Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2025 i Soundings

It was cooler than usual on the morning we left the dock in North Palm Beach, Florida, for a run on the Beneteau Antares 9. The chilly snap in the air reminded me that pilothouse designs like this one are not just for people near my home in the Northeast. Boaters in the Sunshine State also appreciate an enclosed deck for the warmth and protection it provides. The windows on the Beneteau offered us big views of the Intracoastal Waterway as we bombed our way toward Fort Worth Inlet. The throttles were close to wide-open as the skipper, Ken Moore, demonstrated what the boat could do. I was aboard to learn more about the new Beneteau for a report I’d write (see page 28 of this issue). For that reason,…

It’s not uncommon to hear grumbling on the docks about the cost of new boats, and the challenges of finding a cruiser that’s affordable, seaworthy and efficiently set up for an active clan. Here’s the good news for those who are weary of sticker shock: Beneteau’s latest launch is a family-friendly pocket cruiser for all seasons that carries a competitive price. The Antares 9 is a 30-foot, 6-inch-long boat that costs near $275,000 with most of the amenities you need for cruising, including a pair of Mercury outboards. It replaces the previous iteration of this model, which had a fan base for quite some time. The 9 is one of six boats in the Antares series, a line of pilothouse cruisers that’s been in production for 47 years, ever since…

Albany, New York, is not known as a hotbed of boatbuilding. But way up the Hudson River, 150 miles north of New York City, mere miles before you enter the locks to Lake Champlain and the Erie Canal, is a yard that builds classically beautiful boats with a modern twist. You may have seen the Classic Harbor Lines’ lovely schooners in New York City, Newport, Boston and Key West, or their commuter-style motoryachts on the Hudson River. All their boats are white, except for the black one, and all of them are eye-catching. The yachts have shown up on TV shows, in advertisements and on billboards, but despite all that exposure, very few people have ever heard of the two men who built them. Scarano Boat Building was created in…

Billowing white sails punctuate a pastel sky as two catboats glide across glass-calm water. Maritime artist Michael Keane was known for his use of luminous colors and fine details, which imbued his works with a romantic atmosphere. In this 24-inch by 36-inch oil-on-canvas painting Reaching Cats, he captures the warmth and serenity of a summer day on the water in New England. Catboats originated in New York around 1840 and quickly spread along the Eastern Seaboard, becoming the dominant inshore vessel in New England from the 1850s to the early 1900s. The term “catboat” encompasses a variety of models ranging from 12 to 40 feet, all sharing distinctive design features—namely, a single mast stepped far forward, a shallow draft and a wide beam measuring half the hull length at the…

LOA: 35’0” Beam: 11’0” Displ.: 16,750 lbs. Transom deadrise: 24 degrees Power: (2) 300-hp Yamahas Top speed: 35 knots Rockport Marine has been commissioned to produce a custom 35-footer. The Maine-based boatyard describes its new R34 as a modern take on a New England classic, a vessel that’s outboard-powered and can either host a couple for weekends or up to 10 passengers for cocktails at sunset. “In terms of styling cues and design language, it’s similar to other work we’ve done,” says Rockport Marine Chief Designer Sam Chamberlin. “Although, this boat has a modern, deep-V planing hull. That’s the thing that really differentiates it from the 37 we launched a couple years ago, which was semi-planing.” Comfortable, convivial seating is a focal point on the R34. In the cockpit is…

In 2023, 2,126 people were injured and 564 people died while boating in the United States. Far and away, the leading contributing factor to those accidents was operator inattention and improper lookout, and the leading cause of death (67 percent) was drowning. If we could get everyone to pay attention while underway, and wear life jackets when operating open vessels under 26 feet, we could cut those death and injury rates in half. The U.S. Coast Guard’s Boater’s Guide to the Federal Requirements for Recreational Boats pays a lot of attention to the equipment and knowledge required to curtail these tragedies. But after studying the accident statistics and evaluating the equipment requirements over the decades, I don’t think these requirements are working. In fairness to the Coast Guard, the Guide…

As the 1980s neared, boat owners who wanted to move up to a 30-plus-foot express cruiser had a lot of options. One of the best offerings came from Tiara Yachts, founded in 1976 by Leon Slikkers, who was a highly regarded, experienced builder. Slikkers started his boatbuilding career at Chris-Craft in 1946 as an 18-year-old making cabin tops. In 1955, he formed SlickCraft to produce wooden family runabouts; the company converted to fiberglass construction by the end of the decade. In 1969 he sold SlickCraft to AMF, where he continued to serve as its president. He then founded S2 sailing yachts in 1974, and then Tiara. In 1979, Tiara introduced the 3100 Open, which incorporated good looks, state-of-the-art construction and thoughtful human engineering. It featured a sharp, well-raked entry at…

