Inhoudsopgave van November/December 2025 - PassageMaker

Intuitive. That was the first word I wrote in my notebook after unboxing FLIR’s Ocean Scout Pro Thermal Monocular. Never one to linger on an instruction manual, I powered up the device and cycled through the viewing modes: white hot, black hot, sepia and heat. It was daytime during my first test, but even then I was impressed. It had near-quarter-mile range, and the different modes allowed me to spot a distant dinghy or buoy easily. At night, of course, is when the Scout Pro truly shines. It’s a critical navigation tool and a potentially life-saving device. The Scout Pro is an investment at $2,395, but should you unexpectedly find yourself navigating unfamiliar waters after dark, it’s worth every penny—and tenfold if, God forbid, you ever need to search for…

Every boat owner who flips through the snapshots of gorgeous dusks and dawns, stunning harbors and picturesque villages also seems to notice the toll that all that cruising took on the boat’s exterior. With each mile logged, sun-baked haze further dulls what was once mirrorlike gelcoat. Sea-weathered rust stains weep from stainless steel stanchions. Etched mineral deposits shroud the windows. Fortunately, with thorough prep before a voyage and just a bit of maintenance along the way, well-traveled boats can still maintain their like-new luster. STARTING STRONG The key to easy cleaning is starting with a smooth, glossy surface. “It takes several steps to fully remove oxidized material to restore a boat’s shine,” says Tom Sawyer, who details boats on Florida’s east coast, from Stuart through West Palm Beach. Sawyer…

My wife, Grace, and I were on a boat that appeared to be more science fiction than anything I had ever experienced. Still, I was excited. Our plan was to live aboard for more than two weeks, traveling some 235 nautical miles around Norway. Being here was a dream I’d been carrying around for 30 years, ever since I made an amphibious landing as a young U.S. Marine Corps offcer on the beaches of Stavanger, on Norway’s southwest coast. I swore then that I would return and captain my own boat up into the fjords. When you’re 22 years old, you dream of the impossible. When you’re 55, you find the ramsalt to do it. In Norway, ramsalt means an old salty sailor. It also has a connotation of steadfastness…

A new buzz phrase is making the rounds in the travel industry, and it applies to those of us with the cruising bug: traveling with intention. The best way to explain this is to give an example. I am a Greekophile (I’m also an Anglophile, a Francophile, an Italophile and a bunch of other–philes). My wife and I were cruising the Greek Islands with some friends, a former British Airways captain and his wife. We were Med-moored and stern-to the quay on Hydra in the Saronic Islands on his 50-footer. It was morning, and I had made the trek to the nearby bakery that had to-die-for bougatsa, the flaky Greek breakfast pastry filled with creamy chocolate semolina custard. We were lazing in the cockpit, enjoying that treat with iced Greek…

JOE TOKARZ JR. ELECTRIC DREAMS WRITER/PHOTOGRAPHER Joe Tokarz Jr. is the creator and operator of MotorCity Boat Werks, an amateur boatbuilding and boat restoration studio. Recently retired after serving five years in the U.S. Marines and 25 years as a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, he is also known as the Boat Werks Guy online. His video series about Norway can be seen on YouTube: @motorcityboatwerks FRANK SCAVONE THE UNEXPECTED MOMENT WRITER/PHOTOGRAPHER In his personal time, Frank Scavone restores historic buildings and boats. He is a carpenter, writer and amateur chef. His current project combines nautical and culinary exploration along the Eastern Seaboard. To share discovery notes and observations, he can be reached at frank@solomariner.com. NORRIS COMER WILD, WILD WEST WRITER/PHOTOGRAPHER Norris Comer is a Pacific Northwestbased author, writer and sometime…

It had been a beautiful day working our way out of Long Island Sound, with only an hour left until we dropped the hook in our favorite harbor on Shelter Island in New York. As we made the U-turn through Plum Gut into Gardiners Bay, the setting sun was low over the bow, throwing a molten path of glare straight into my eyes. Ahead, the water shimmered like liquid glass, hiding everything in our path. I knew there were other boats in there. I heard them on the VHF radio. But from the helm, I saw nothing but blinding light. Then I glanced at the radar. There they were: bright, solid targets, painted clearly on the screen. In that moment, I was reminded of the beauty of radar in daylight.…

My wife, Elisabeth, and I were standing on a dock at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, having just stepped off another brokerage trawler that almost—but not quite—fit the vision in our heads. Elisabeth looked at me and said, “We could make this work.” I nodded, but we both knew what she meant: compromise, again. That was the moment something clicked. Maybe we didn’t want to make something work. Maybe we wanted to make something ours. We’d spent months searching. Trawler after trawler, tour after tour. We loved the idea of a classic explorer-style vessel. Something with range, beauty and capability. But every used boat came with baggage. Systems we’d have to redo. Layouts that didn’t fit how we lived. Stories that belonged to someone else. The more we looked,…

Steeler Yachts in the Netherlands splashed Hull No. 1 of its flagship, the CE-A class Ocean Explorer 85, earlier this year. The 85 has a steel displacement hull with an aluminum superstructure. She’s built to be an oceangoing cruiser equipped for all-season autonomy. Her fully insulated hull and double-glazed windows should help keep the boat cool in the summer and warm in the winter months. A solar array on the flybridge hardtop can run hotel loads, backed by a pair of 20-kW gensets. The lazarette adds to her already generous stowage capacity, allowing owners to carry a range of spare parts and sundries. Inside, the interior finishes include a mélange of hardwoods, neutral-tone soft goods and, in the salon, a curved steel and wood staircase that leads to the flybridge.…

Chartplotters are designed for waypoint navigation. You are always navigating to something, and along the way, you want to cruise comfortably, likely venturing from time to time beyond the plotted path. No matter what, you want to avoid nasty places that could cause problems. A chartplotter can help with that, if you understand avoidance navigation. Many of the features that are built into today’s chartplotters can be used for more than their original intent. For instance, a chartplotter can often tell you when the boat is nearing the rocks, shoals or restricted areas, provided you know how to use the functions. The obvious approach is to monitor the boat’s location on the chartplotter screen continually, and then focus and interpret the on-screen chart for hazards. Not only is this way…

I HAD NEVER SEEN A SHARK ATTACK BEFORE THAT DAY in Elbow Cay. I’d seen plenty of sharks lumbering about, chasing bait or darting at rays with unimaginable speed from the edges of darker water. I’d even reeled in more than my share of half-eaten fish. Never an attack on a person, though. At about 6 o’clock the evening before, when I was en route to dinner, the Hope Town water taxi operator had pointed to a woman taking in the last of the day’s light. She was on a raft 10 feet off the beam of a sailboat. The driver had muttered about the bull sharks that frequented the harbor—beasts nearly 2 feet wide at the pectoral fin. While that woman on the raft wouldn’t turn out to be the…