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Sailboats News

21 Sep 2023

U.S. Revives Cold War Submarine Spy Program to Counter China

Credit: noraismail/AdobeStock

On a windswept island 50 miles north of Seattle sits a U.S. Navy monitoring station. For years, it was kept busy tracking whale movements and measuring rising sea temperatures. Last October, the Navy gave the unit a new name that better reflects its current mission: Theater Undersea Surveillance Command.The renaming of the spy station at the Whidbey Island naval base is a nod to a much larger U.S. military project, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans:…

21 Aug 2023

The Internet is Not As Useful As We May Think

Image courtesy Martin & Ottaway

I was discussing torsional stiffness in ship’s hulls with one of our intern engineers and pointed out a torsional stiffness problem with a certain hull design section since it could not inscribe a decent sized circle.I expected it to be a comment that would be confusing to a young engineer and proceeded to explain that torsional stiffness is related to gyradius which is powerfully related to radius and radius is related to circles. Inherently the stiffest shape in torsion is a…

23 Nov 2021

BAE Systems Debuts Next-gen Boat Propulsion System

Image courtesy BAE Systems

BAE Systems launched its next-generation power and propulsion system for the marine market: the HybriGen Power and Propulsion system. According to the company, the system uses smaller and lighter components with modular accessory power system (MAPS) and modular power control system (MPCS) that allow for a scalable, tailor-made solution to fit the specific power and propulsion requirements of a range of vessels, from sailboats and tugs to passenger ferries.“Using a modular design…

19 May 2021

Moose Boats Hires Ken Royal as Sales VP

Ken Royal (Photo: Moose Boats)

Califronia-based boat builder Moose Boats said it has hired Ken Royal as vice president of sales.Royal has extensive experience operating Moose Boats as a firefighter with the Tiburon Fire Protection District, and training other operators on Moose Boats, and will bring these skills and knowledge to help grow the Moose Boats brand. “Having logged over 15 years serving his district aboard two Moose Boats catamarans, we find his expertise in real world applications to be of great value to both current and prospective Moose Boats clients” said Stephen Dirkes…

24 Sep 2020

Aggressive Killer Whales Batter Sailboats off Spain and Portugal, Maritime Authorities Warn

Sailors say a pod of nine orcas rammed their boat and bit their keel for more than an hour in late July in the Strait of Gibraltar off the coast of Spain. (Submitted by Victoria Morris )

Orcas behavior of battering sailboats off Spain and Portugal baffles expertsThere are many mysteries in the maritime environment. For Sailors along Spain and Portugal’s Atlantic coastline, there has been a recent series of puzzling incidents involving apparently aggressive orcas.While orcas are not known to attack humans, they can cause damage to boats. In a series of incidents along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts between Gibraltar and Galicia, groups of orcas have been recorded swimming near sailboats and other vessels…

27 Jan 2020

@ Glosten: “Crazy ideas are not off the table”

“Doing business the same way over and over will not last; we know technology will advance our industry, and if we just sit back and don’t take an active role, we’re going to lose. There is no room for complacency.” 
Morgan Fanberg, President, Glosten

From racing scows on the inland lakes of Minnesota to graduating from the United States Merchant Marine Academy to taking the helm of Glosten, Morgan Fanberg has led a ‘maritime life.’ We caught up with Fanberg in his Seattle office to discuss the path ahead for one of the U.S.’ most progressive and respected naval architecture and marine engineering firms.Morgan Fanberg has always been a ‘maritime guy,’ but his early maritime aspirations centered on racing sailboats. “I went to St.

27 Jan 2020

Fishing for Trouble

© Rachael / Adobe Stock

Radar confusion and speed cited in ferry groundingWhile the perennial issue of commercial vessel and recreational boat collisions, near misses and allisions with navigational aids are certainly nothing new, in much of  the navigable waters of the United States they are typically associated with the warmer weather of late spring, summer and early fall when privately-owned boats abound on the nation’s lakes, rivers, bays and sounds.But even after the cabin cruisers, sailboats, jet skis…

24 Oct 2019

Ship Design & The Inevitability of Change

A paintings by Maarten Platje called the Great Chase  tells this amazing story of the US Frigate Constitution being becalmed off the New Jersey coast and becoming engaged in a rowing race to keep out of range of a powerful British Squadron. The Constitution escaped and went on to have her amazing victories that year, but if she had been caught, today we would have never heard of her. Credit Maarten Platje

At one time the most powerful lighthouse in the United States was Twin Lights in Highlands New Jersey. Today it is a wonderful little museum and right now it has a very interesting show of paintings by Maarten Platje on the War of 1812. One painting is called the Great Chase and it tells this amazing story of the US Frigate Constitution being becalmed off the New Jersey coast and becoming engaged in a rowing race to keep out of range of a powerful British Squadron. The Constitution escaped and went on to have her amazing victories that year…

04 Sep 2019

ClassNK Guidelines for Wind-Assisted Propulsion

Logo: Class NK

Classification Society ClassNK has released its Guidelines for Wind-Assisted Propulsion Systems for Ships.Environmental regulations continue to tighten, and as the IMO has announced its goal to completely eliminate GHG emissions within this century, technology using wind power for auxiliary propulsion is attracting attention as one of the underlying technologies for accomplishing this. In addition to the sails used on sailboats in older times, systems in which boats are dragged along by a large kite and the wind it receives…

29 Aug 2019

Shipbuilding: Diversity Drives Derecktor

Derecktor New York.