“It was almost standing waves, and we were hobby horsing. The bow was going whoosh, and we were going nowhere,” says Kevin Starnes, 62. He’s describing a scene from an early spring cruise in the San Juan Islands on his 38-foot double-ender Arningali, which is what the Inuit called a rare female narwhal with a tusk. Sitting with his wife Sally, 55, in the boat’s cherry-wood-trimmed salon that’s lavishly decorated with whimsical art from around the globe, he speaks in a quiet voice while outside the wind howls through the rig. “We couldn’t get back, because it would swirl us around and down into the rocks.” Kevin recalls what it felt like to buck the roiling waters of Cattle Pass between the southern tips of San Juan and Lopez islands,…

To me, early spring and late fall are some of the best times to go boating. In New England, and even the Mid-Atlantic states, no one is around during those times, so the mooring fields and anchorages are usually super quiet. But they can be chilly, something I became very aware of two seasons ago, when I left Newport, Rhode Island, in the fall and took my 1987 Grand Banks 32 Snow Goose to the Bahamas. The stretches through the Chesapeake Bay and the Carolinas in October and November were at times quite cold, even putting a light frost on the deck in the mornings. The evenings also had a bite to them, which made me think I needed to add a little heat. I am a big fan of…

In early April, an unusual partnership was announced, pairing the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary’s boating safety courses with a new app from a company called BoatBot. “By offering BoatBot as a free supplemental tool at USCG Auxiliary classes, we are actively supporting the mission of promoting boating safety,” said David Johndrow, a Coast Guard-licensed captain and member of the Auxiliary. “We believe this technology will make a significant impact on the safety of boaters in our community and beyond.” The partnership was the latest example not just of artificial intelligence making its way into all kinds of things involving recreational boats, but specifically of companies combining AI capabilities with traditional seamanship and safety ideas. Numerous other companies have recently announced this type of tech pairing, including Lookout and Sea.AI. Whereas…

LOA: 34’6” Beam: 10’10” Draft: 3’0” Weight (approx.): 12,975 lbs. Fuel: 300 gals. Water: 30 gals. Power: (2) 350-hp Yamahas Max Speed: 44 knots The Pursuit Boats factory is located in Fort Pierce, Florida, just a few miles from where my stepdaughter Kaitlyn and her boyfriend Nick live. Both in their late 20s, they are enthusiastic anglers who usually fish from the banks of the ICW. When Pursuit invited me to sea trial the new S 328 Sport, I realized this would be a great time to introduce the couple to the joys of wetting a line from the cockpit of a premium center console. Soon after we boarded the S 328 at Safe Harbor Harbortown Marina in Fort Pierce, Nick discovered the 24-gallon recirculating live well inside the boat’s…

Perfection is always in the eye of the beholder. And when it comes to shopping for a new boat, it’s also at least a little bit in the beholder’s wallet. These three couples took similar approaches when they set out to find the best dayboat within their budgets. Each couple made a wish list, looked at multiple brands, and ultimately found the perfect boat for them. Here’s how they narrowed down the choices. LINDA & FRANK CARDILE VALHALLA V-37 The Cardiles (pictured above) have been boating since the early 1990s, so when they went shopping for a new boat last fall, it was their fourth time they approached the process. Frank had a well-thought-out plan when they walked through the gates at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. “We would…

People spend years preparing to do the Great Loop. They search for a boat that’s just right. They outfit that boat just so. They plan and organize and provision every possible thing they might need before they cast off their lines and head out. I, on the other hand, started my first cruise around the Great Loop without even knowing what it was. I didn’t know how complicated it was going to be, or how many things might go wrong out there on my 22-foot C-Dory with a 90-hp Yamaha engine. Then again, I knew very few people in America, so I had no real reason to slow down or stop. I just kept going and completed the Loop in around four months. I think I get my spirit of…

It’s launch day for Fantasy, a 55-foot motoryacht built by the Camden Shipbuilding Company for poet and author Donald Parson. In this photo—taken in 1949, by photojournalist Jim Moore—she has just splashed in Camden Harbor, a small skiff standing by to offer assistance. Soon, she will depart Maine and set course for her new homeport in New York. Fantasy was the creation of naval architect Geerd Hendel, whose designs had a profound impact on Maine’s shipbuilding industry. Born in Germany in 1903, Hendel began his career apprenticing at the Deutsche Werft shipyard in Hamburg before attending the Higher Technical Institute in Bremen, where he specialized in naval architecture. After graduating in 1925, he worked in the design office of the Nobiskrug shipyard before coming to the United States in 1928.…