Go far. Go fast. Go in style. The Uniesse Exuma HTC5p aims to change the outboard luxury cruiser game by letting owners do all three of those things at once. This 56-foot express cruiser with quad 600 hp Mercury Verado V-12s has details like impeccably welded stainless-steel hinges on the cockpit hull door and hand-stitched leather upholstery from Milanese leathersmiths. This is a tactile boat that invites guests to touch everything. There are bullnose-edged calacatta marble galley countertops, quarried in Tuscany since Roman times (and more exclusive than Carrara marble). There are mosaic-lined tile showers that subtly change sea tones. The anchor roller assembly is as rugged as what you’ll find on salvage tugs, but as beautiful as Tiffany jewelry. The leather-lined wheel lets owners feel the surge of those four V-12 outboards.

From outside, this yacht’s look is inspired by Italian race cars: swept-back hardtop with raked windscreen, swoopy side windows. This Uniesse is seemingly going 100 mph at anchor. Owners and guests step aboard through a cockpit side door or via the transom platform. Uniesse designed the HTC5p specifically for the Mercury motors, with all of the rigging hidden below the swim platform so everyone can walk from side to side safely. And the engines’ lower units tilt out of the water for corrosion protection without impinging on the transom space.

The cockpit has twin L-shaped settees with tables in the after corners for at-sea entertaining. A pair of consoles against the house conceal twin Elag ceramic grills, a sink, an ice maker and twin fridge drawers. A custom SureShade telescoping cockpit awning stretches to the stern for sun protection, and a clever Besenzoni passerelle under the cockpit door unfurls steps that lead down into the water for swimming, as well as up to dock level for easy boarding.

In the salon, there’s an average 6 feet, 5 inches of headroom, a wraparound windshield with no mullions, windows that extend from the overhead to the couch, and a sunroof with shades. This is clearly the primary entertaining area, with a U-shaped high-low dinette to port facing a pop-up TV that rises from the hand-stitched leather console.

The skipper and companion have ergonomic, adjustable seats with good side bolstering, set abaft a low, wide black dash that neither blocks the view nor reflects in the windshield. The HTC5p that I got aboard had a brace of 22-inch Garmin multifunction displays along with Yamaha system digital panels, and a Mercury joystick with Skyhook technology for holding station, a great feature when awaiting bridge openings.

The stairs next to the helm lead to a lower foyer, which serves as a galley with 24-inch-wide marble countertops, 6-foot-5-inch headroom and bright lacquered cabinetry. The Miele cooktop and convection oven are supported by a full-size fridge and a wine chiller.

Forward, the owner’s stateroom is a serene haven, with side windows and an overhead hatch for light above the 60-inch walk-around island berth. The private head has one of the mosaic-lined and book-matched marble showers, a glass vessel sink and an electric toilet.

Just abaft the galley to starboard is a guest stateroom, with twin berths that can be joined to form a double. The VIP is tucked aft to port, with 7-foot-6-inch headroom, an angled queen berth, and enough stowage for extended cruising. A day head is off the foyer and serves both guest staterooms, also with a mosaic-tiled shower and electric head.

The mold work on the Uniesse is impeccable, with the boat built to RINA Class A and US Coast Guard standards. One detail is particularly notable: The yacht’s fuel tanks are sealed from the rest of the boat. A separate hatch allows removal of the roto-molded tanks, which are held in place by custom Uniesse brackets. The compartment is fully ventilated overboard.

As for the boat’s model name, the small “p” after Exuma HTC5 should be a capitalized and underlined “P” for Performance. From the land of Ferrari and Lamborghini, this 44,000-pound Italian stallion simply hauls. Flat out at 6,400 rpm, this yacht hit 50.5 knots while I recorded just 72 decibels of sound. That’s quieter than Christmas morning at my house. Conversation in the salon was at normal levels (65 decibels), and the Mercury instruments said the V-12s were barely breathing hard.

I poked around belowdecks while the hammers were down and didn’t recognize the actual speed until I saw the long, white wake. The Exuma rises flat without vision-stealing bow rise, jumps onto plane at about 17 knots and never looks back. At a mile-eating 30 knots, the engines sip fuel at 80 gallons per hour, giving the HTC5p an easy 335-nautical-mile range. Even after a 45-knot hard turn, the Exuma rolled into a gentle bank that wouldn’t disturb even the most nervous guests.

This impressive import made me want to throw a linen jacket over my shoulder like an Italian film director, grab some friends and go have fun.  

Grade A

Registro Italiano Navale is a recognized independent standard that rates boats for safety, seaworthiness and construction. The RINA Class A rating means a yacht is self-sufficient and capable of extended voyages in winds over 40 knots and sea heights above 13 feet. 

