Yacht rock is a genre of music that has been making a comeback in recent years, especially with boaters who love to listen to soft rock music from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. The backstory of how yacht rock came about is fascinating and involves writers creating a tongue-in-cheek video series, a band that was looking for a spark, and an internet radio executive who saw the potential of the genre.
In 2005, a group of young music and TV comedy writers created a short video series called "Yacht Rock" for the internet film network Channel 101. The series imagined funny backstories behind the making of soft rock classics by musicians such as Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, and Hall & Oats. The writers wanted to poke fun at the music while also reintroducing the tunes they liked to a new generation. The series became one of the channel's top shows during its run from 2005 to 2010.
In the fall of 2007, the Atlanta-based pop band Y-O-U was looking for inspiration. Drummer Mark Cobb burned a CD of songs by old soft-rock artists such as Christopher Cross, America, and Little River Band and thought it might be kind of fun to play the songs at a show. The band dressed in '70s fashion and played soft rock music, which turned out to be a hit. They formed the Yacht Rock Revue in 2008, the country's first official yacht rock tribute band, and even trademarked the term "yacht rock."
Yacht rock has some serious staying power and can be found on various platforms such as SiriusXM, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Yacht rock tribute bands, such as Yachty by Nature, Thurston Howell Band, Three Sheets to the Wind, and The Docksiders, have also proliferated. Yacht rock is enjoyed by people of all ages and has become a festive audience favorite, with some attendees donning yachting caps and '70s attire at concerts.
Here’s a yacht rock sampler from Philadelphia’s Boat House Row guaranteed to float your boat.
“Baker Street” – Gerry Rafferty
“Southern Cross” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
“Baby Come Back” – Player
“Reminiscing” – Little River Band
“How Long” – Ace
“Rich Girl” – Hall & Oats
“Heart to Heart” – Kenny Loggins
“Reelin’ in the Years” – Steely Dan
“Brandy” – Looking Glass
“What a Fool Believes” – Doobie Brothers
“Still the One” – Orleans
“Africa” – Toto
“Turn Your Love Around” – George Benson
“Ride Like the Wind” – Christopher Cross
“Lovely Day” – Bill Withers
As a boater, understanding and using weather resources and apps can make all the difference in a safe and comfortable trip. With so many weather apps available, it can be overwhelming to decide which one to use. Here are some tips to help you choose the best weather app for your needs.
When choosing a weather app, look for multiple-day forecasting in hourly increments, which allows you to plan your departures and arrivals. The app should include wind, waves/swells, ocean currents, tides, water and air temperature, pressure, and lat/long indicators. Additionally, the app should offer more than one weather model for comparison to confirm the data's accuracy.
Most weather apps offer free versions with basic features and limited forecast periods. Paid versions provide more forecasting models, increased resolution, and more frequent model updates. Paid versions also offer the option to stop receiving in-app advertising.
For boaters looking to cruise around storms or have a multiple-day voyage offshore, a professional weather router or service may be useful. These routers can provide a detailed custom route, offer updates and route changes, and suggest safe ports 24/7 in case of unexpected bad weather, all based on speed, departure and arrival timeframes, as well as the customer’s preferred travel conditions.
Taking the time to get educated about weather and forecasting can increase your confidence using weather apps and allow you to recognize patterns with different models. Several locations offer online weather courses and in-person training specifically for boaters. Weather classes can be found through BoatUS or in person at many of the boat shows such as TrawlerFest. While these courses will not make you a meteorologist, they will help you learn what to look for and how to apply it to your cruising decisions.
While the list below is nowhere near a complete roster of all applications, the ones below work cross platform and have strong user ratings from boaters.
For Apple, Android and PC platforms, this provides detailed wind and wave info and offers a 16-day forecast. Premium and free versions available.
For Apple, Android and PC platforms, this tracks detailed wind, wave, current, radar temp and much more. Select and compare models (ECMWF, GFS, ICOM, HRRR, NAM).
For Apple, Android and PC/Mac platforms, find weather routing and planning tools, forecast alerts, multiple models and features for offshore and global cruising.
For Apple, Android and PC platforms, get radar and weather prediction and hurricane tracking. Simple to use and can set up alerts for bad weather.
