, state-of-the-art Triton submarine and dive down to the wreck of the Titanic. His partner on the two-person sub: Patrick Lahey, one of the most experienced submersible operators in the world who’s also the co-founder and CEO of Triton Submarines. Lahey believes in designing safe subs. Indeed, he has said that the OceanGate sub that imploded last June on its own dive to the Titanic, killing all…

Scout Building Largest Outboard Cruiser

By Peter Janssen on May 5, 2024 On Watch with Peter Janssen

Scout Boats is building what it says is the world’s largest outboard-powered cruising boat in its factory in Summerville, South Carolina. The new Scout 670 LXC is powered by five 600-hp Mercury V-12outboards, and it’s scheduled to be launched later this year. The Scout 670 has an LOA of 66’9”, which makes it 1’9” larger than the HCB Estrella 65, made in Knoxville, Tennessee, and powered by six 450-hp Mercury outboards. An earlier, and slightly smaller, HCB was featured in an episode of Billions, which never shied away from excess. The new 670 is the flagship of the Scout fleet,…

Martha Stewart’s Picnic Boat

By Peter Janssen on April 28, 2024 On Watch with Peter Janssen

It’s not a surprise that Martha Stewart, the doyenne of good taste in the United States for the past 30 years, owns an iconic Hinckley Picnic Boat. Indeed, she’s owned it for almost that long. The 36-foot-long Picnic Boat was the first boat Stewart ever owned, and she says “I learned how to drive it right from the get-go. It was the perfect size for me.” Stewart, if anything, is a hands-on person. After all, she won fame and fortune and created a media empire by showing the rest of us how to do things. Born 82 years ago in…

New 55-Knot AB 80: “Formula 1 of the Seas”

By Peter Janssen on April 23, 2024 Cruising Life, On Watch with Peter Janssen, On Watch With Peter Janssen

AB Yachts in Viareggio, Italy, just launched its latest AB 80, a luxury speedster that the company calls “a real Formula 1 car of the seas.” Powered by three 2,000-hp MAN V12 diesels, the sleek, silver and sporty AB 80 tops out at 55 knots. AB says it has a range of 500 nm at 45 knots, something few other builders can achieve. With a state-of-the-art aerodynamic design and a composite hull, the new AB 80 is designed for family trips, a very fast getaway, or simply an extra adrenaline rush. It can be run by an owner-operator or a…

Browsing: On Watch with Peter Janssen