Marine

On September 27th of 2010, the world’s largest solar-powered boat – the TÛRANOR PlanetSolar – set out from Monaco on a quest to become the first boat to sail around the world using nothing put the power of the Sun. This afternoon it successfully completed that quest, arriving back in Monaco after 18 months spent circumnavigating the planet.  Read More

It's been just over 100 years since the notorious RMS Titanic met its fate with an iceberg on its maiden voyage, sending it to the bottom of the Atlantic along with over 1,500 passengers. Since then, the doomed passenger liner has become almost a legend, thanks in no small part to James Cameron's blockbuster movie about the disaster. Next to the film though, the Titanic may soon be getting literally its biggest tribute yet (bigger than the world's largest Titanic museum). Australian billionaire, Clive Palmer, recently announced plans to construct a life-sized, seaworthy replica of the ship - with some modern upgrades to keep it from sinking of course.  Read More

As modern-day piracy continues to be a real threat to ships in some parts of the world, people are likewise continually coming up with new ways of projecting crews and passengers against attacks. While some anti-piracy systems have utilized things such as sound waves and lasers, a new one uses something that is decidedly lower tech – flailing water hoses.  Read More

When Feadship Royal Dutch shipyards rolls, or rather, floats out one of their multi-million dollar superyachts, it does so with a lot of fanfare. Just last month, we covered the unveiling of their innovative Qi (Chi) concept vessel and now the megayacht builder has introduced its latest real-world effort, the 257-foot (78.50m) luxury motoryacht Hampshire II, which left the drydock at the company's Kaag, Netherlands, facility a few days ago.  Read More

Last July, we provided readers with specs and renderings of the Adastra superyacht, which was being constructed in China by boat builder John Shuttleworth. While it might have seemed like a fanciful concept at the time, yesterday the completed yacht was launched in China’s Pearl River.  Read More

One of the problems of using GPS chartplotters on a sailboat is that it is extremely difficult to calculate accurate arrival times given the amount of tacking often involved. Now there's a purpose-built Sailing GPS that not only accounts for the tacking that sailboats do, but can can tell you the optimal tacking angles and your Tacking Time to Destination (TTD).  Read More

In order to surf those massive walls of salt water known as big waves, brave surfers usually need to get towed in by a personal watercraft (PWC). This presents some logistical problems (i.e. having to bring a buddy along to tow you around all day). The WaveJet gives you the power you need without requiring a large tow-in vehicle or separate person.  Read More

On March 26 at 7:52am local time, film maker/explorer James Cameron entered the history books and became the first person to visit the ocean's deepest point alone. Just two weeks ago, we reported on his previous solo-dive record of 26,791 feet (8,166m), which he handily smashed by plunging 35,756 feet (10,898m) into the Mariana Trench's Challenger Deep southwest of Guam. If the handful of contenders still vying for the record want to beat Cameron, they'll now have to excavate, because that's as deep as it gets.  Read More

One of the stars of the Palm Beach International Boat Show which began today is the Italian Wider 42 footer, with Wider being both an appropriate adjective and the master brand name. The Wider works ingeniously in that you can activate mobile extensions either side of the hull, double the deck area and give the boat complete stability, all at the press of a button.  Read More