Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2022 i Soundings

Biologists call ‘hybrid vigor’ the way offspring of parents of different species or varieties exhibit traits superior to either, even if they’re already standouts themselves. It’s easy to think of the new MJM Yachts 4 day yacht as exemplifying just such hybrid vigor! Credit goes to the ‘parents’ of this gorgeous hybrid: the expansive 38-foot dual console, the MJM 3, and the couples charming, classic Category A ocean yacht, the MJM 40. No difficult design decisions between entertainment and intimacy here: in this splendid day yacht you get both the creature comforts of an ocean-class motoryacht and the crowd-pleasing space, lush appointments and satisfying sass of a dual-console. Proud Parents The single level MJM 3 was an immediate hit when launched in 2021, drawing rave reviews by those impressed by…

There is some really good news just ahead of this year’s Newport International Boat Show: People buying up all the boats appear to be getting better at using them. To understand why this is such good news heading into autumn 2022, think back to summer 2020. That’s when the pandemic led to what the National Marine Manufacturers Association called an “extraordinary” number of powerboat sales. Many of those boats were sold to first-time owners who had little to no boating experience, but who were looking for ways to have fun in the outdoors. Not surprisingly, for that same year, the U.S. Coast Guard reported that accidents, injuries and deaths all rose by more than 20 percent. The vast majority of deaths occurred on boats whose operators had received no safety…

Back in the days when Cheers and L.A. Law were the top shows on television, a new term—designated driver—started to become more prominent in American discourse. By 1991, the term had made it into Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. People started talking about having designated drivers just as casually as they talked about having dinner plans. Today, the two go hand in hand. It has taken quite a while longer for the concept of driving under the influence to translate into the thinking of boaters on America’s waterways, where the U.S. Coast Guard continues to report that alcohol is the leading cause of fatal boating accidents. This year, two efforts to reduce boating under the influence—efforts that are in some ways complementary, and in some ways competing—are likely to come…

In the early 1990s, Joe Neber decided to focus his considerable knowledge of boatbuilding and deep-water angling on the design of two new center console fishing boats. These models would come to define Contender Boats, the company he founded in the mid-1980s. Both the 31 Open and the 27 Open were prized among serious fisher-men who wanted to venture farther from the coast than typical center consoles allowed, but the 31 Open stands out for its forward-looking application of big four-stroke outboards. Neber gave the 31 Open a deep-V hull with a 24.5-degree deadrise aft, two pairs of full-length lifting strakes for quicker planing and wide reversed chines aft to help minimize rolling at slower trolling speeds. He included a substantial integrated swim platform with molded recesses for trim tabs…

You know the signs. Cooler temperatures and lower humidity bring us welcome relief from the dog days of summer. The local swimming pool is closed for the season. Boat yards begin to haul boats. And the thought of a long, cold winter spent staring at your boat under shrink wrap sends shivers down your spine. It’s time to head down the ICW. South Carolina, Georgia and, of course, Florida, are the usual destinations for snowbirds living on the East Coast, with Florida being the most popular. Within the Sunshine State there are many places to stay and play during the winter. But after years of cruising and wintering throughout the entire state, my wife, Stacey, and I keep coming back to one of our favorite locations: Fernandina Beach and the…

The name Riva is known around the world for being synonymous with stylish, Italian-built recreational boats. That reputation originated in large part with the Riva Aquarama, the most famous of Carlo Riva’s designs that was in production from 1962 until 1996. Carlo Riva was a great-grandson of Riva founder Pietro Riva, who started building boats in the 1880s. Carlo’s father is the one who added pleasure boats to the line of small racing boats that Riva was turning out, and in the 1950s, Carlo took over the business and transformed it. After the Aquarama launched in 1962, it became known as the Ferrari of the boating world. According to Riva, there were about 760 Aquaramas built, and about 650 are still out there today, often meticulously maintained by their enthusiast…

If you walk along the harbor of any coastal city from Baltimore, Maryland, to Rockland, Maine, try to imagine a scene from 200 years ago, with hundreds of ships lining the docks while others float in the inner harbor. Thousands of men are moving cargo or repairing ship parts, and there are acres of furled white sails. When everything in the world moved by sail, sailmaking and repair was a major industry that employed thousands of people in sail lofts. Those days are long gone, yet some professionals continue to craft sails, keeping the industry alive. Among them are Tony Rey, Alex Clegg and Dave and Rob MacMillan of Doyle Sails Newport. In 2018, after a complete renovation of their sail loft in Middletown, Rhode Island, this company became part…

LOA: 32’6” Beam: 10’8” Draft: 1’10” Displ.: 9,200 lbs. Max Power: 850 hp Most people in the market for this type of boat are very happy to be in a position to buy it, but even so, they can feel overwhelmed by all of the options,” says Jonathan Kirby of South port Yachts, which recently debuted a new version of its 33 FE. This center console is a hybrid design engineered for fishing trips and family time, and at close to 33 feet, it has a sea of competition in the LOA range. So, the company had to do some heavy lifting to figure out how to differentiate its boat from the competition. Fortunately, the builder had a good foundation to work from. Southport splashed its first 33 FE in…

