Soundings is the news and feature publication for recreational boaters. Award-winning coverage of the people, issues, events -- and the fun -- of recreational boating. Check out our generous boats-for-sale section and our gunkholing destinations.
This issue should be in your mailbox as the New Year approaches, so let me begin by wishing you a happy 2024. I hope those plans to put many nautical miles in your wake in the months ahead come to fruition. There’s no better time than the present to see those places you’ve been dreaming about, and there’s no finer way to explore the unfamiliar than by boat. This year is a special one for Soundings. Our title turns a salty 60, so a celebration is in order. To commemorate the passage of six decades, we’ll feature an anniversary section in each 2024 issue. We’ll cover the boats and the builders that made news, the people who changed the sport, the events that inspired many of us to take big…
Barb Hansen stood at her sliding door, looking out to her backyard in Cape Coral and her 36-foot Grand Banks trawler tied up at the dock. It was about 4 p.m. on September 28, 2022. Hurricane Ian pounded harder and harder until her trawler was lunging up and down in 12-foot swings, with storm surge roiling the Gulf of Mexico and rivers heading inland to southwest Florida. “Water started coming into our house so fast,” she recalls. “It was four adults, four cats and three dogs in the attic for eight hours. We sat around the opening of the attic in our garage and watched the water come in. We’re about 8 feet above sea level, where we were located, and about 4 feet of water came in.” It would…
Until recently, self-parking cars were considered revolutionary, but now self-docking boats are entering that stage. On a blustery day last September, I got aboard the Boston Whaler 405 Autonomous Docking Boat at Brunswick Corporation’s media day in New York. While I went in with no expectations, my perspective quickly changed when Brandon Ferriman approached me and began to explain the intricacies of this complex technology. Ferriman is the program director of Brunswick’s Autonomy and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) programs. Before joining Brunswick two years ago, he spent about 10 years working on autonomous operations in the automotive industry. Ferriman explained that there are two key components to Brunswick’s autonomous docking technology, each requiring a profusion of intelligent information. The components are called Object Detection and Path Planner. Six stereo…
Being a safe boater is really quite simple. All you have to do is have an answer for the question, “What if?” Most conscientious boaters do a pretty good job with the big queries: What if someone falls overboard? What if there is a fire? It’s lacking an answer for the less-obvious questions that has gotten more than one boater into trouble. Today’s modern, long-distance power cruisers give us the means and reliability to explore distant islands and harbors. But every time we go out, we are still placing ourselves at the mercy of Mother Nature—a force capable of challenging the most seasoned crew and most stoutly built vessel. Only when you’ve determined what you would do in any “what if” scenario are you truly safe handling your passagemaker. As…
LOA: 30’10” Beam: 10’0” Draft (motors up): 2’1” Weight (approx.): 10,500 lbs. Power: (2) 300-hp Yamaha outboards Fuel: 200 gals. Water: 41 gals. The Solara S-310 Sport Coupe came quickly on plane as I advanced the throttles located to the right of the wheel. The twin 300-hp Yamaha F300 outboards poured out steadily-rising torque as the boat passed 26 knots in short order. For this sea trial, I was aboard with Tim Wilbricht, director of sales for Pocket Yachts, the Chesapeake Bay to Florida East Coast dealer for Solara, Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats—all brands from the parent company Fluid Motion based in Monroe, Washington. I advanced the throttles to the stops, and the S-310 SC accelerated without hesitation to 43 knots. We were running south out of Crab Alley…
LOA: 52’7” Beam: 16’5” Draft: 3’5” Displ.: 60,053 lbs. Fuel: 502 gals. Water: 159 gals. Power: (2) 550-hp Cummins QSB6.7 The Sirena 48 is the smallest vessel in a four-model line that runs to 88 feet from the Turkish shipyard. Like her sisterships, the 48 is drawn by the Argentinian yacht designer Germán Frers. Her profile is defined by an elegant plumb bow, copious hullside glass and a tall pilothouse with oversized windows that echo her straight bow. It is a fetching look that translates well up and down Sirena’s model line. During the Sirena 48’s premiere at the recent Cannes Yachting Festival, the optional passerelle brought me over her hydraulic swim platform and into the cockpit, where buyers have a choice of layouts. These can include fixed or loose…
