Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2015 i Soundings

Tom Slikkers has been the CEO and president of S2 Yachts, builder of Tiara and Pursuit boats, since June 2012, leading the 41-year-old company’s effort to modernize its fleet while maintaining the luxury, durability, value and quality for which both brands are known. Slikkers began working for his father, S2 founder Leon Slikkers, at age 13, doing odd jobs around the boatbuilding plant. He was in the accounting and sales departments before becoming president of Pursuit, where he worked closely with his father to create new boats. In Slikkers’ first year as chief of S2, Pursuit introduced its “next-generation” boat — the SC 365i Sport Coupe with concealed outboards (pursuitboats.com). S2 in 2014 debuted six new models from 32 to 50 feet between its two brands: the Pursuit DC 325…

Now that President Obama has moved to re-establish full diplomatic relations with Cuba and eased the embargo against visiting this long-forbidden Caribbean island, will Americans finally be able to cruise there legally in their own boats? After a half-century of “no,” the answer is still no. For American cruisers, the regulatory blockade of Cuba remains unaffected by the president’s actions, even though it has been significantly reduced — but not eliminated — for visitors who arrive by air. That means the potential penalties for taking your boat to Cuba without a special permit remain in effect: possible confiscation of the vessel, fines of as much as $10,000 and up to 10 years in jail. For good measure, U.S. law also prohibits American insurance carriers from providing coverage to boats in…

Pocket trawlers. They’re less than 30 feet, powered by a single diesel or a pair of outboards, and many are small enough to trailer without a permit. But don’t let the “pocket” label fool you. These are small boats for big dreams. A Mississippi couple spent a week on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks, then trailered their boat to Pensacola to cruise the Florida Panhandle. A retired Air Force officer and his wife towed their boat throughout the Southwest, exploring the famous desert lakes. And a Pacific Northwest adventurer spent 78 days on his pocket trawler, logging more than 3,000 miles along the coast of southeastern Alaska. “These boats are capable of long cruising on both inland and coastal waters, just like the big boats,” says Peter Brown of Rosborough…

Portland, Maine DOCK: DiMillo’s Marina (207) 773-7632 dimillosmarina.com DINE: Eventide Oyster Co. (207) 774-8538 eventideoysterco.com DINE: Central Provisions (207) 805-1085 central-provisions.com DISCOVER: Nonesuch Oysters (207) 749-5585 nonesuchoysters.com Damariscotta, Maine DOCK AND DINE: Schooner Landing Restaurant and Marina (207) 563-7447 schoonerlandingmaine.com DISCOVER: Glidden Point Oyster Sea Farm, (207) 633-3599 oysterfarm.com DISCOVER: Maine Oyster Trail seagrant.umaine.edu/blog/oyster-trail-update Chincoteague, Virginia DOCK: Capt. Bob’s Marina (757) 336-6654 captbobsmarina.net DINE: AJ’s on the Creek (757) 336-5888 ajsonthecreek.com DISCOVER: Virginia Oyster Trail virginiaoystertrail.com DISCOVER: Museum of Chincoteague Island (757) 336-6117 chincoteaguemuseum.com Prince Edward Island DOCK: Charlottetown Yacht Club (902) 892-9065 cyc.pe.ca DINE: The Gahan House (902) 626-2337 gahan.ca DINE: Claddagh Oyster House (902) 892-9661 claddaghoysterhouse.com DISCOVER: Pinette River Oyster Co. Oyster Lovers’ Experience experiencepei.ca…

Joel and Jane Maguire spent two years aboard their 36-foot trawler following the coastline from New England to Alabama, searching for the perfect waterfront home site. A Soundings ad in 1998 led them to Prudence Island, Rhode Island, accessible only by private boat or ferry from Bristol, Rhode Island. “We arrived on a 10 a.m. ferry, fell in love with the island and had a signed agreement to buy a lot before we left at 4 p.m.,” says Maguire, 77, who held many jobs until he retired in his 50s. The couple hired a local architect and builder to construct their dream house on the West Passage. They named the three-bedroom, two-bath, shingle-style cottage Seriugam after the Cape Cod cottage where Maguire spent childhood summers. Now the Maguires want to…