Derecktor is a diverse boatbuilding organization, with a multitude of yards and long experience building  hundreds of yachts, workboats and military craft. Its shipyards today include:• Robert E. Derecktor: The company headquarters located 25 miles north of Manhattan in Mamaroneck, NY, and the original Derecktor yard. Today, the site remains as the company’s new construction base, and it also provides repair services for a variety of yachts and commercial craft.• Derecktor Robinhood: Located in Riggs Cove…

29 May 2020

USMI: 35 Years and Going Strong

Spanning 35 exciting years, USMI’s core values of Family, Integrity and Quality have served the firm and its military customers well. The next 35 promise to be just as compelling.Little more than one month ago, on April 16, 2019, Gulfport, MS-based United States Marine Inc. (USMI) celebrated its 35th anniversary of continuous Department of Defense production, with hopes of many more years to come. According to CEO and President Barry Dreyfus, Jr., they’ll do just that by exceeding customer expectations by adhering to USMI’s core values of Family, Integrity and, of course, Quality. Over three and one-half decades, the firm has thrived, primarily by evolving into one of the nation’s premier military small craft builders.RootsThe company originally built World Class racing sailboats.

20 Nov 2018

Shipyard Report: Abeking & Rasmussen

©Abeking&Rasmussen

111 years of success by designWhen Georg Abeking and Henry Rasmussen from Denmark established their boat and yacht yard 111 years ago, it is likely that neither of them suspected at that time that their small shipyard, headquartered in Lemwerder next to Bremen, would one day evolve into a world-renowned company known for building first class vessels.Today the company, which has been transferred into a European Company (Societas Europaea, SE), is a company that designs and manufactures, among other things. Included in this mix are some of the world’s most luxurious yachts.

11 Jun 2018

A Post-casualty Rush to Judgment Can be Costly

© Peter Vandenbelt / Adobe Stock

It was a warm and sunny early summer morning in an increasingly popular and typically busy domestic harbor. And, not surprisingly, the water and waterfront were crowded with commercial and private vessels of every description. From a slowly moving tug/barge combination, a working dredge and a small tanker delivering fuel on the more industrial side of the harbor, to numerous water taxis, sightseeing boats and larger catamaran ferries, the harbor was buzzing with activity.All of these commercial vessels were operating in close quarters with a fleet of small yachts…

28 Nov 2018

Renault to Use NEOLINE Sailboats

French automaker Groupe Renault partners with NEOLINE, designer and operator of cargo sailing ships, to experience a new maritime transport solution and reduce the carbon footprint of the Group’s supply chain.Groupe Renault announced the signing of a 3-year partnership with Nantes start-up NEOLINE to develop a more sustainable maritime transport service powered by wind, and to contribute to the environmental management of its logistics chain while nearly 60% of the Group's parts and vehicles are transported by sea.Jean-Philippe Hermine, Vice President, Strategic Environmental Planning Groupe Renault, stated: “Groupe Renault’s objective is to reduce the environmental impact of each vehicle throughout its entire life cycle, from parts transportation up to delivery and end-of-life processing.

19 Dec 2016

Coast Guard Plucks Sailors from Icy Annapolis Waters

Four people were rescued from frigid waters off Annapolis, Maryland, on Sunday after more than a dozen sailboats capsized during a race held in rough, windy weather, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The Severn Sailing Association reported that 22 people had fallen into the water off 15 small sailboats during a race on Sunday afternoon, the Coast Guard said in a statement. Rescue teams from the Coast Guard's Maryland-National Capital Region, the Maryland State Police, Anne Arundel County Fire Rescue and Maryland Natural Resources Police all responded. A Coast Guard crew based in Annapolis rescued four people from the frigid seas. "The water temperature in the Chesapeake Bay today was 42 degrees…

