Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i Soundings

It’s not your imagination. The stuff is worse than ever. Sargassum, the stinky seaweed that blankets beaches, clogs canals and strangles boat propellers, is piling up at levels and in places that researchers have never seen. What began in 2011 as an annoying increase in sargassum blooms has become a seven-year trend that continues to worsen, to the point that news headlines now sound like doomsday scenarios. “Sargassum a potential natural disaster for Caribbean beaches,” Mexico News Daily warned. “Worst Seaweed Assault on Record,” The Palm Beach Post’s weather expert wrote. “Masses of Seaweed Threaten Fisheries,” NPR reported. In Barbados, a biologist documented 12-foot-tall sargassum piles along the shoreline. (Consider the height of your boat saloon’s ceiling, and think about that one for a moment.) This past June, researchers found…

38 MUST-SEE MODELS AT THIS AUTUMN'S MAJOR BOAT SHOWS It’s an exciting time to be a boat lover. Fueled by a robust economy, boatbuilders are churning out new models for watersports enthusiasts, hard-core anglers, weekend warriors, bluewater cruisers and, in some cases, all of the above. Here’s a look at 37 models that might hit your dreamboat sweet spot at this autumn’s boat shows. The Newport International Boat Show in Rhode Island is September 13-16, followed by the United States Powerboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, from October 11-14 and the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show from October 31 through November 4. We’ll see you on the docks, and, hopefully, on the boats. MJM 43z LOA: 46 feet, 3½ inches • BEAM: 12 feet • DISPLACEMENT: 18,960 pounds • DRAFT: 3…

An excerpt from Black Flags, Blue Waters by Eric Jay Dolin With the dramatic decline in piracy that took place along the American coast between 1719 and 1726, only a few pirates were bold and successful enough to leave a significant mark on history. One of the most fascinating was the notorious, despicable and arguably mentally deranged Edward Low. Born in London, Low went to sea at an early age and had made his way to Boston sometime around 1710. He became a rigger in a local shipyard, performing the often perilous high-wire work of equipping sailing vessels with the ropes, chains, and blocks and tackles necessary to make them seaworthy. In 1714, Low married Eliza Marble, joined the Second Church and was on his way to becoming a family…

New Diesel Inboards From Mercury Mercury Marine in August announced a line of new 3.0-liter diesel engines for the sterndrive, inboard and water jet markets. The lineup will include 150-, 230- and 270-hp models based on a six-cylinder power head. All three engines comply with Tier 3 emissions standards. They are compatible with Mercury’s SmartCraft technologies, which give owners instant access to a broad array of engine-related data, and also provide maintenance alerts and troubleshooting guidance. Integration with Mercury’s Joystick Piloting for Inboards and Joystick Piloting for Sterndrives is included. Mercury Marine, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, (920) 929-5040. mercurymarine.com Diesel Fuel Filter The Keenan Filter System from KTI Systems has maintenance, diagnostic and repair functions to polish fuel and switch filters. It warns boaters when the filter is clogged or…

Five years ago, Sam Merrett saw the Ceres on the Hudson River waterfront and had an epiphany. He’d grown up in the Hudson Valley, gone away to college in Ohio, opened Full Circle Fuels to convert diesel engines to use eco-friendly vegetable oil, and then moved his business back home. He’d been living in Hudson since 2010, working on community sailing projects and helping local kids build sailing prows, when the Ceres docked there in 2013 as part of the Vermont Sail Freight Project. “They built this homemade sailing boat in Vermont and sailed a load of cargo down to New York City,” Merrett recalls. “We hosted them in Hudson, and that was the moment when I said, ‘Wow, what a cool way to put everything I care about together…

Sam Temple grew up in a boatbuilding family — Joel White, the naval architect and boatbuilder was his grandfather — and started working at Rockport Marine in Rockport, Maine, when he was 11 years old. He continued working there throughout his school years. Temple did a stint at nearby Brooklin Boatyard and built a few small boats on his own while tending a sheep farm, before returning to Rockport Marine where he eventually took over the reins of the business from his stepfather Taylor Allen. Much of his boatbuilding knowledge was acquired from Allen, former Rockport Marine master shipwright John England and Brian Larkin at Brooklin Boatyard. Rockport Marine is renowned for its expertise in the design, construction and restoration of classic and modern wooden boats. Temple, his wife, and…