Bill Sisson could not have been more on point! He captured the very essence of our 31 years together [“A good, long run for this band of boat show brothers” Underway, December]. I laughed till tears, just like when our group gets together. Many thanks for an outstanding job. “Old Bob” Brann Jensen Beach, Florida FOR COD’S SAKE “There are none so blind as who will not see” could have been the headline of this great article [“The collapse of cod: Will we fillet the last fish?” February]. I own a boat, and I fish out of Montauk, New York. I fish inshore and offshore. As an observation from one who has been on the water for years as a recreational fisherman, the stocks of almost all fish are depleted.…

Virginia Wagner was a pioneer among professional female captains during a 28-year career in which she logged more than 400,000 nautical miles. She earned licenses in two countries: a 3,000-ton Coast Guard license and a Class 4 Ocean Master license in Great Britain. Wagner died of mesothelioma cancer Jan. 30. She was 58 years old. Sailing had a profound effect on the life of this self-proclaimed “misfit,” who came into her own on the water and under sail. She was a strong advocate for teaching proper seamanship and integrating sailing as a mentoring tool for youth. “If you can just help one kid, it’s worth it,” Wagner said last November at a ceremony where a scholarship in her name was announced. “I was one of those kids — I was…

On the first day of basic searchand-rescue courses, students at the Coast Guard training center in Yorktown, Virginia, review the facts and lessons learned from the Morning Dew tragedy. The Cal 34 ran up on the north jetty at the entrance to the harbor in Charleston, South Carolina, on a cold, rainy December night in 1997. Skipper Michael Cornett, 49, his sons, Daniel, 13, and Paul, 16, and their 14-year-old cousin Bobby Lee Hurd died in the 54-degree water just eight miles from the Coast Guard station in Charleston, where a rescue-boat crew was on duty. The station’s watchstander, unable to make out a broken-up mayday from Morning Dew at 2:17 a.m., decided not to investigate beyond trying twice to hail the source of the transmission, without success. At 6:20…

There are many ways to define “fast trawler,” and there are many builders that have taken to using the label. For our purposes, let’s define a fast trawler as a semidisplacement vessel with true trawler origins, capable of climbing over its bow wave and making 16 to 20 knots. Compared to full-displacement boats, they draw less and weigh less but require more power to climb on plane. And engines, priced by horsepower, are the most expensive items on the boat’s bill of materials. Compared to full-planing boats, semidisplacement hulls often are more heavily built and have more sweep to the buttocks aft (which creates less drag at hull speed), deeper bows, less deadrise aft and a full keel. At displacement speeds, the semidisplacement boat performs somewhere between full-displacement and full-planing…

The Lower Manhattan waterfront, West Side, mid-20th century. A New York Central System tug kicks up a wake as it backs away from a Hudson River pier. The 90-foot, iron-hulled vessel — workhorse of the largest Eastern rail system — has just dropped off its tow, Barge 172, and the crewman is coiling lines, preparing for the next job. Marine artist Nicholas Berger has captured a moment of notso-distant history in his oil painting Backing Down, Hudson River. Berger, who is 65, has spent the last dozen years focusing on the 20th century Hudson River waterfront. “A time when America worked — confident and proud,” he says. “Generally, we don’t think of the mid-20th century as anything special. The age of sail and the big steamers have been done by…

I was about to test the Southport 33 FE center console with twin Yamaha F350s at the Miami International Boat Show in February with two representatives from the builder. Moments before we cast off, two prospective customers joined us. I would have preferred to put the boat through its paces without the extra crew because I tend to drive a boat hard, but I’m glad the two gentlemen — a father and son from Puerto Rico — were aboard because it resulted in some good information about buying a boat. It turns out that Kelmith Lopez, 24, and his father, Antonio, were researching the purchase of a 30- to 35-foot center console for fishing. After the sea trial, I talked at length with Kelmith. He and his father were going…

Enough is not enough when it comes to outboard horsepower — at least that’s the consensus among Mercury Marine’s customers. The push for more ponies prompted the engine manufacturer to hit the water with its most powerful outboards yet: the 350 Verado and Mercury Racing 400R Verado. “We take a bit of pride at Mercury in being about high performance, and with these engines, we have the fastest, lightest, most fuel-efficient, quietest and highest performing products on the market,” says Mercury Marine president John Pfeifer. Introduced at the Miami International Boat Show in February, the new engines will be available in March. For the 350 and 400R, Mercury re-engineered the 2.6-liter engine it uses for its 225-, 250- and 300-hp Verado outboards. The 400R falls under the Mercury Racing umbrella,…

