Yacht Iza, a 38-foot Voyage Cat, takes in the scenery from Engenho Beach in Paraty Brazil. Submitted by Nicola James, who has been cruising with her husband and two daughters for the past 15 months.
Got a cool cruising shot to share? Send it to us at cruisingcompass@bwsailing.com.
Now this is what we call the cruising life! This couple’s story is certainly inspiring, especially to all the cruisers out there who really want to quit the rat race and hit the open seas.
After an incredible four decades enjoying life on the ocean wave, Bill and Laurel Cooper have now berthed back home in Blighty, England for good. The intrepid couple, who are in their 80s, have traveled around the world four times on boats they built themselves – ever since Bill quit his high-flying city job on a whim and they sold their home in 1976.
In 36 years at sea they have notched up 100,000 nautical miles, sailed across seven seas, traveled 22,000 miles along canals and rivers, and have dropped anchor in 45 different countries. They have navigated 25 ft. waves, hurricanes, 100 mph winds and got close enough to dolphins, sharks and whales to “smell their halitosis”.
But now health problems have forced Bill, 83, to hang up his captain’s hat. He and Laurel, 82, are now moored on the River Medway at Rochester, Kent, to see out their days on Faraway their 40 ft. houseboat. Continue reading
We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again; pay attention to weather advisories and make sure you have proper emergency equipment on board. This incident could have been very easily avoided!
Three people who braved strong winds off Cedar Key, Florida on Sunday afternoon to go sailing were pulled from the water 11 hours later after rescuers found them clinging to their overturned boat.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the boaters, ages 53, 40, and 16, had sailed into the Gulf on a 16-foot-long fiberglass catamaran.
Coast Guard officials declined to release the boaters’ names but said at least two of them were from Michigan.
A small-craft advisory had been issued by the National Weather Service on Sunday, meaning that winds had reached 20 to 33 knots and seas were at or above 7 feet high, said Todd Barron, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Ruskin. Continue reading
There are bad days, and then there are really, really, really bad days!
The Proteksan-Turquoise designed and built super-yacht, YOGI, sank Friday morning off the coast Skyros, a small Greek island located in Aegean Sea. (Click here for video)
The 197.5 foot super-yacht, which has only been up for charter since the summer of 2011, was reportedly in the area for “minor warranty” work when it suffered a mechanical failure, began to list, and eventually sank. Luckily the Hellenic Coast Guard was on scene with a Super Puma helicopter and was able to get everyone off safely. Continue reading
The UK’s Oyster Marine has been bought by HTP Investments, a Dutch investment firm owned by entrepreneurs Wim de Pundert and Klaas Meertens. The acquisition includes the Oyster Group companies Oyster Marine Ltd, Oyster Brokerage Ltd and Southampton Yacht Services Ltd.
Commenting on the deal Klaas Meertens said, “As investors, we are delighted to have the opportunity to add such a strong and prestigious British brand to our select portfolio of companies and have every confidence in Oyster’s CEO, David Tydeman and the existing management team to take the business forward. For myself and Wim, this is a personal acquisition and a long term investment. We look forward to working with David and the team to develop Oyster’s strategy for the future and build on the success the whole team at Oyster has achieved over the last three years.” Continue reading
They lived a sailing life, even owned and operated a sailing business, then sailed off from Australia’s Whitsundays inside the Great Barrier Reef to live and sail in the waters off Malaysia. So how did experienced sailor Carmel Brookes, from Brisbane in Queensland, come to fall off her boat in comparatively calm and pleasant waters and be lost to the sea, her body never found?
Many cruising sailors confess to having nightmares about being in the water and watching their yacht sailing away without them. It’s a nightmare that makes you clip on, and when alone on board, have your inflating life jacket on as well. How could such an experienced sailor fall overboard, as reported, while on a night watch, 53 nautical miles from Phuket?
But she did and now her grief stricken partner is sailing their boat, Moondancer, back to Penang, after the search was called off for locating her body.
Brookes, 60, and her partner Dr. Gerry Goeden were business partners in the sailing business Whitsunday Escape and lived in Airlie Beach on Australia’s golden sailing area behind the Great Barrier Reef for about ten years. In 2007, they sailed to Penang in Malaysia where they settled. Continue reading
Maryland is considering raising its boat registration fees by at least 100 percent for all boats. Is this too much or should Maryland boaters consider themselves lucky for not having seen an increase in fees for nearly 30 years?
A state proposal to raise boat registration fees for the first time in nearly three decades has dismayed many boat owners.
A bill filed last week in Annapolis would replace the flat $24 boat registration fee paid every two years with fees ranging from $50 to $700, depending on the size of the boat. The increases would be phased in over four years, beginning in October, for Maryland’s 191,000 registered boat owners.
