Yachting February 2017

It was near midnight as our five-man crew sat in a friend’s new sport-fisherman on a placid sea some 100 miles southeast of New York City. We’d taken a two-day sojourn looking for yellowfin tuna. Our wasabi was hotter than any hipster-favored sriracha, and our hopes were high to catch the tasty Thunnus albacares. A brightly lit, planetariumlike backdrop was straight out of van Gogh’s The Starry Night. The setup was perfect, and it felt like something special was about to happen. Sometimes, though, feelings can be, well, misleading. Suddenly, the boat went dark. Almost everything shut off . That incredible night sky got a lot brighter (van Gogh would’ve loved it), but there was no time to enjoy the stars. My brother Chip, an electronics guru, broke out the…

START’EM YOUNG Here is my grandchild Noah. He is 8 months old. This past week on one of the warmer days, we went for our first boat ride, and he took to the wheel like a pro. However, the best part was after we got home, he pulled himself up on a table in our family room and picked up the latest issue of your magazine. He stared at the boat on the cover for at least two minutes, enough time for me to get a photo. Now, as the good grandfather I am, I may need to buy him a subscription. Why should he be stuck only looking at alphabet and animal pictures? Hope this brings a smile to you, as it did me. DR. KEITH OVERLAND Norwalk, Connecticut…

RON HUIBERS REMEMBERS a decade ago as if it were yesterday. He was among the people who brought the first Volvo Penta IPS pod-drive systems to boat shows, tasked with helping yachtsmen understand why the machinery looked, well, backward. Boaters didn’t always get it, but other showgoers did. “Airplane pilots were coming by the stand, looking at that and saying, ‘Finally, somebody has propellers facing the right direction,’” says Huibers, now the president at Volvo Penta Americas. “It was interesting to see these aeronautical engineers who understood that you don’t run propellers in disturbed air. You run them in clean air. It’s the same in the water.” Today, the Volvo Penta IPS and Cummins Zeus pod systems are ubiquitous. Volvo Penta alone says it has delivered more than 20,000…

GALACTICA SUPER NOVA, AT 229 feet 8 inches, is the largest superyacht to date from Heesen Yachts. Her features include everything from a touch-and-go helipad to a swim-jet infinity pool. Three of our editors loved what they saw when they got aboard. Patrick Sciacca, Editor-in-Chief I entered the engine room to see three hulking MTU diesels totaling just over 16,000 hp. Walking around them, I still had room to do jumping jacks. “What’s her top speed?” I asked. Her build captain smiled. “She can do 31 knots.” Grace Howard, Digital Editor I was aboard at nighttime, when she feels like a different yacht. From the guide lighting at the sole to the delicate lights on deck that mimic stars overhead, every bulb is purposefully placed. Kevin Koenig, Executive Editor Oh, that beach club.…

BIGGER CAN BE BETTER, but only sometimes. This is a lesson that organizers of the Miami International Boat Show learned last year, when the event moved to its new home at Miami Marine Stadium Park and Basin on Virginia Key. “It was three-quarters of a mile wide from west to east ... just too big,” Ben Wold, executive vice president at the National Marine Manufacturers Association, says of the land portion of the show. At the same time, though, attendees and exhibitors alike loved the in-water displays. Thus, for this year, “The land space will be smaller, but the in-water has grown,” Wold says. An extra 150 boats will be at this year’s show — for a total of 550 in-water. “About 100 of those are larger yachts, 50 to…

COMING IN AT AN EVEN 75 feet length overall, the Horizon E75 debuted to U.S. yachting enthusiasts at November’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. She falls in the middle of this builder’s nine-model E series, running from 56 to 98 feet length overall. For seasoned owner-operators who want to voyage to far-flung waypoints, this yacht is ready to travel. Horizon is confident that its owners are up to the challenge. The yacht has an 18-foot-6-inch beam that helps keep her manageable, and her systems are designed for use without crew. Says Horizon USA Marketing Director Elise Moffitt: “None of this boat’s systems require a professional engineer. If you’re a knowledgeable owner — which, at this size, almost everyone we see is — you’re going to be comfortable working the…