In 1963 a retired Naval officer and World War II aircraft carrier veteran took off on a global voyage in a long-distance yacht of his own design. A dozen years and 60,000 miles later, Capt. Robert Beebe penned his story in Voyaging Under Power. The book ignited the imagination of would-be passagemakers everywhere. The idea of a recreational trawler, a boat that could circle the world for fun and adventure, was born. In 1989, the Nordhavn 46 was introduced. Designed by naval architect Jeff Leishman of Pacific Asian Enterprises, which was known for its Mason bluewater sailboats, the husky 45-foot, 9-inch trawler rode a full-displacement hull and was built in Singapore. She was powered by a single 140-hp diesel and carried 1,000 gallons of fuel, for a range of as…

Part of the reason I first fell in love with trawlers was their salty lines. If you’re hatching an escape plan (as I was), you’re going to want a boat that can really take you places, and the traditional trawler announces its serious voyaging potential with a high bow, a pilothouse with forward raked windows and perhaps a Portuguese bridge, as well as voluminous fuel tanks — this kind of vessel lets you know it’s not messing around. Economical, rugged, reliable and excruciatingly slow, traditional trawlers compensate for their pokey pace with creature comforts that force you to kick back and remember: It really is all about the journey. Krogen 52 The Krogen 52 follows in the wake of the successful 58, built from all-new tooling and featuring the design…

No delicacy is more polarizing than the raw oyster. Some people loathe the consistency. Some can’t stand the briny flavor. Still others would rather sit before a simple platter of the iced, raw bivalves than a table groaning with just about any other dish. But indifference is not an option. Even those who dislike the taste should love this creature for its stewardship of our waterways — just one oyster filters more than 25 gallons of water a day. Also consider that oysters are a sustainable fishery; they’re chock-full of nutrients and are low in fat and cholesterol; and, of course, there is scientific proof that the raw oyster is an aphrodisiac. No matter where you stand, you haven’t really tasted an oyster until you’ve had one that’s been freshly…

Propeller sizing The correct propeller for any boat will maximize performance. With a propulsion system that has only one gear, the propeller has to accelerate from a standstill to the manufacturer’s wide open throttle setting at its rated maximum rpm. There are many types of propellers, in several materials, to best serve a boat’s intended use. Bronze is common for inboards and sailboat auxiliary engines, and aluminum and stainless steel are typically used for outboards and sterndrives. Blade area and blade shapes have evolved in response to more powerful engines and faster boats. Sailboats can minimize drag by using props that fold or feather to a neutral blade position when sailing. However, every prop must be properly sized for optimal performance. With sterndrives and outboards, propeller diameter is very constrained,…

SPECIFICATIONS LOA: 52 feet, 11 inches BEAM: 13 feet WEIGHT: 28,600 pounds ENGINES: four Seven Marine 557s or Yamaha F350s, five Mercury Verado 350s SPEED: 70 mph top, 35 to 55 mph cruise (557s) HULL TYPE: variable-deadrise, stepped deep-vee TRANSOM DEADRISE: 23 degrees FUEL: 1,000 gallons PRICE: $1.2 million (557s), $950,500 (F350s) CONTACT: HydraSports Custom, Islamorada, Florida, (800) 635-3186. hydrasports.com HydraSports Custom has introduced the largest production center console ever built: 52 feet, 11 inches, and powered with up to 2,228 horses from four or five outboards. The 5300 Sueños has a beam of 13 feet and holds 1,000 gallons of fuel. It’s the builder’s largest boat, surpassing the 4200 Siesta by 11 feet. Its introduction at the Miami International Boat Show in February marked yet another step in the…

■ Dave Ryder (left) and Ben Gilley shuck scallops at Gilley’s cottage at South Wharf in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in 1950. The old-timers were preparing food for the Allen’s Neck Clambake, an annual summer event that fed fresh seafood harvested from the abundant local waters — not to mention homemade sausages and pies, local corn and sweet potatoes — to as many as 500 guests and 125 workers in its heyday. A cord of hardwood, a ton of rockweed and a ton and a half of round stones made up the ovens. Those were the days when livings were made fishing in and around Buzzards Bay. The cycle started in the spring with the setting of the herring nets. This was also the time for earlyseason eeling, oystering and scalloping,…