31 Oct 2018

FLIBS: KVH Introduces TracPhone V3-HTS

Photo: KVH

KVH Industries, Inc., (Nasdaq: KVHI),  unveiled the TracPhone V3-HTS at the Fort Lauderdale (FL) International Boat Show. Measuring just 37 cm (14.5 inches) diameter and weighing 11 kg (25 lbs.), the TracPhone V3-HTS is smaller in physical size than any other Ku-band marine satellite communications antenna on the market and is designed to provide faster data speeds (5 Mbps download/2 Mbps upload) than larger marine satellite antennas.The TracPhone V3-HTS’s fast data speeds, combined with its diminutive size…

23 Jan 2017

Watermakers Add Safety, Convenience, Value

Photo: FCI

Boats are a lot like homes: upgrades and enhancements add to their comfort and livability, and increase their value. FCI Watermakers explores how adding a watermaker to a vessel is an investment that pays dividends in terms of safety and convenience, and sets it apart when it's time to sell. The ability to make pure, fresh water while at sea is liberating. Gone are the days of water frugality. With a watermaker, there's more than enough for drinking, bathing, cooking and refilling supplies. And in case of mechanical trouble far from the nearest port, it can be a real lifesaver.

30 Mar 2017

KVH Ships 7,000th mini-VSAT Broadband System

KVH Industries, Inc. has shipped more than 7,000 mini-VSAT Broadbandsm systems, designed and manufactured by KVH to provide mobile connectivity at sea. The TracPhone V-series satellite communications antenna systems are currently in use on everything from small recreational sailboats cruising the coastline to 1,000-foot commercial freighters transiting the world’s oceans. KVH launched the mini-VSAT Broadband service in July 2007, and has seen the popularity of the service grow, coinciding with an overall trend in the maritime industry toward increased reliance on broadband connectivity. As recently as September 2016, industry analyst Northern Sky Research reported that KVH’s mini-VSAT Broadband customers account for 29 percent of the vessels using Ku-band service.

23 Jul 2017

Europe to Build Ships of the Future

A new European research project seeks to revolutionize the shipbuilding sector by replacing steel with composite materials for the construction of more efficient large length ships. FIBRESHIP is an ambitious project that will allow for the construction of light commercial vessels, passenger and leisure transport and oceanographic vessels more than 50 meters in length using fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials. It is one of the largest innovation projects funded by the EU with a budget of €11 million, of which €9 million is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme. The project involves 18 international entities representing the European shipping and shipbuilding industry from 11 countries including Cyprus…

03 Oct 2017

Growing the KVH Empire

Martin Kits van Heyningen, President, CEO & Chairman of the Board, KVH

From humble beginnings KVH has evolved rapidly to become a central player in the maritime world’s global Big Data revolution. Maritime Reporter & Engineering News caught up with Martin Kits van Heyningen in Oslo for his take on KVH’s current position and future direction. “We certainly didn’t envision that we would be in the high-speed satellite broadband business when we started,” is how Kits van Heyningen, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board, KVH, succinctly summarizes the biggest difference between the company he founded in 1982 versus the one he leads today.

27 Dec 2017

Driver-less Ships: Autonomy in the Maritime Sector

 “Phase 1” to “2”: Rolls-Royce’s remote monitoring facility at Longva, near Aalesund. Photo: William Stoichevski

In a show of prototypes, a pod of unmanned sailboats from around the world competes to cross “The Atlantic” test tank in Horten, Norway. Cross the real ocean, and the Sail Bots race similarly challenges scholarly robotic-vessel designers to North America for a bit of station-keeping, collision-avoidance and “cargo moves”. For all, the future seems bright — the first commercial runs of unmanned vessels are underway or scheduled worldwide. These earliest movers have the support of governments, Google and grateful clients.

19 Sep 2016

B&G Vulcan Chartplotter Family Gets Bigger

B&G has introduced the new Vulcan 9 sailing chartplotter – a large touchscreen chartplotter for coastal cruising and club racing sailboats, that provides sailors with incredible value. The new 9-inch chartplotter delivers innovative sailing functionality controlled through a bright intuitive multi-touch screen and easy to use menu structure that makes setting courses, reading wind speed[1] and direction, depth[2], bearings and a host of other sailing functions, simple and intuitive to access and understand. With award-winning sailing features that make it easy to plan a trip with key information, the Vulcan 9 includes SailSteer and Sailing Time…

08 Mar 2018

Charter Sailboats Visiting Amsterdam can Use De Ruijterkade

Charter sailboats visiting Amsterdam in order to allow their passengers to embark or disembark or spend the night as part of a sailing trip or cruise can continue to use interior Wharf 14 on De Ruijterkade, subject to certain conditions. Initially, this arrangement applied until 1 December 2017. The Netherlands Association for Professional Charters (Vereniging voor de Beroepschartervaart/BBZ) has requested the State Harbour Master to extend the transition period until the berths in the Oude Houthaven section are available for use. These berths will be delivered later than originally expected. Port of Amsterdam has agreed to this request because the other locations are reserved in the summer months or are not suitable for this group.

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