We’re doing about 25 knots on the Narragansett River, heading into steady 1- to 2-foot waves, when Peter O’Connell asks if I want to see his new Picnic Boat 40, Champlain, “put the brakes on.” I tell him I’d love to see it. He warns the rest of the crew to brace themselves, and with a flick of his wrist, he reverses the buckets on the boat’s jets. The impact is instant. The twin HamiltonJets switch their forward thrust, and the bow falls from its perch above the waves and drops deep into the water. The boat’s progress is completely stalled, the bow pops back up and the Picnic Boat is sitting still in the middle of the river. It took less than 4 seconds and four boat lengths. O’Connell,…

It’s well before dawn in Maine, and 15 miles offshore, in the early morning murk, a Jonesport lobster boat is getting ready to go to work. In “First Trap,” artist Robert Beck has captured the subtle atmosphere between night and morning: the diffused light, the lingering shadows, the chill in the air. “Things are fuzzy in the morning — portions of the men disappear into the shadows of the boat,” the artist says. He should know; he was there. “The sun was breaking through the clouds by the time we got to the first lines,” he recalls. “The two men paused to look out at the dramatic sunrise, and they commented about how beautiful it was, what a great place to work.” Beck agrees. There’s no place to paint like…

A Family-Friendly Boat Albemarle Boats is constructing a 27-foot dual console for boaters who want a family-friendly, versatile platform that can anchor at the sandbar, go for a dinner cruise or tackle offshore fishing. The 27DC can be powered by 200- or 250-hp Yamaha outboards with lounging space for family and friends at the bow, helm and cockpit. Below, the Albemarle 27DC’s starboard console will feature a 6-foot, 6-inch bunk and will be long enough to lock up rods and gear up to 8 feet in length. The port console interior will include a marine head, sink, countertop and storage closet. She is scheduled to debut this fall. albemarleboats.com In July, Jeanneau unveiled the new flagship in its NC model range: the 35-foot NC 1095. “In response to customer demand,…

SHE’S FAST, SHE’S BEAUTIFUL AND SHE’S FOR SALE Built in 2003, Ranger was the first modern J-Class sailing yacht. She won the 2010 St. Barths Bucket Regatta, the 2011 J Class Association Regatta and took first place in the 2015 IRC A Division at Les Voiles de St. Tropez Regatta. Like the original Ranger, the 1937 America’s Cup defender, she is built of steel, but unlike her predecessor, takes advantage of modern materials, including composite EC6 rigging and a carbon boom. With her classic looks — large overhangs, a flush deck with doghouse, and a traditional interior with mahogany and raised paneling — she is sure to turn heads in every harbor. She sleeps 10 in four staterooms and is for sale at a reduced prize of $5.9 million. northropandjohnson.com…

This 28-foot design won California’s Newport to Ensenada race in 1978 and also came in first in class in 1979. Soon after, world sailor Roger Olson began his 50,000-mile round-the-world voyage in a boat of the same design. Circumnavigators Larry and Lin Pardey sailed the world in an earlier 24-foot version, writing their now-famous cruising books, and encouraging others to pursue their own sailing adventures. The boat is the Bristol Channel Cutter, the work of designer Lyle Hess, already well-known in the early 1970s for the Pardey’s 24-footer and later for their 29-footer. Hess drew on the pilot boat designs of the 19th and early 20th centuries, rugged sailboats of heavy displacement with a long waterline and a hard bilge. They “carried lots of canvas, they’d lug a lot of…

The Hinckley Company was founded in 1928, and even though it had been building motorboats since before World War II, it developed a worldwide reputation after the war for its beautiful and seaworthy sailing yachts. Its Bermuda 40 sloops and yawls are considered classics and have retained their resale value. In 1993, when then Hinckley co-owner Shep McKenney asked Naval architect Bruce King to design a motorboat, King had mostly designed sailboats, and Hinckley had only built a handful of its Talaria motorboats. “His [McKenney’s] intent was that this would never be a big seller, but instead a niche product,” King told Kate Yeomans of the Robb Report about the first Picnic Boat in 2005. “But then everybody wanted a piece of that niche. Its success surprised everyone.” That first…

In late summer, Hinckley took the wraps off its Sport Boat 40c, the first of two outboard-powered boats in a new Sport Boat range. An enclosed, express version — the 40c — is scheduled to launch later this year. Hinckley says the Sport Boats are the world’s first carbon-epoxy performance boats available in production models. “For nearly 25 years, we have been vacuum-infusing resin into layers of carbon fiber and Kevlar spanning the full length of our yachts,” says Pete Saladino, chief marketing officer at Hinckley. “We are now bringing our design refinement and unparalleled level of boatbuilding expertise to performance boats.” A rack of triple 300-hp Mercury Verado 4-strokes are standard power. The Sport Boat 40c will blast to a top end of 43.4 knots and cruise efficiently at…