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.
As the school year comes to an end, many families begin looking for programs that can keep their children engaged through the summer. For those who spend time on the water, opportunities for a hands-on marine education can be especially appealing. One such program is taking shape near my home in Connecticut’s Fairfield County. Greens Ledge Lighthouse on Long Island Sound was built in 1902 and has served mariners for more than a century. It’s still an active aid to navigation that’s maintained by the Coast Guard, but recently the historic structure took on a new role as a center for environmental education. The lighthouse’s revival began in 2016 when it was purchased by a local family that established the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society to restore and maintain the…
The kings’ sport of yachting dates back hundreds of years, but the recreational boating industry as we know it today was largely born in the 1950s. That’s when a booming post-war economy and innovations such as fiberglass construction combined to get all sorts of people out on the water aboard first-of-their-kind boats. As history goes, it’s actually been just a blink of time since “newfangled this” and “whizbang that” gave way to more streamlined, complex systems in boat design and construction. Based on what the judges saw at this year’s Miami Innovation Awards in February, boatbuilders have hit another tipping point in the timeline. Decades’ worth of human experience and craftsmanship are combining with new technology and tools to create all kinds of elevated onboard experiences for owners. Judges…
It took just minutes for our mayday beacon to ping off a NOAA satellite and reach the Coast Guard’s Southeast Command Center near Miami. When it was received, the emergency alert was simultaneously routed to a watchstander for verification and relayed to the crew of a Coast Guard helicopter for immediate response. While the watchstander followed up on our personal locator beacon’s registered contact information, the flight crew got ready to execute a rescue. A pilot, co-pilot, rescue swimmer and flight mechanic were redirected from their day’s training, the helicopter’s rotors cutting through the sky as they turned east off the Florida coast. Time is of the essence in a rescue at sea. The PLB was activated at midday, but in late January, daylight is limited, and they had at…
When Kevin and Kristy Offerman started dating, boating was one of the things the Florida natives loved to do together. She was new to the sport, but he had spent his whole life around powerboats, including the commercial vessels he ran when he worked as a licensed captain. From the beginning, Kristy always felt comfortable on board with Kevin. “He’s experienced, and he’s always very cautious out there,” she says. The couple bought their first family boat a few years after the births of their twin boys, Kyle and Kameron. The 42-foot center console by Motion Powerboats served them well for almost a decade, after which they sold it. Not long after, Kevin began research about which boat to buy next, as the boys got older. That analysis brought the…
John and Warren Luhrs—third-generation sons of the well-known New Jersey family of boatbuilders, as well as founders of Silverton Marine—launched a line of Mainship Motor Cruisers in 1977 and 1978. They foresaw a burgeoning market for fuel-efficient, diesel-powered boats that were built of fiberglass and could be made affordable in serial production. The Mainship 34 was designed by John Cherubini, who gave the solid fiberglass hull modest flare and sufficient buoyancy forward to tackle coastal offshore conditions safely. The deep, gently rounded forefoot merged into a full-length keel that protected the single-engine running gear. There were rounded bilges for good handling, and an approximate 16-degree deadrise at the transom for a comfortable ride in rough waters at semidisplacement speeds. This hull was used in three iterations of the Mainship 34…
WELLCRAFT 243 LOA: 24’4” Beam: 8’6” Draft: 2’1” Weight (dry): 4,900 lbs. Power (max): 400 hp It’s unusual to have a meeting of the minds at the same time everyone is trying to stand out in a crowd. And yet that’s the reality with today’s center- and dual-console boats. Whether you call these models hybrid, crossover or multipurpose, the trend is the same: Designers are aiming to make fishing boats more cruiser-friendly, and cruising boats more fishing-friendly, with whatever special touches they think will grab the attention of people who want a single ride for the whole family to enjoy. “Depending on what brand you are, that affects how you’re trying to achieve that goal,” says Grady-White senior product designer Christian Carraway, who worked on the builder’s new 321 Coastal…
