Cobalt Boat’s newest arrival–the A40–is a crowd favorite

Sometimes the best place on a boat isn’t behind the wheel, but stretched out on a sunpad watching the world go by—and letting someone else pilot the vessel. The innovative layout and design of Cobalt Boats’ new A40 may sway more guests and even owners toward lounging rather than driving, as I discovered during my three-hour tour of the 40-foot sport yacht at the 2014 Miami International Boat Show in February. I did the tour for a review of the boat for Southern Boating magazine’s May 2014 issue.

Cobalt’s Alex Barry, left, and Doug Thompson on the new A40

Here’s why it’s awfully tempting to let someone else be in control: a huge aft island sunpad that has a split backrest that moves fore and aft. Move the backrest all the way aft and you’ve got a conventional front-facing lounge with a
sunpad; move it all the forward and you’ve got a backrest for the sunpad, ideal for reclining in comfort. This setup is just one of many interesting features Cobalt has built into the A40, which is new for 2014. The boat we reviewed was hull No. 2, and Cobalt is in full production on the A40 and delivering boats to customers.

To read the entire story click here SB 5-14–86 Boat Rev-Cobalt A40

Patagonia founder Chouinard explains fly-fishing technique

Making an artificial dry fly flitter and hop on a stream to tempt a feeding trout is challenging for most fly-fishing anglers. Water current and wind conspire to thwart a good cast, and it always seems the best spot is located just a bit out of reach.

Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, believes there’s a better, simpler way to put that tiny Elk Hair Caddis in the right spot to do its tempting dance. I met Chouinard while working on a newspaper article for the Ventura County Star that ran Saturday, April 19, 2014. During a Thursday, April 17 evening talk at Great Pacific Iron Works Patagonia in Ventura, Chouinard, 75, explained the concept of tenkara, a nearly 2,000-year-old Japanese fly-fishing system. Tenkara is similar to fly reel-and-rod fishing with one important difference: There is no reel.

“People fish like this around the world,” said Chouinard, author of the new book “Simple Fly Fishing: Techniques for Tenkara and Rod & Reel.” “They use a pole with a line on the end. That is how I learned to fish and it’s very simple.”

Read the entire article: VC Star.YvonChouinard.Tenkara.April19.2014

Ultimate charter extras spare no expense

Watch a documentary of your dive just hours after a shark encounter, learn to waterski with a pro coach or hire Jimmy Buffett for a private concert—your next charter could be even more unforgettable. That is beginning of a feature story I wrote for the March 2014 issue of ShowBoats International. The story explored ways yacht captains around the world find incredible activities for their charter guests to enjoy.

For example, diving instructor Rodolphe Holler knows the look—eyes twinkle and search the big TV screen and laughter is continuous as the HD video plays to an eager audience in the yacht’s main salon. After days of astounding diving around Moorea, French Polynesia, his students watch a meticulously edited video presentation of their trip just 12 hours after completing their last dive. The wonder of seeing a big whale or shark in the tropical waters is relived in superb detail; this is the exclamation point of Holler’s guide service.

It includes the laughs, the gaffes and reflects the guests’ wonder as they get up close to nature. Viewing the video while still anchored in pristine waters makes it all the more special—the memories are hours old and the trip home is still on the horizon. “The final movie makes us different,” explains Holler, who runs Tahiti Private Expeditions from the high island of Moorea, located about 11 miles from Tahiti.

“Everyone on a charter trip has a camera on board. Pictures are taken by everyone, but no one knows what to do with the pictures after the trip. Each day we are compiling video and pictures and making the final product. When we show the video, the impact and emotions are incredible, so much higher right on the boat and not two weeks later watching it from their office.”

To read the entire article click Showboats Charter_Feature_Extras_2

Grand Banks sleek Eastbay 50 SX a modern classic

When the Grand Banks Yachts’ design team conceived the new Eastbay 50 SX at the 2012 Miami International Boat Show, choosing Volvo Penta IPS (Integrated Propulsion System) propulsion was a landmark move. I toured the boat for a feature article for the February 2014 issue of Southern Boating magazine.

IPS was introduced in the mid-2000s and is now common, yet Grand Banks had never utilized the forward-facing propeller IPS design. “It’s our first foray with Volvo Penta and we are impressed,” explained Tucker West, general manager of Grand Banks Northwest in Seattle. Tucker was on hand at the 2013 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show to introduce the brand-new Eastbay 50 SX. (It will also be at the 2014 Miami Yacht & Brokerage Show this month.) “The horsepower is outstanding, and the location and setup of the engines allows us to keep the cockpit lower.”

Click SB 2-14–82 Boat Review Grand Banks Eastbay 50 SX to read the entire article on the new Grand Banks Eastbay 50 SX.

Cutwater’s 30 Sport Top: Tropical Cruiser

The new Cutwater 30 Sport Top

Having the right toy makes the difference between a good boating weekend and a great one. I recently had a chance to review  Cutwater Boats’ new 30 Sport Top for Southern Boating magazine’s January 2014 issue, and learned that, sure, the 30 Sport Top is one big toy. However, a closer look reveals a trailerable cruiser loaded with so many innovative features it would take a year’s worth of boating weekends to discover them all.