LOA: 38’10” Beam: 10’9” Draft: 4’6” Displ.: 16,131 lbs. Fuel: 264 gals. Water: 42 gals. Power: (3) 350-hp Mercurys Price (w/test power): $589,000 Founded in the 1960s in Sarasota, Florida, Wellcraft soon gained a reputation for adrenaline-pumping speed with its line of Scarab deep-V high-performance boats. A fixture on the offshore-racing and poker-run circuits for decades, the brand gained international fame in the 1980s when actor Don Johnson, star of the popular Miami Vice TV show, drove a Wellcraft Scarab 38 KV in the series. At that time, Wellcraft offered a full range of models, including large express cruisers. But in recent years, the builder has focused on center-console fishing boats ranging from 20 to 35 feet. That is, until now. In June, Groupe Beneteau, which has owned Wellcraft since…

Tad Roberts grew up on the British Columbia coast in a family of boatbuilders, artists and sailors, so it wasn’t surprising that he started drawing boats at a young age. He spent a decade working on tugs and fishing boats, and cruising and racing sailboats. In 1982 he began his own design practice in Victoria, British Columbia. But he knew he needed to improve his knowledge, so in 1986 he moved to Castine, Maine, where he attended Maine Maritime Academy’s Yacht Design Institute. Within a year, he’d landed a job with Bruce King Yacht Design in Newcastle, Maine, and over the next 14 years he became principal designer, working on a wide range of projects. Among them were numerous large custom sailing yachts that included the 124-foot centerboard sloop Antonisa,…

As Good as New FOUR OWNERS EXPLAIN WHY THEY CHOSE TO REPOWER THEIR BOATS WITH BRAND-NEW OUTBOARDS Last May, Nick Carter of Homosassa, Florida, went to pick up his 2018 Robalo 246 Cayman for a fishing trip when his plans were rudely interrupted. The boat’s 300-hp Yamaha outboard was missing. “I had used the boat on Wednesday and when I went back on Friday, it wasn’t there,” Carter says of the motor. “The boat was kept in my [homeowner’s association] offsite storage facility. There were 60 boats, some RVs and trailers, and they stole my motor and another motor two boats down from me.” Oddly, the thieves didn’t take anything else. “They didn’t take my trolling motor, GPS or radar, and my power poles were both there.” Clearly, the burglars…

HUNGRY FOR INFO I always look forward to reading Soundings. It does a great job of offering diverse and informative articles. I enjoyed “Best Dock & Dines” (July), as it consolidated a number of great waterfront restaurants into one story. However, I was disappointed that it was more about the dining experience at each location, rather than how to get there by boat. In the future, perhaps you can provide some basic information, such as mean water depth and docking fees. We keep our boat in Mattituck, New York, and have voyaged to a number of the locations on your list. We know that to make it a fun experience, you need to do more than just call for reservations. STEVE PETERSON My favorite dock & dines are not located…

Today’s higher gas and diesel prices might tempt a captain to depart with less fuel, but the one-third rule should always be adhered to for safety. This rule simply states you should use one-third of the boat’s fuel to go out, another third for the ride home, and a final third for reserve in case weather or sea conditions extend your trip beyond your original plan. Pushing a towrope back to the dock—or God forbid, floating around on the open ocean—is not the way you want to end your day. While most vessels are equipped with a fuel gauge to remind you how much go-go juice is in your tank, inaccurate readings are not uncommon. So, it’s wise to familiarize yourself with your read-out to make sure it’s reporting…

Imagine pulling away from the dock silently on electric power, quietly motoring out of the harbor, switching seamlessly to diesel power as you speed off to your next destination, then going back to electric as you pull into a quiet cove without the sound of an engine, dropping the hook and turning on the air conditioner without a generator running. You can stop imagining. Hinckley just created it. In a partnership with Twin Disc, a power transmission manufacturer, Hinckley recently announced the Silent-Jet technology that’s now offered exclusively on its Picnic Boat 40 S. SilentJet is seamless, so like hybrid cars, the boat switches from electric to diesel power and back without input from the operator. “We know our clients want what’s next, and they also want common sense solutions,”…

The East River in New York City is abuzz on a busy morning in 1899 in artist Patrick O’Brien’s painting “Empire City.” As a battleship passes beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, whose two towers were at that point the tallest structures in America, the Fulton Ferry crosses the river towards Manhattan, though its services have mostly become obsolete with the recent completion of the bridge. O’Brien has always been fascinated by New York, having conducted extensive research on the city’s history using old maps, photos and prints. “The reason I chose this era is because we still had both sailing ships and steamships on the water together,” O’Brien says. O’Brien’s father was in the Navy, and the artist was drawn to both painting and old sailing ships since childhood. After studying…

David Godwin and Carol Buchman have been on the water for many years. They first raced Cal-25 sailboats around Annapolis, Maryland. When they were ready to leave racing behind, they purchased a fast cruiser, the C&C 37. Later—after buying a house on Cockrell Creek in Reedville, Virginia, in 2002—they bought their first powerboat: a Mako 26 center console with twin 200-hp outboards. On the Mako, they explored the many creeks and river destinations in their locale. “Still, we always knew that at some point we would get a coastal cruising powerboat,” Buchman says. “Our focus has always been on Downeast-style designs, so when a Thomas Point 34 became available, Carol and I thought it looked just right,” Godwin says. They found all of the features they wanted on the boat.…