“What’s the benefit? Or is it just one more way to raise revenue for the state? No wonder people move out of Maryland,” said Jesse Buckwalter, who keeps his 25-foot sport fishing boat in the driveway of his home in the Eastport section of Annapolis. “It seems exorbitant.” Continue reading
We wonder if dry suits might have been a better option here and how much sunscreen these ladies must have needed!
Rowing across the Atlantic Ocean may be an extreme test of human endurance but an all female crew who completed the feat discovered a secret tactic to ease the physical burden — rowing nude.
“We spent a lot of time rowing naked because when the sea water gets inside your clothes it increases friction against your skin which can cause sores,” says Debbie Beadle, Skipper of the Row for Freedom team.
“If you row naked it means you don’t rub as much and you also get dry much quicker instead of constantly having wet clothes,” she adds.
The unconventional ploy worked to perfection as Beadle and her fellow crew members — Julia Immonen, Katie Pattison-Hart, Kate Richardson and Helen Leigh — smashed the existing Atlantic crossing record for a boat of five rowers, taking just 45 days. Continue reading
Yikes! These guys were lucky they were able to get away.
An inflatable fishing boat survived an attack by a great white shark off Strandfontein, South Africa. The boat was anchored two miles out to sea when the shark attacked. Its crew was fishing for smooth hound sharks, which are preyed upon by great whites.
One of the passengers had just pulled a smooth hound onto the boat when a great white stuck its head out of the water and took hold of the side of the boat. The shark bit down, puncturing the boat, held on and thrashed for over a minute.
The boat, 26 ft. long and 10 ft. wide, was carrying five passengers and its two owners, Kevin Overmeyer and Chad Battle.
Graham Classen, one of the passengers, said, “I was less than an arm’s length away from the shark and all I could see were its giant rows of teeth. When it thrashed back and forth it shook the boat.” Continue reading
Less than 200 miles off the coast of Florida lies a true sailor’s paradise steeped in history and lore. And Dream Yacht Charter can take you there. With 29 islands, 661 cays and nearly 2,400 islets to explore, The Bahamas will delight you with mild climate, steady winds and laid back Caribbean culture. Select one of our meticulously maintained boats and enjoy the personal service from our experienced team when you embark from Marsh Harbour on your Bahamian adventure. Dream Yacht Charter operates the largest fleet of luxury Catana Catamarans in the world (from 41 to 65 feet), as well as pristine monohulls and power-yachts. These are available as bareboat, skippered, or fully crewed luxury charters. The company also offers By The Cabin Sailing Vacations packages. Dream Yacht Charter offers you choices; your choice of yacht, management and brokerage programs to suit every sailor’s requirements. With guaranteed income, generous personal use of your own boat or one at any of our 34 locations around the world. Sail the places you’ve only dreamed of with Dream Yacht Charter. More info at: www.DreamYachtCharter.com.
What is your one can’t live without item of clothing or foul weather gear when cruising?
Leave your comments in the box below and your response may be featured in the May issue of BWS.
This is good news for boaters and everyone else who relies on GPS for navigation and safety equipment.
U.S. officials plan to kill a proposal to build a new national high-speed wireless network after concluding it would in some cases jam personal-navigation and other GPS devices.
The Federal Communications Commission sought comments last week on revoking LightSquared’s permit after a federal agency that coordinates wireless signals, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, concluded that there’s no way to eliminate the risk of interference with GPS devices.
The FCC had seen LightSquared’s proposal as a way to make more airwaves available to feed consumers’ appetites for movies, music and games on a variety of mobile devices.
Makers of GPS devices and those who rely on them feared that GPS signals would suffer the way a radio station can get drowned out by a stronger broadcast in a nearby channel. The problem is that sensitive GPS receivers, designed to pick up relatively weak signals from space, could be overwhelmed by high-power signals from as many as 40,000 LightSquared transmitters on the ground. LightSquared planned to transmit on a frequency adjacent to that used by GPS. Continue reading
Captain John of www.skippertips.com shares his docking a boat secrets on backing and filling.
Learn to dock a boat smooth and easy once you how to twist–or pivot–your small sailboat inside a tight space. Know this and you will be able to turn around, back into a slip, or change direction within the length of your boat. Use these easy steps to master this boat handling technique.
Pivot Your Boat with Rudder and Engine
Use backing and filling to turn your small sailboat in a distance almost equal to her length. Practice this in an open space before you try it in a narrow, confined area like a canal, marina, or tight channel. Continue reading
Last summer I signed on to crew aboard the brand new Beneteau Oceanis 45 on the delivery leg between the Newport, RI boat show and the Norwalk, CT boat show. It’s a run of about 140 miles across Block Island Sound and down Long Island Sound, which we planned to do in a straight shot through the night. That sounded like fun and would be a great way to get to really test the new Berret-Racoupeau designed cruising sloop.