For Apple, Andriod and PC/Mac platforms, this provides good weather forecasts and alerts, radar, and daily local forecasts based on location tracking.
Weather Routers/Services: For daily weather and custom routing, go to Chris Parker/Marine Weather Center or WRI Weather routing
ANNAPOLIS, Md., March 28, 2023 – For most recreational boaters, VHF radios are a better lifesaving tool than the omnipresent cellphone, even as more boaters use cellphones for emergency on-water communications. Why? The VHF radio remains the only tool at the boater’s disposal that can summon those potential rescuers on the water nearest you – sometimes with the press of one simple red button – saving critical rescue time.
To help boaters get the most out of their VHF radio, the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water reveals the top three mistakes boaters tend to make when using VHF radios.
1. Failure to get an MMSI (and program it in). A Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number brings your VHF into the modern age of Digital Selective Calling (DSC VHF), offering the ability make direct calls to other DSC-VHF radios. However, what an MMSI-equipped DSC-VHF radio does better than any cellphone is it allows a simple, one-button mayday distress, giving everyone aboard the ability to summon emergency help to your precise location on the water. This unique nine-digit MMSI number is issued for your vessel and must be programmed into your radio. Without it, you lose your DSC-VHF’s biggest lifesaving advantage. You can request an MMSI for $25 at BoatUS.com/MMSI, or join BoatUS and get it for free.
2. Forgetting to speak slowly and clearly. Life on the water isn’t always peaceful. We may have to deal with a tricky situation, which causes stress that may affect the way we speak. If you have pick up the VHF microphone to summon emergency help, remember to slow down, speak slowly to help ensure your words are understood the first time. It can save rescuers time.
3. Talking on VHF radio Ch. 16. Think of VHF channel 16 as a “street corner” where you go to meet up with friends before heading to an activity, a night out, or fishing. You “connect” there, and then move on. More importantly, Ch. 16 is the place to summon emergency help, because U.S. Coast Guard watchstanders are also on the “street corner.” However, because only one person may transmit on Ch. 16 at a time, routine communications with other vessels should move off the “street corner” as quickly as possible. To do this, simply hail the vessel you wish to communicate with, and once they respond to the affirmative, bring the conversation to working channels 68, 69, 71, 72 or 78A. Write these channels down on your radio with a sharpie so you’ll remember. This keeps channel 16 clear of non-emergency chatter. The U.S. Coast Guard asks that VHF radio checks also take place on working channels.
Want to improve your VHF skills? The BoatUS Foundation offers an online learning course, All About Marine Radio, at BoatUS.org.
Press Contact: D. Scott Croft, 703-461-2864, SCroft@BoatUS.com
The electric boat market is rapidly expanding, with recent research studies projecting its growth from $5.26 billion in 2022 to $11.35 billion by 2028. This growth can be attributed to several factors, including an increase in recreational boating post-Covid, environmentally focused consumers, and government regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
One challenge the electric boat industry has faced is the metrics of speed, range, and reliability. However, advancements in specialized hull designs, newer battery/engine technology, and monitoring electronics have helped the industry meet these metrics. Companies such as Greenline Yachts, Silent-Yachts, and newcomer Alva Yachts are offering models designed for short- and long-range cruising, eco-friendly luxury, and electric sailing yacht options.
Electric-powered boats are becoming more efficient thanks to innovative designs like hydrofoil boats, which use less energy for propulsion due to reduced friction. Candela and Navier are two companies leading the way with their hydrofoil designs. Torqeedo, Vision Marine, Yanmar, and Mercury Marine are also contributing to the electric boating industry with their eco-friendly engine options, including inboard, pod drive, and outboard systems.
Major automakers, such as Volkswagen Group and General Motors, are partnering with electric boat manufacturers to provide motors and invest in startups. Polestar, a Swedish electric car company, is also working with Candela to install battery and charging systems. These partnerships will bring shared innovation and manufacturing resources, leading to more efficient production and expansion of electric boat availability. With advancements in performance and production, the popularity of electric boats is growing, offering a more environmentally-friendly option for boaters. Look out for more displays and boat shows featuring electric boats in the near future.
Sailing has traditionally been considered a male-dominated activity, with men occupying prominent positions in professional racing teams and boards of directors across organizations. However, the North Fork and Shelter Island regions are challenging this norm, as women are currently serving as commodores at four out of the five yacht clubs in the area.
