On the Water

NOAA released a new and interactive Eessential Fish Habitat map this week, which shows locations of habitat, gear restrictions and closed areas, and species locations. This is version 2.0, and a few clicks confirm that NOAA’s worked all the bugs out of this system. It runs smoothly, allowing you to choose geographic region, fish species, and protected [...] …Read More

An angler fishing the 24th Annual Star Island Yacht Club Shark Tournament landed a 300-pound great white. His catch is landing him in hot water. He made the mistake of keeping the shark, which is illegal, and is now under investigation by federal authorities. (Originally reported in subscription-based Newsday.) I have a call into a [...] …Read More

Sunreef Yachts updated its Facebook page this week with the first-ever photographs of the newly launched sailing catamaran Ipharra. At 102 feet long, Ipharra will be the largest catamaran by far in the Sunreef charter fleet, whose previous flagship po... …Read More

The board of directors for the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament have disqualified Citation’s 883-pound blue marlin, according to this press release. Here’s the meat: “After interviewing members of the crew of the fishing vessel Citation, review of the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament rules, consulting the division of Marine Fisheries as well as the [...] …Read More

To finish off our series on high-performance photographers, we bring you behind the lens of the group's veteran. …Read More

Sunscreen is a must for boaters, but that greasy feeling sun screen leaves you with stinks, so I was interested when SmartShield said theirs worked without that slickery feel. They sent me one of their 4.5 ounce bottles of SPF30 to try out, and I had the chance to give it a workout during a sunup to sundown [...] …Read More

We had a false start in December when we first saw the PC charting program Expedition interfaced to a Navico BR24 radar, but as of last night this interesting possibility, and many like it, seem to be official.  Read the full press release here.... …Read More

For a minute there, I was excited. Heck, it's an exciting thing to have a periodical as prominent as SmartMoney compare yacht charter against cruise ships. The magazine is part of the Wall Street Journal organization, has won three National Magazine A... …Read More

The crew of Citation thought they had the $912,825 prize in the bag for their 883-lb. blue marlin at the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament out of Moorehead City, North Carolina.  But one of the boat’s crew didn’t have his fishing license, so their big catch could be out of contention. Earlier today, the Tournament [...] …Read More

In yet another example of racing when the most recent crop of America’s Cup boats would be huddled ashore, youngsters from up and down the West Coast spent last weekend sailing the Opti Heavy Weather regatta on the San Francisco cityfront. This is one place where locals can give an event a name like that, [...] …Read More