But Irene got in the way. She was a wicked fall hurricane that slammed into mid-Atlantic and New England coastlines and left in her wake a mass of waterborne debris. Everything from trees to refrigerators could be found floating in the waters along the coast, so we made the decision to make the delivery a two-day affair. Continue reading
The new Navi Light 360˚ is a cost-effective, super bright LED light that is visible in darkness up to 5nm. Its high burn time, small size, waterproof qualities and ability to float make it a convenient and cost-effective addition to any cruiser’s arsenal! Visit www.ab-marine.com for more information.
With more than 400 power and sailboats on display in-water and onshore from March 22nd-25th in Houston, Texas, the South West International Boat Show will showcase the very best in sailing and boating. This year, BWS is proudly sponsoring a series of seminars that cover all facets of the cruising lifestyle, from the magic of discovering exotic new ports around the world to the must-have knowledge of staying safe and healthy at sea.
Seminars are included in the price of show admission and will be held at the South Shore Harbour Resort & Conference Center. Respected experts and skippers, best-selling authors and world cruisers will share their tales of adventures and expert advice about the boating lifestyle. Continue reading
Crusader Yacht Sales invites everyone to its 22nd Annual Open House at the Port Annapolis Marina on Saturday, March 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. New boats from Tartan, C & C, and Bruckmann will be on display along with used boats. There will be seminars on How to Buy a Boat and How to Sell a Boat, and C & C factory representatives will be on hand to discuss the latest news. St. Patrick’s Day refreshments will be served. For more information, go to www.crusaderyachts.com.
Entry for the Rolex Swan Cup is now officially open for 2012. Held every two years since 1984, the world famous yacht racing regatta sits at the pinnacle of the Nautor’s Swan calendar attracting Swan yachts from the across globe to congregate for seven days of sailing and socializing.
The esteemed Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, known as the spiritual home to Nautor’s Swan, will again host the Swan fleets within Italian waters. Competitors will experience the glamor of Porto Cervo, Sardinia with the event stretching from September 10th to the 16th.
The Swan fleets comprising of current and more traditional styles across a diverse range of sizes will again be run as four different race classes. For many race crews it is the ultimate event to win in their specific class with a competitive approach to claiming some of the world’s most stunning silverware. The most eye catching of trophies, the Gold Cup, is awarded to the top Swan 45 yacht. The Rolex Swan Cup includes the Swan 45 World Championships, producing an intense set of races and jubilant victor. Continue reading
This should be a great time for a great cause!
Cruise for Life is a unique, one-of-a-kind fundraising event taking place on July 28 in Provincetown, MA to support cancer research and compassionate patient care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and other New England based cancer centers. Set up as a “Boat-a-thon” for Power and Sail boats alike, similar in nature to the Pan Mass Bike Challenge, participants will raise money from sponsors, with proceeds donated to the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Cruise for Life is actively looking for Skippers to enter their boats, crew/participants, yacht club and corporate sponsors and donations from anyone who cares to help fight cancer and support cancer research. Currently the Blue Water Sailing Club and the Jubilee Yacht Club have signed on as supporting yacht clubs. Boats will arrive in Provincetown on July 28th and share in the “Celebration of Life” tented, on-the-water extravaganza where participants will be treated to a Lobster Bake and Southern Style BBQ by the award winning team at New England BBQ & Catering and live music from “Unity”, one of the Northeast’s favorite party bands. Participants will hear inspirational speeches and presentations from doctors, patients, survivors, researchers and others who spend their lives working on and dreaming of a world without cancer. Awards and Prizes will be presented throughout the night to the top fundraising boat, individual, Yacht Club and more. Continue reading
Wow, this product is sure make waves in green cruising! In fact it won two awards in Miami, the West Marine Innovation Award and the NMMA Green Product of the Year Award.
Just as he promised at the 2010 Fort Lauderdale boat show, Capt. Bernardo J. Herzer’s Los Angeles-based Lehr Inc. has debuted two propane-powered outboards – 5-hp and 2.5-hp models – at the Miami International Boat Show.
“I’m an inventor,” Herzer said. “I developed this technology in a number of industries (lawnmowers, weed trimmers, leaf blowers, motor scooters), but my passion is to bring it to boats.”
Formerly the captain of an oceanographic vessel, Herzer said he saw firsthand the destruction technology has wreaked on the oceans, in particular the use of factory ships in fishing, so he decided to do something. Continue reading
