[acous]

Riding along while asleep is a strange feeling that requires an extra bit of confidence, but if you become used to this kind of schedule you'll make amazing time. This half-awake state of being can feel very strange, and there is nothing wrong with dropping anchor and taking things slow while getting some quality sleep. Anchors aren't completely fool-proof though, so you'll still want to keep a close eye on where you actually are compared to where you were when you went to sleep. more

[Jameson]

Now, even if you're micro-napping disaster can strike at any moment so you'll want to catch your Z's in a safe spot. Flying blind down the middle of a major shipping lane is a good way to wake up in the middle of a fight for your life. Passage maps of shipping lanes can help a lot with charting out decent spots to catch a catnap, especially when paired with an overlay map of trade winds and westerlies to keep you chugging along without needing to run your engine dry. The more fuel you can keep for when it's really needed, the better! [links]

[carrier785]

Speaking of sleep. Your sleep will be of much better quality if your cabin is properly dehumidified. Mold and mildew can not only make getting to sleep that much harder, but it can also present a serious health hazard if it gets severe enough. I highly recommend sticking a boat dehumidifier container somewhere near your bunk. If you decide you don't need sleep and caffeine isn't doing the trick, a blast of a large marine air horn should snap you back to your senses for a bit. That's mostly a joke. Don't use air horns for things other than their intended use please. here

[bijenu]

You might ask "Why wouldn't you just switch on auto-pilot and get some restful sleep while solo sailing?" Well, mostly because that would require a ton of extra power. How often do you want to run the engine to recharge the battery? Maybe you can shove some additional solar cells onboard, but it really isn't ideal. You'll be much better off if you simply learn to manage the convenience of autopilot and put yourself to the true test. Nobody is impressed by a single-handed sailor that had an over-reliance on their auto-pilot!

[jack8logan]

Klein’s data only includes a relatively small number where alcohol was definitively confirmed as a cause. But he emphasizes that those are only cases where media could confirm intoxication prior to the incident. Given that media reports are often based on information provided by the cruise lines, he notes that this number likely under-represents the role of alcohol. more

[ansible adams]

There’s also the fact that, as journalist and former airline pilot William Langewiesche hauntingly wrote in Vanity Fair of the sinking of a US-flagged cargo ship in 2015, “disasters at sea do not get the public attention that aviation accidents do, in part because the sea swallows the evidence.”

[Troutner]

It’s important to note that the crime data analyzed only included statistics for crimes committed on ships that are required to report per the US’s CVSSA, the same piece of legislation that governs MOB technology. Among other provisions, the law requires that cruise lines report any of nine crimes—homicide, suspicious death, a missing US national, kidnapping, and assault with serious bodily injury among them—as soon as possible to the FBI when an American citizen is involved, regardless of where the crime occurred. (Thanks to a wording loophole in the CVSSA, another piece of legislation had to be passed in 2014—tacked onto a Coast Guard funding bill—to make sure that reporting meaningfully happened.) here

[chris200x9]

And it’s not unheard of for all this to happen while the ship—and the floating crime scene on board—sticks to a tightly scheduled itinerary. CLIA, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival did not respond when asked how often cruise vessels divert their itineraries to accommodate flag or port state investigations. [links]

[Cryptoman]

He had waves of clients, starting with Greek shipping tycoons in the 1960s. Then came Middle Eastern royals in the 1970s, German and American industrialists in the 1980s, tech titans from the United States in the 1990s and wealthy Russians. [links]

[darkside]

A short walk from Wandsworth Bridge on the River Thames, the studio holds 15 people, who manipulate detailed computer images of planned vessels, pore over design drawings and phone Italy to order marble fittings.

[FairUser]

Jon, a charismatic Australian, is widely credited with inventing the profession of superyacht designer. In the 1960s, he brought together interior and exterior design skills with an understanding of marine engineering to replace what had previously been relatively simple structures sitting on top of hulls designed by naval architects.

[jrabbit]

“Joy,” at sea. Credit. Bannenberg and Rowell

[NuAngel]

The complex production schedules of these vessels mean shipyards will resist significant changes. “Re-engineering or rebuilding is going to cost a lot of money,” Mr. Bannenberg, 58, said. more

[robcontact]

That end-of-summer tension illustrates some inescapable truths about life dealing in the world’s most expensive consumer products and ultimate discretionary purchases. One vessel alone can cost $5 million to $500 million, with annual operating costs of perhaps 10 percent of that. more

[harley4noble]

Our 2017 pick: Sweet Caroline. Even if you're not a Boston fan, we love a boat name that gets the harbor humming.

[nacarino]

Some people love a good pun – enough to slap one on the stern of a boat that will likely be one of the largest investments they make in their life. Pun names are harmless, even if they are groan-worthy – to name a few: ABSeas, Comocean, YEAH BOUY, Knot So Fast, Nauti Girl, Ships n' Giggles, Fanta-Sea, and Exta-Sea. Catamaran owners seem particularly guilty of indulging in puns, with names like Cat-astrophe, KatAttack, Katnip, and Katatonic. And then there are the puns that get a bit more risque – the afore-mentioned B-Yacht'ch, Morning Wood, and Master Baiter. (Do you bring your mothers on that boat??) We'll keep things a little more G-Rated for our boat name pick. [links]

[junomoneta]

2019: Shortshank Redemption [links]

[MrFlibble]

Once named, superstition dictates that it's bad luck to change the name of a boat. But if you must, there's a tradition that follows (as with most things in boating) which can clear your boat of bad juju.