Picture that perfect beach—it’s that one found during shallow-water cruising that would make an ideal lunch,
sunbathing or exploring spot. The Cutwater 30 Sport Top is built for beaching with its rugged, protected
keel and a telescoping ladder off the bow. If it’s safe and legal to nose the boat in, then you’re all set for
a secluded few hours, and that’s where the fun really begins.

To read the entire story, please click here for Cutwater 30 Sport Top Southern Boating January 2014

Outboard Overboard: Saving a Dunked Engine

In the December 2013 issue of Southern Boating magazine, I wrote about what to do when your outboard engine goes overboard. Once in every boat owner’s life, it’s likely to happen. A Titanic tragedy it is not; someone just forgot to replace the drain plug, and your boat lies submerged at the ramp. Fear not!

Yamaha’s Old Crusty

Saving your outboard—whether it’s a two or four stroke—from a watery death in fresh or salt water isn’t as hard as most people think, but fast action is crucial regardless of salinity. Once a waterlogged motor comes into contact with air, corrosive rusting begins. Portable outboards of 25 horsepower and smaller are the most likely engines to go under.

Marine mechanics call it “the classic late Saturday afternoon emergency save,” but how it gets to that point is up to fate. For example, while carrying a 9.9-hp outboard you stub a toe at the dock, and you and the motor hit the lake bottom. Or, you fail to tighten down the thumbscrews on the clamps, and normal vibrations loosen the connections to the boat until it is bath time. Perhaps the most famous outboard ever dunked and then saved is Yamaha’s Old Crusty, an 8-hp motor that was sunk along with a sailboat in August of 1992 during Hurricane Andrew. Five months later the sailboat was salvaged, and using the steps outlined in the Southern Boating story, the engine started after just three pulls.

To read the entire story, please click here for Southern Boating Engine Room December 2013 Doug Thompson.

Scoundrels past and present: Florida Pirates book review

Florida Pirates cover

Scoundrels that lived 300 years ago just don’t seem as devious, dangerous or contemptible as criminals do today. It’s hard to put the same face of crime on people named Black Caesar or Calico Jack Rackham, but the pirates of long ago had evil in their hearts and deeds, and no cute moniker will ever erase the terrorist acts they committed.

Even calling pirates scoundrels doesn’t seem to fit what these pirates have done—a dog plucking a chicken leg off the kitchen table or a wayward child taking a candy bar from a convenience store—that’s a scoundrel. Pirates would kill the dog, eat the chicken leg and burn down the convenience store. Oh, and sell the child into slavery. Super bad stuff that’s been romanticized in movies like the Pirates of the Caribbean, but when the facts are examined it is horrifying behavior. The pirates’ motto was “No prey, no pay.”

Just how awful the pirates could be is one message in the book: “Florida Pirates: From the Southern Gulf Coast to the Keys & Beyond,” by James and Sarah Kaserman, who live in Fort Myers. After reading the book I wrote a review for Bonita & Estero Magazine.

This well-researched, detailed soft-cover book examines the history of Florida-area pirates and privateering, beginning with the early Spanish explorers and leading to today’s drug and human smugglers. Much of the pirate activity occurred along the Gulfstream current, because that is the route that heavily laden ships from Europe took when returning with gold from Mexico and South America.

Accepting that pirate activity is ongoing today is another important message in the book: The age of pirates around Florida has never even stopped—and there’s no end in sight. The Kasermans explain that if there’s a way for one faction of people to exploit a need or inequity using Florida’s unique position on the earth, then people will line up to take on the task.

Read the entire book review.

Q&A with Barry Berhoff, President, Shurhold Industries

Barry Berhoff

Barry Berhoff grew up outside of Chicago, Illinois and spent his childhood boating with his parents, brother and sister on the Great Lakes and later, sportfishing off the coast of South Florida. Recreational boating was always considered a fun, family activity, and he hardly ever associated it with work.

And then the day was over, and it was time to clean the boat. Who likes to clean a boat?

Well, Berhoff didn’t mind. He considered it the next best thing to being on the water; taking care of a really big toy is a lot of fun when you have the time. Many boat owners can identify with the scarcity of time to go boating—if you can’t go boating, you think about boating and how you can make it better.

Berhoff helps make boating better through his company, Shurhold Industries, based in Palm City, Florida, and he bought the company (founded in 1973) from the original owner in 1998. He and a staff of 18 employees manufacture hard goods (brush, mops and squeegees) and soft goods (waxes, polishes and cleaners).

“The other half of what we do is provide information,” says Berhoff (39). “If people cannot find the answer online, then they can fill out a form on our website and ask questions. A lot of time those questions come to me and I will answer right away.”

I interviewed Berhoff for Southern Boating magazine’s April Enewsletter about his company and how he is helping to both build his business and educate boat owners. Here is an excerpt from the entire interview.

SB: Boat owners know cleaning is important, but what are common misconceptions they have when it comes to marine maintenance and related products?
BB: The biggest misconception is that many boat owners are afraid of detailing beyond a basic wash. Shurhold strives to make every boat owner feel like a professional detailer by providing simple, effective tools and information that make the job easy.

