Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2025 i Soundings

One of the most popular news items on the Soundings website this month came as no surprise to our editorial team. Based on reporting by environmental journalist Lynda V. Mapes in The Seattle Times, the story chronicled an extraordinary behavior among wild orcas: In at least 30 documented instances across four oceans, the creatures have approached boats and presented passengers with freshly caught fish. These encounters follow a pattern. An orca swims within its own body length of a vessel, drops a live or recently killed fish, and lingers nearby as if waiting for a response from the crew. Scientists say food sharing is common within pods, especially between mothers and calves, but why are the whales trying to feed skippers too? Studies report it may reflect a deeper cognitive…

It’s hard to explain the emotions that come with seeing the Statue of Liberty at sunset from the deck a boat. Gazing at this symbol of freedom from the deck of my own bastion of independence is inspiring. It’s part of what makes New York Harbor one of the world’s most spectacular, yet underrated cruising destinations. Autumn is the best time to cruise to New York Harbor. Tourist crowds are diminished with kids back in school, the summertime swelter is gone, and the foliage along the lower Hudson River is a kaleidoscope of brilliant colors. This is one of only a few cruising grounds in the country that combines big-city vibrance with pastoral beauty. In my experience, the best head-quarters for any multiday cruise to the Big Apple is Liberty…

Your boat’s engines depend on lube oil and fuel for smooth, steady operation. Your crew needs frequent doses of fresh water to keep them hydrated. Each one of these fluids must be scrupulously clean, so all should pass through a filter—sometimes more than one—and every filter should be changed regularly. It’s a pain in the backside, but dirty filters can lead to trouble, often the expensive type. So do yourself, your boat and your crew a favor: Change your filters. You’ll find oil and fuel filters on each engine (don’t forget the generator), fuel filters on the gasoline or diesel lines leading to the engines, and freshwater filters under one or all faucets, and at the icemaker in the wet bar. (Nobody wants bad-tasting ice.) One project for this summer…

Transformational change doesn’t happen out of the blue. Ground-work needs to be laid, sometimes for years in advance. Think of a marina being built or a boat model being launched. The big reveal is a public moment of celebration, but behind the scenes, people have toiled tirelessly to make the change real. That kind of a moment just happened with the BoatUS Foundation, which announced in late July that a ground-breaking partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will fund the removal of more than 300 abandoned derelict boats in five states, one reservation and two territories. “It’s a really big deal,” says Alanna Keating, BoatUS Foundation director of outreach. “We’ve been working on this with NOAA for 12 years, but its program was only small, individual projects or…

When the Porter family, owners of the Thunder-bird Products company in Decatur, Indiana, introduced the stepped-hull Formula 382 FAS3Tech in 1997, the boat became an instant hit with high-performance aficionados. It was the next generation of the 382 SR-1, which had a conventional deep-V performance design. The company had produced 62 of the 382 SR-1 models since 1995. It then sold 372 of the FAS3Tech hulls between 1997 and 2019. The boat was built through 2021, though mostly by special request in later years. “We actually count the introduction of the 302 LS as our first foray into high-performance boats for the public in 1979,” says Scott Smith, Formula’s marketing manager. “We started building our performance lineup by the mid-1980s with the advent of the SR-1 series of boats. The…

1 PURSUIT S 388 SPORT Pursuit is expanding its Sport range of center consoles. The S 388 is the second-largest model in the Sport family and is intended for serious cruising and offshore fishing. The S 388 measures 41 feet, 1 inch length overall and has a 12-foot beam. There are multiple social zones on board, including a wraparound bow lounge and an entertainment center with a grill, sink, fridge and storage. Below are a cabin, a galley and a head with a shower, allowing owners to spend a night aboard when the fish are biting. Fishing features include a 36-gallon livewell, in-floor fishboxes, tackle storage, outriggers and a star-board dive door with a removable ladder. Standard power comes from triple 450-hp Yamaha XTO engines. Fall means shorter days, crisper…

For centuries, sailing ships dominated global trade and warfare during the Age of Sail. While they faced the constant threat of enemy fire, they also battled a quieter opponent: shipworms. These mollusks were especially prevalent in warm waters. They bored into hulls and created tunnels that led to rot and structural failure. Early solutions included sheathing hulls with wood or lead. Expendable wood sheathing provided a nonstructural skin for shipworms to attack, but it needed to be replaced frequently. Lead was more resistant to organisms, but it corroded ships’ iron bolts. The British clipper ship Cutty Sark pictured here at the Royal Museums Greenwich displays a more durable solution pioneered by the Royal Navy in the 18th century. Copper sheathing was first proposed by Charles Perry in 1708. The 32-gun…

A well-mannered wake is good seamanship. Most of us are not surfers or wake boarders, so discourteous wakes are annoying. They can be dangerous to other boaters, damaging to property and destructive to a fragile environment. For that reason, you should always slow down in confined waters and look behind you. Be considerate when passing other boats, and when you encounter wakes from other vessels, be prepared to mitigate the effects to keep your crew from getting hurt. Depending on hull design, boat speed, vessel weight and power, a wake can produce sharp repeating waves of significant size. For many boats under power, various speeds alter the way the hull displaces water. Generally, slow speed creates the least amount of wake. When you throttle up, the bow rises and pushes…

When funeral director Jack Conway visited a friend who ran a marina in Freeport, New York, on Long Island in the 1970s, he always admired the distinctive motorboats floating in the adjacent Woodcleft Canal. “Every time I’d go to visit my buddy, I’d see these Groverbuilts tied up in the canal,” Conway recalls. “And I said to myself, ‘I’m going to own one of those someday.’” That day came in 2005, when he purchased a 28-footer. Today, the boat Conway purchased looks very different, as it just underwent a keel-to-cabin top rehabilitation. She’s all spiffed up and back at Conway’s home on Shelter Island, New York. Bobber is a unique boat, because she was originally used by Al Grover, Sr., the founder of Groverbuilt. Conway heard about the 28 from…

Maritime artist Howard Schafer had a love for tidewater areas and a fascination with commercial fishing, small boats and nature. His paintings featured scenes from New Jersey, South Florida, the Bahamas, New England and beyond. Quiet on the Creek is his homage to the workboats of the Chesapeake Bay. “Howard’s art presents a diversity of moods ranging from quiet solitude along inland waterways to dynamic conditions of severe weather and ocean sailing activity,” wrote Bion B. Bierer in his book on Schafer. “His river and ocean scenes are never without a boat of some sort, usually a sailboat, commercial vessel or a small craft such as a dinghy, dory or skiff.” Quiet on the Creek is a good example of Schafer’s affection for these types of vessels. In this scene,…