Innehållsförteckning för September 2021 från Soundings

MJM is a different kind of boat builder, second generation family owned and operated, we design and build stable, smooth running, performance yachts in a unique Carolina Downeast style. The materials, processes and finish create heirloom yachts meant to provide enjoyment for generations. What Makes an MJM different? It all starts with the vision and the design. To improve sailboat performance with the wind as a finite source of energy, founder Bob Johnstone knew that stronger, stiffer, and lighter high-tech construction with a low vertical center of gravity (VCG) worked wonders. Typically, powerboat builders didn’t care, they just built boats heavy and cheap, then kept adding more horsepower. This left the door wide open for the Johnstone family to create MJM Yachts as the first seriously built performance motoryacht with…

On September 24, 1972, The New York Times wrote about a naval architect and Vietnam veteran named Paul Dodson who, following the path of a new and exciting sailboat show in Annapolis, Maryland, had “incorporated the built-in magic of Newport, America’s Cup land, into another successful outdoor sailboat show.” That was year two of the Newport Sailboat Show in Rhode Island, an event that today is known as the Newport International Boat Show. When the docks open this year from September 16 through 19, it will mark the show’s 50th year—and attendees will receive a kind of two-years-in-one bonus deal of new boats and gear, given that the Covid-19 pandemic threw last year’s boat shows into chaos nationwide. “You go through so many things—rain, hurricanes, wind,” says Nancy Piffard, who…

FEEL-GOOD FISH STORY If you’re looking for an hour-and-a-half of the feels—in a good way—Netflix’s Blue Miracle movie is an excellent place to start. The movie tells the story of Casa Hogar, a Mexican orphanage in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and its participation in the world-famous Bisbee’s Black & Blue marlin tournament in 2014. The competition, which started in 1981 with only a handful of participating boats, today hosts as many as 150 boats with a top cash payout of more than $4 million. The movie begins with Hurricane Odile blasting its way into Cabo, leaving behind it a vast swath of devastation. A massive rebuilding effort ensued, as did an anonymous donation of $250,000 that allowed 50 local charter boats to pay the $5,000 tournament entry fee. One of…

LOA: 47’2” Beam: 13’3” Draft (engines down): 4’2” Displ.: 28,000 lbs. Power: (4) 425-hp Yamahas Price (approx.): $1.4 million When Everglades set out to build its new flagship—the longest, widest and largest vessel in brand history—its team started with the best elements of previous models and then added to them. The result is the Everglades 455cc, which is intended for fishing and weekend cruising alike. “We wanted to make sure that we had an outstanding running surface and platform for very versatile boating,” says Shane Kwaterski, director of dealer development. “The DNA is obviously a fishing boat, but it also has the creature comforts people expect from Everglades.” The running surface allows for a top speed faster than 51 knots, according to Everglades. Range is just over 380 nautical miles…

Situated between Cape Cod, the Elizabeth Islands and the Massachusetts mainland, Buzzards Bay has a reputation for being a bit of a nautical grumpypants. Tides average 4 feet, tidal currents rip, and the prevailing winds often blow straight up or down its 25-nautical-mile-long fetch. The bay can go from calm to snotty in a few minutes. So, it comes as no surprise that in 1898, when Robert W. Emmons II and his sailing pals were looking for a craft to race on Buzzards Bay, they approached someone who knew a thing or two about fast, seaworthy sailboats: Nathanael Greene Herreshoff. The design Herreshoff drew, and that his manufacturing company ultimately built, was a 24-foot, 6-inch gaff-rigged sailboat with a 15-foot waterline. It would become widely known as the Buzzards Bay…

During the 19th and 20th centuries, tens of thousands of ships launched in the Great Lakes. There were wooden schooners, steamships built of steel, bulk carriers and propeller-driven passenger ships, all of them moving everything from people to coal to manufactured goods that helped to build the American Midwest. It’s believed that about 1,200 of these ships sank in Lake Michigan. Several hundred foundered in the lake’s waters off Wisconsin, which reportedly has more individually listed shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places than any other state. Lake Michigan’s cold, fresh water helped to preserve at least a few dozen of the wrecks with what the federal government calls “an unusual degree of archaeological and architectural integrity.” For that reason, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been working…

In summer 1984, when I was fresh out of college and living with my parents in New Jersey, my brother Rik called me from Newport, Rhode Island, where he was working for naval architect Johan Valentijn on the design of the 12 Metre Eagle. The Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s Eagle Syndicate was planning a challenge for the 1987 America’s Cup in Perth, Australia, and they were looking for a head gofer. My brother offered me up to fill the position. The gig had an unsavory job title and only paid $250 per week, but it came with free sailing gear and a bottomless beer budget. That night, I hopped in my rusty 1976 Plymouth Volare and made the fourhour trip to the ocean state. Two years before, Rik and I…

Setting sail from the Isle of Wight in 1633 bound for the New World, the Dove, a small, two-masted square-rigger, was caught in a sudden storm. Last seen flying distress lanterns by the crew of her larger companion ship, the Ark, it was assumed she was lost at sea. But six weeks later she miraculously sailed into Barbados, catching up with the Ark, and together they eventually reached Chesapeake Bay. Built as a 40-ton cargo ship with a 7-foot draft, she was the ideal vessel for early Colonists to explore the Atlantic Seacoast. Escaping religious persecution, they settled in what eventually became St. Mary’s City, Maryland’s first capital. During the next two years they sailed the Dove between Maryland and Massachusetts much like a coastal freighter, trading with native peoples…

