Yachting December 2015

MY SON, KEVIN, HAD BEEN ASKING FOR WEEKS: “Can we go to pirate island, Daddy?” Pirate island is a little spit of beach about 15 minutes from our boat’s slip, and it’s a great spot to take a dip, look for seashells and just be for a few hours on a sunny weekend day. But to Kevin, it’s another planet with an infinite world of possibilities. It’s a place filled with buccaneers and treasure. Sometimes the treasure is a scallop shell. Sometimes it’s a shiny coin found in the sand, likely dropped from a father’s board shorts while running around collecting scallop shells with his son. Always, it’s an epic adventure. In early August, we made plans to voyage to pirate island for the afternoon. Kevin was sure we packed…

VIDEO SERIES : A NAUTICAL LIFE Our 144,000-plus Facebook fans have gone wild for our new video series A Nautical Life, which debuted with the story of full-time sailor Liz Clark, also in our October issue. Look for more adventures each month. Here’s what viewers say: Yep, a wonderful life indeed. I myself am living on a yacht and have for 10 years. Wouldn’t change a thing. PETER SMITH I hope she keeps living that dream, most of us are too scared to actually go forth with a dream like that. Amazing. Keep sailing on, Liz! ERIC WEBBER She is living the life I want. JOSH SMITH CREDIT DUE The October issue’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show feature contained photos that should have been credited to Forest Johnson on pages…

As the owners of investment-grade sailing yachts continue to demand more from their vessels, the world’s top designers and shipyards are responding with smart designs, technological advancements and enhanced construction methods. It is no longer enough to have a yacht that sails well; today’s owners want to win regattas, cruise in comfort for long stretches and enjoy motoryacht-caliber comforts from their cockpits to their staterooms. Swan’s new flagship, the 115S, offers all of that and more with a new hull design by German Frers. nautorswan.com 1. ROYAL HUISMAN They’re calling her “The Beast,” which is what the owner of the 190-foot Ngoni asked the Dutch yard to create. Due for delivery in spring 2017, this Ed Dubois design has a 233-foot rig for fast, furious sailing. royalhuisman.com 2. DUBOIS No, that isn’t…

HISTORIANS QUESTION the tale’s veracity, but as the man himself told it, the pseudonym Mark Twain was stolen — not from a Mississippi River term, but from a cranky captain. Young Samuel Clemens claimed to have been frustrated reading the river reports from a long-in-the-tooth skipper who embellished his basic information with sidebars intended to make him sound erudite. An aspiring writer at the time, Clemens mocked his elder in print, penning a feature-length river notation with endless parenthetical references. The captain, enraged, never wrote again, and Clemens stole the pen name for himself. Whether the story is true is debatable, but that was the genius of Twain’s tales: One never knew which bend they might follow next. Clemens spent years on the Mississippi River, where “twain” was a common…

“WE KNEW PEOPLE MIGHT BE WARY OF BUYING FOOD FROM A BOAT, BUT PIZZA IS FRIENDLY.” AT FIRST, IT WAS A PIPE dream, scribbled onto a cocktail napkin. Tara and Alexander Sasha Bouis were trying to find a niche. He taught sailing, and she, scuba. The couple worked in the sailing charter industry, but the hours — 24/7 for 10 months a year — were long. Enter the idea on the napkin. They’d refit a boat so, as Tara says, they could provide a necessity for boaters near St. Thomas: pizza. • Really, a pizza boat was your dream? My husband is a total pizza snob from Manhattan, and he could never find good pizza here. We knew people might be wary of buying food from a boat, but pizza…

LOA 37'11" TOP SPEED 40.6 KNOTS Since 1977, the year he founded Pursuit Boats, Leon Slikkers has wanted his fishing boats to be a cut above the ordinary. He passed along his strong beliefs about quality and durability to his sons, and the company has continued to earn high marks from owners who recognize the savvy blend of features that serve fishermen and their families. The Pursuit OS 355 is one of three designs in the company’s Off shore line, the first with hull side windows to bring more light to the cabin. • MAIN TAKEAWAYS: An innovative, electrically actuated main cabin berth/dinette with a second berth aft. In addition to the wellequipped tackle center and myriad rod-stowage options, the cockpit has foldaway bench seating aft and to starboard, complementing…