On the Water

Read my flags © KL Define slow news day. Paul Cayard walking around the media center with a EuroSport microphone interviewing journalists. Define buzz. Media Center staff walking through at noon with the surprise words, “We’re racing. We’re racing.” Define letdown. Three minutes later this screen comes on . . . Read my screen © KL Gee whiz. Yup, those were my [...] …Read More

Pacific Asian Enterprises said on its website that it has developed a version of its 75 Expedition Yacht Fisher (EYF) without the expansive flybridge common to most sportfishing battlewagons. The change acknowledges the cruising half of this split-personality ocean-going yacht and gives it a more conventional “Norhdavn look.” I took the liberty of scanning a print [...] …Read More

Taking this photo moments ago is my first official act of the Miami Boat Show. I can live blog this mother straight from my iPhone. Will be shooting grainy phone video, too. I apologize in advance for typos and accidental autofills. It’s not easy producing real time journalism typing with your [...] …Read More

I recently wrote an article for Ride Magazine on the re-release of two classic PWC videos, Jet Dreams and Jet Ski Fever, both of which are now available for the first time on DVD. At the time I featured an exclusive interview with Jet Dreams co-creator Gary Shlifer. Now, I'm happy to add another exclusive interview to the mix, this time with Jet Ski Fever's Chris Lauber. As I said in Ride, Jet Ski Fever is really the grandfather of all personal watercraft videos. Professionally shot in a documentary format, it's the story of the former World Cup Series, in particular the battle in 1983 between now-legendary riders Larry "The Ripper" Rippenkroeger and "Flyin' Brian" Bendix. In that way, it really chronicles the birth of the sport of PWC racing. You can now order Jet Ski Fever on DVD for $25, which includes shipping and handling. I highly recommend it if you're into all things retro, have an appreciation for our sport's history...or just want to laugh at a simpler time when cut-offs and facial hair were the height of fashion. …Read More

Whew – MADE IT!!! It looked liked SNOWZILLA 2010 was going to burst my Miami bubble, when late yesterday, I found out that my flight Wednesday morning was already canceled. Some quick work on the phone and on the net produced a flight to St. Louis, then a connection to Miami. After 2 hours in the car [...] …Read More

As our readers know, the publishing world is in the midst of an upheaval as publications and readers turn to online outlets to deliver content. Naturally, we at OceanLines feel we’ve been helping to lead our audience of cruisers and passagemakers to that new online world of resources. Well, the publishing powerhouses continue to evolve [...] …Read More

Right of way, eh? Alinghi 5 fills the channel as she returns from the first attempt at Race One, AC 33. Valencia has since dried out. Luca Butto/Alinghi Hand it to our two billionaires. At a time when a lot of big money is low-profiling, there’s none of that going on here. The America’s Cup [...] …Read More

North Pacific Yachts said it has delivered the first NP38 Sedan to a North American customer. The boat was on display at last week’s Seattle Boat Show after arriving on 16 January from the shipyard in China.  We have the first photos of the NP38, both during initial sea trials in China and as she [...] …Read More

Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget You’ve probably heard that we have here at the America’s Cup the two fastest, most technologically advanced large yachts ever built. And you’ve probably heard that it takes but a breath of wind to drive them at speeds most people never experience under sail. Sadly, there was no such breath of [...] …Read More

Recently, a friend asked me the following question: “I fish from a kayak and I’m always wishing for a fishfinder - do you know of a way to rig one up on a yak? A portable unit would be even better, because I also have a small jon boat I like to use on the reservoirs sometimes.” With the popularity [...] …Read More