For the past two years, Alyssa Constant, Ellen Talbot, and Lisa Reich have served as commodores of the Orient Yacht Club, the Old Cove Yacht Club, and the Shelter Island Yacht Club, respectively. Mary Kalich has held the title of commodore at the Mattituck Yacht Club for the past eight years.
According to all four of these women, their boards of trustees and officers, which usually consist of 14 members, are fairly evenly split between men and women, with either 50% female representation or close to it.
Although Greg Young is currently the commodore of the Southold Yacht Club, multiple women had previously held the position in recent years. Nevertheless, this current predominantly female group of commodores is a historical exception, despite the presence of women on yacht clubs' boards.
Commodores are top figures at yacht clubs and come from various backgrounds. They typically work their way up through the organization and oversee all operations. Yacht clubs are known to be family- and youth-oriented community centers that organize activities on and off the water.
On the North Fork and Shelter Island, women currently hold four of the five commodore positions. The yacht clubs are part of the Peconic Gardiners Junior Sailing Association, which oversees the coed racing circuit across various clubs each season. The junior sailing program attracts a mix of boys and girls.
The boys at North Folks yacht clubs make up around two-thirds of junior sailors in the Peconic Gardiners Junior Sailing Association (PGJSA), which includes four South Fork yacht clubs. Many colleges offer all-women sailing teams as well as coed teams. Shelter Island hosts three all-women regattas throughout the season and has previously offered all-women and all-girls educational sailing clinics. These efforts aim to make women feel welcome and secure in the male-dominated sport, and the all-female regattas also feature an all-women race committee.
The Shelter Island Yacht Club member, Amanda Clark, competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and has hosted junior sailing clinics. However, commodore Jodi Reich, her mother-in-law was the one who introduced her family to sailing and inspired her to continue the multi-generational activity. Reich believes that community figures can inspire and guide the next generation of sailors.
For the full article visit The Suffolk Times.
Sport fishing first became popular off the Atlantic Coast in the 1930s, when anglers discovered an abundance of blue marlin in the Gulf Stream and near the Continental Shelf. Deep sea fishermen began frequenting the waters off Delaware and Maryland, south to the Outer Banks, Florida and the Bahamas, seeking the challenge and glory of game fishing as chronicled by writers such as Ernest Hemingway and S. Kip Farrington. The Jackspot, an area 20 miles outside of Ocean City, MD, was for many years the most famed white marlin fishing grounds in the United States, with white marlin first caught there beginning in 1934.
What’s the attraction of deep-sea fishing and fishing tournaments? Well, it’s definitely about the competitive struggle of man vs fish, but it’s also about the adrenaline rush of going up against the best and coming out on top. And the money for ambitious anglers isn’t bad either, with prize pools in some events ranging from several grand to millions of dollars.
Many high-stakes fishing tournaments take place all across the globe, but for starters we’re going to look at a handful of the richest contests that take place along America’s East Coast, just to get your feet wet, so to speak. We’ve listed them here chronologically, according to their 2023 dates. Check their websites for rules and deadlines.
Location: Morehead City, NC
Tournament Duration: 10 days
2023 Event Dates: June 9-18
Fishing Dates: June 12-17 (two lay days required)
Prize Pool: $5.8 million (2022)
Nowadays, the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament attracts competitors from around the world. But in its early years, it was barely considered a contest, let alone a tournament. There were no rules to speak of — just a simple challenge to catch the first blue marlin — and only a few local boats participated. In 1965, the list of prizes included a quart of varnish. From these humble beginnings, however, the event slowly evolved and became bigger and better. A handful of boats in the early years grew to 35 in 1970. By 1979, the tournament topped 111 boats, and in 2021 a record-breaking 270 vessels hit the local waters. Over the decades, this annual competition has changed its name, altered its format, adjusted its sponsorships and modified its rules, but the tournament’s board of directors continues to ensure that Big Rock always represents “good times and great fishing.”