One question I get asked all the time is “Do I need two coats (or more) of wax?” People are shocked by our answer, which is to put on one coat. Some companies say to put on two coats, and what they may be doing is trying to get you to use more product.

We feel the second coat is really not helping your boat, except to make sure you don’t miss any areas. If you take your time and put one good solid coat on, then you can save the second coat for down the road. It is much better to put one coat on now and one three months from now. It’s like reapplying sunblock to your body halfway through the day.

Read the entire Q&A.

Interview with Robert Ullberg, VP of Product Development and Engineering, Bertram Yacht

Robert Ullberg, Bertram Yacht

Robert Ullberg clearly remembers when he decided to become a sportfishing boat designer. During a billfish tournament in the mid-1980s with his father near Port Isabel off the Texas coast, he saw a Tom Fexas-designed Southern Cross sportfishing boat outrun all the other boats at the start.

“At that moment I knew I was going to work for Tom Fexas and design boats,” said Ullberg, 46, during an interview I conducted with him for Southern Boating magazine aboard a Bertram 80 at the Miami Yacht and Brokerage Show in February. Ullberg joined Bertram last summer as the builder’s vice president of Engineering and Product Development. “The tourney was a Bimini start and the Fexas-design boat just walked away from us.”

After the tourney, Ullberg climbed aboard the boat and learned about the fully-cored bottom design that the Australian-based builder Southern Cross used instead of the solid bottoms most builders were using during the 1980s.

“I knew right away I had to go the Miami Boat Show, find Tom Fexas and tell him I wanted to work for him,” Ullberg said. “That’s what I did. I went to the show, met him and sent him drawings.”

After earning a mechanical engineering degree at the University of Maine in 1991, Ullberg joined Tom Fexas Yacht Design in Stuart, Florida, and worked there for six years before founding Ullberg Yacht Design. After 16 years of running his own company, he joined Bertram last year. Here’s an excerpt from the entire interview:

SB: You began your career at Tom Fexas Yacht Design. How did working with this storied designer help you?

RU: On my first day of work, I came to the office all dressed up with a tie on. Tom Fexas came out with scissors and cut my tie off. I didn’t know whether to be upset or embarrassed, and Fexas said, “That gentleman over there will explain to you why we don’t wear ties here.”

I learned that when you lean over a drafting table your tie can slip and go over the ink that’s on the Mylars we drew on back then. If that happens, you’ve got a problem and it’s not a ruined tie. You have ruined your drawing. That’s why you will see pictures of designer Ray Hunt wearing a tie, but it’s a bow tie.

I learned so much from Fexas, but one important thing was before you go forward on a project, look back. Someone else has probably already done it, perfected it and thrown it away. You can learn a lot from following this broken road to perfection.

Another important lesson was to always have fun. If you are having fun then the rest of your job comes easy.

When I left Fexas I had his full blessing, and we remained close until he passed [away] almost five years ago. I bought all the assets of Tom Fexas Yacht Design afterward and I take huge pleasure in having all the drawings and file boxes. If you come to my library it’s all laid out. I am the curator. I donated all the Midnight Lace models to the Stuart Maritime Museum, but I have everything else.

Read the entire interview.

Q&A with Betty De Varona, Principal, Yachting Experts

Betty De Varona

Oftentimes the best businesses are born out of simply connecting the dots. After 20 years of sales and marketing for BellSouth and several boating dealerships, Betty De Varona took a good look at the yacht sales and brokerage industry and said to herself, “I can do this!”

Betty didn’t have far to look. Her husband, Frank, a dive master and captain with 100-ton license, was working as a yacht broker for several established companies. Together, they founded Yachting Experts in 2009, and created a yacht sales and brokerage company in Coconut Grove that offers flair and philanthropy backed by excellent customer service and an extensive knowledge of the marine industry.

Both Betty and Frank love boating and spent plenty of time on the water before founding the company. Now with their bilingual backgrounds (both Betty and Frank are fluent in English and Spanish) they serve clients worldwide and are especially adept at serving the Latin American market. In addition, the 12-person sales staff (which includes people from Columbia, Panama and Venezuela) at Yachting Experts includes a sales person that speaks Portuguese, offering the ability to handle clients from most of South America.

I interviewed De Varona for Southern Boating magazine’s February Enewsletter, about how Yachting Experts has grown since 2009, as well as what philanthropic projects the company participates in and how the De Varona family (Betty, Frank and their three children) enjoy time on the water.

Here’s an excerpt from the entire interview.

SB: How has the yacht/boating market changed since you opened Yachting Experts in 2009?
BD: When we opened Yachting Experts we were still amidst the flurry of Latin American buyers taking advantage of the financial downturn in the United States and purchasing vessels. Our most recent analysis of the demographic composition of our buyers demonstrates that although Latin American yachtsmen still represent 50 percent of our buyers, we are finding an upswing in foreign nationals purchasing boats to keep them in Florida as well as the local “Miamian” getting back in.

Read the entire interview.