The seas are tumultuous. The small commercial boat rocks back and forth as it rides over the swells. The two lobstermen are unperturbed. This is their occupation, and this is just another day of work. The men have close to 600 traps scattered throughout the sea, and as their masterful hands work the lines out of the water, the labor begins to resemble a dance. While the waves are not enough to disrupt the work, they never turn a blind eye to the sea—the generous yet unforgiving body of water that allows them to make a living but that is ready to swallow them whole if they make one fatal error, if one leg becomes wrapped in a line. It is this gravity, this seriousness, that artist Robert Beck depicts…

I’ve owned six boats in the past 40 years. I’ve cruised and raced them, crewed in countless regattas on other people’s boats and more. I can and do talk boats forever. I love them all: sail and power, dinghies and superyachts. So, people often ask me what type of boat they should buy. My unequivocally firm answer is that you should buy the boat you can afford. And by “afford,” I do not mean the biggest boat that you have enough cash on hand to purchase. I mean the boat that you can afford to purchase and then properly maintain, without being shocked by the size of the invoices from the boat yard. “If you buy a used boat in anything less than showroom condition, count on 15 to 20…

WOOD IS VERY GOOD I want to thank Pim Van Hemmen for his story “A Fox in the Fog” (September 2020). At the time it was published, I had just sold my beloved Eastbay 38 and didn’t know if I would ever own a boat again. Pim’s writing and beautiful photographs changed that perspective. Three months later, I purchased a lovely Pulsifer Hampton (Hull No. 74), which is perfect for exploring the harbor and salt marshes near my home. And, at age 77, it is my first wooden boat! DONALD CHENEY NEWBURYPORT, MASSACHUSETTS ROTH BILT STILL BUILT I enjoyed Steve Knauth’s piece about the Roth Bilt 21 (Used Boat, July). The story ends with the statement that these boats are no longer in production. I found the company’s phone number…

Labor Day often means the end of the traditional boating season in Northern waters, but I have always considered September and October to be the best months of the year along the New Jersey Shore, where I keep my boat. Crowds are gone, the weather is mild, bay and ocean waters remain comfortable for swimming, and the diminishing hours of daylight trigger migratory species like tuna, bluefish, striped bass and fluke to ramp up their feeding schedules. These months are a virtual second summer, a prime opportunity to travel to places like Newport and Block Island in Rhode Island, or Nantucket and the Vineyard in Massachusetts, to enjoy crowd-free boating in beautiful surroundings and blissful weather. Operating your boat at this time of the year requires a more practical approach…

LOA: 32’8” Beam: 10’0” Draft: 2’9” Displ.: 9,000 lbs. Power (max): 800 hp Price: $318,000 Williston, Florida-based Blackfin Boats has been crafting hulls for fishermen and families since the 1970s. The brand rose to prominence among serious anglers in the 1980s and ’90s, when word spread on the docks about how well Blackfin hulls sliced through seas. Then, hard times hit the business—words like “creditors” and “embattled” were all over the press. For a while, it was uncertain what Blackfin’s future might be. Today, that future is bright. Blackfin, now owned by Monterey Boats, offers a lineup of nine center- and dual-console boats from 24 to nearly 36 feet length overall. The latest model is the 32-foot Blackfin 302CC. “I always refer to our Blackfins as 30-30-30. That is, 30…

The Matthews Boat Company was founded in Bascom, Ohio, in 1890 and then relocated to Port Clinton, Ohio, in 1906—after Scott J. Matthews and his family returned from a 9,000-mile Great Loop cruise aboard a 74-foot, doubleended cruiser he built. The Matthews Company built wooden powerboats for 60 years before introducing its first 42-foot “stock” boat, which had one common hull offered as a Sport Fisherman, a Deluxe Sedan, a Convertible Sedan or a Fly Bridge Double Cabin. In 1956, Matthews introduced the Martinique Express as the fifth variation, of which only seven were built. The 42-foot stock hull is distinctive. Forward, there is a nearvertical stem plunging down to a deep forefoot below the waterline. Topsides are high, with modestly flared bow sections that transition gently to a tumblehome.…

LOA: 47’0” Beam: 15’0” Draft: 4’0” DIspl. 35,480 lbs. Fuel: 350 gals. Water: 80 gals. Power: (2) 300-hp inboards Boat ownership is a state that some are born to, some achieve and some have thrust upon them. Bob Crouch, who bought his 1970 Chris-Craft Commander in 2006 and keeps it on Lake Lewisville just north of Dallas, is surely all three. The son of a home-builder who was an avid outdoorsman and boat owner, Bob Crouch remembers taking to the water at an early age and being deeply involved with all the boats his father owned. The Chris-Craft marque was a family favorite. “I’ve been around powerboating starting around the age of 12, after my dad bought a 14-foot Yellow Jacket wood boat with a 40-hp Johnson outboard for fishing…

What happens when one of the leading outboard manufacturers in the world joins forces with a world-class showman and entrepreneur? Theatrics are sure to ensue. That is precisely what happened on May 16, 1977, at the Cypress Gardens theme park in Winter Haven, Florida, when park founder Dick Pope teamed up with Johnson Outboards to set a world record. Known as the Water Ski Capital of the World, Cypress Gardens was one of Florida’s biggest tourist attractions during the mid-20th century, and it hosted renowned ski shows during which Pope conducted impressive on-water stunts to promote his business. The shows were sponsored by Johnson Outboards, which used the event to produce a good deal of photography for its advertisements. Johnson made huge waves in the outboard industry in 1976 with…