Location: Atlantic City, NJ
Duration: 8 days
2023 Event Dates: July 16-23
Fishing Dates: July 17-21 (fish any three days)
Prize Pool: $1 million base (2023)
Dallas Cowboys football coach and NFL Hall-of-Famer Jimmy Johnson is bringing his Quest for the Ring fishing tournament up north to Atlantic City in 2023, an extension of his Florida tournament that has operated every March out of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL. Quest for the Ring has a guaranteed purse of $1 million, and prizes can reach even higher the more boats that enter. With more than a dozen categories and calcuttas covering marlin, tuna, wahoo and dolphin, this high-stakes competitive sport fishing experience is bound to be a must-attend event on every serious fisherman’s tournament calendar.
Location: Ocean City, MD
Tournament Duration: 7 days
2023 Event Dates: August 7-11
Fishing Dates: August 7-11 (fish any three days)
Prize Pool: $8.6 million (2022)
Known as the “World’s Largest Billfishing Tournament,” the White Marlin Open (WMO) has handed out over $86 million dollars in prize money since 1974. Celebrating its 50th year in 2023, the WMO awards catches of white and blue marlin, tuna, wahoo, dolphin, and swordfish. As the tournament’s website notes, one reason for the WMO’s popularity is “a format that allows each boat to enter the tournament based on their pocketbook, perceived skill level and targeted species.” Anglers can register for as little $1,500 to compete for $50,000 in guaranteed prize money or pay as much as $63,000 to enter all the added entry levels, with the chance to win millions of dollars.
Location: Manteo, NC
Duration: 7 days
2023 Event Dates: August 12-18
Fishing Dates: August 15-18 (fish any three days)
Prize Pool: $1.04 million (2022)
This year’s 40th annual Pirates Cove Billfish Tournament (PCBT) is the centerpiece of a week of fishing that also includes the Alice Kelly Memorial Ladies Only Billfish Tournament and the Sheep Dog Veterans Challenge. Over 1,000 boats every year enjoy exceptional release fishing during tournament week (PCBT boasts a 99% release rate). Seven categories in the main tournament include a mandatory C1 Team Entry category, and entrants must select at least two additional categories. PCBT also holds a Lay Day Tournament for boats that want to compete on their designated lay day.
Location: Beach Haven, NJ
Duration: 4 days
2023 Event Dates: August 16-19
Fishing Dates: August 17-19 (fish any two days)
Prize Pool: $500,000+ (2022)
The Beach Haven Marlin & Tuna Club sponsors this four-day competition targeting white and blue marlin, tuna, wahoo and dorado. Now in its 54th year, the White Marin Invitational Tournament is the oldest white marlin tournament in the United States, “honoring the allure of the chase,” as its website notes. As part of the festivities, a street fair called Marlinfest was recently added that features vendors, local restaurants and live music. Last year’s field of 53 boats was the largest so far, and the big winner was Crisdel, skippered by George Steller, which went home $117,876 richer.
Location: Cape May, NJ, and Ocean City, MD
Duration: 6 days
2023 Event Dates: August 20-25
Fishing Dates: August 21-25 (fish any three days)
Prize Pool: $5.25 million (2022)
This annual event is run out of two different East Coast ports: Cape May, NJ, where the Canyon Club Resort Marina is home base, and Ocean City, MD, with Sunset Marina serving as the MidAtlantic’s second headquarters. Some of the tournament’s 11 calcuttas are winner-take-all, while others are split proportionately. The minimum weight limits to win cash are 400 lbs. for blue marlin, 65 lbs. for white marlin and 50 lbs. for tuna. According to the South Jersey Tournaments website, the MidAtlantic has “continually set the standard for big game fishing tournaments in terms of prize money, hospitality, and conservation,” noting that each port has first-class accommodations and offers distinct amenities for participants to enjoy while dockside.
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
Duration: 4 days
2023 Event Dates: August 23-26
Fishing Dates: August 24-26 (fish any two days)
Prize Pool: $813,000 (2022)
Since its first run in 2004, this invitation-only tournament has doubled in size, and the prize pool has nearly quadrupled. Target species in the VBBT are blue and white marlin, sailfish, spearfish, tuna, dolphin and wahoo. Last year more than 80 teams competed for over $800,000 in prize money. There’s currently a waiting list to get in, but teams can be added by going to vbbt.com/waiting-list Note: the list doesn’t carry forward automatically, so if you don’t receive an invitation but still want to be considered for the following year, you need to reapply to the waiting list on September 1.
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