Sizing Up

Uniesse has unveiled its next new model: the Raptor 112 Super Yacht. It’s a yacht with five staterooms, including an on-deck master with four en suite VIP staterooms belowdecks. There also are three crew cabins. Power will come from MTU, which the builder says should give the 230-gross-ton yacht a 25-knot top-end speed and a 21-knot cruise speed, with a range of 580 nautical miles at cruise. Uniesse says the Raptor 112 will also be built to class for unrestricted navigation.

Buttons to Boats

Dating back to 1940, Uniesse was once famous for making buttons. The Scaraburri family was a leading producer of wooden buttons in Europe. In 1987, the boat-loving brothers of the third generation decided to take their woodworking skills into boatbuilding. 

Power Play

Each of the four 600 hp Mercury Verado V-12s on this yacht has a steerable lower gear case (so the engine doesn’t move to turn) as well as service-friendly access to normal check and filler points atop the engine. The engines also tilt out of the water without moving the powerhead.

Take the next step: uniesse.com

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Sixteen is a lot of African safaris. That’s how many Francesco Galli Zugaro has done, in addition to countless cruises to islands and tours of destinations on mainlands all around the world. As he wrote in The New York Times back in 2006, he’s basically a professional vacationer, fulfilling his own desire to have amazing experiences while checking out the competition for his company, Aqua Expeditions. “People who expect the world when they go on vacation—and who pay for that privilege—tend to get a ‘been there, done that’ attitude about certain destinations,” he wrote nearly two decades ago. His personal experience has taught him that this attitude persists when it comes to yacht charter, which is largely based in the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

That’s why he’s always looking for new regions to base one of his fleet vessels. And now he has found one.

“Finally, I was able to get down to Aldabra, which is the gateway to the Seychelles,” he says. “It’s a group of islands in the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. It’s the second-largest coral atoll in the world. It’s got over 150,000 giant tortoises in an uninhabited island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. That’s 10 times the size of the population in the Galapagos.”

He felt that visiting this part of the world was an extraordinary experience, so much so that he was willing to invest the three years’ worth of time and effort it takes to base one of his fleet vessels there. Starting in late 2025, Aqua Expeditions will have itineraries available aboard a newly refitted 200-plus-foot vessel in not only the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, but also Zanzibar, Tanzania, on the eastern coast of Africa.

“This is beyond the inner group of islands, places like the iconic La Digue. It’s not easy to get to,” he says. “I got there and discovered an opportunity to do something. Zanzibar is known as a spice island of East Africa, so I thought, why not create this opportunity for guests? We have about 38,000 guests who have traveled with Aqua. They’ve done all these places. This is something new.”

Zanzibar is virtually unheard of as a destination for luxury charters. Some international-caliber yachts do visit the Seychelles but typically cruise near La Digue and the Inner Islands. The region where Aqua Expeditions will operate is farther afield, in a location where it would be challenging for an individual yacht making a temporary visit to arrange a one-off charter booking, let alone be ready with access to protected excursion sites and knowledgeable guides.

“There are some small three- or four-cabin catamarans that you can charter out of the Seychelles, but nothing that is this class,” he says. “There’s nothing at the high end of expedition cruising, either by charter or by-the-cabin, that’s scheduled in a way that is sellable and bookable.”

As with all of its vessels, Aqua Expeditions will offer charters here by-the-cabin or full-vessel, with the latter being how traditional charter yachts are booked. About 30 percent of the company’s business is full-vessel bookings, Zugaro says, and about 60 percent of the clients come from the United States.

“The Seychelles and East Africa have been slightly more of a European destination,” he says. “We have past guests from America who may do the Maldives or Caribbean, but they don’t do the Seychelles. I think the Seychelles beats the Maldives with the tropical setting and natural component. There’s a wow factor of the natural beauty.”

Setting up shop in parts of the world that have this kind of a wow factor for well-traveled clients isn’t easy. Aqua Expeditions, which Zugaro founded in 2007, now has experience delivering on the promise in the Peruvian Amazon, the Galapagos Islands, Vietnam and Cambodia, and Indonesia. Guests can expect the same level of luxury and service in this new region, Zugaro says, despite its lack of traditional yachting infrastructure.

“The less infrastructure, for me, the better,” he says. “Our ships don’t go alongside a big marina. These are expeditions. You want the ship to have autonomy. We do that in the Galapagos with two-week itineraries. The same thing goes here.”

Also, in this part of the world, he says, a key element is the quality of the guides. There are 27 guides working for Aqua Expeditions, providing expertise in ways that work for even the most well-traveled clients.

“We have one guide for every four couples on our trips,” he says. “This means the trip can be more customized, if they are more snorkelers or birdwatchers or whatever they like.”

The new vessel will offer about four activities a day with some structured timing to address challenges, such as entering and exiting lagoons at the proper heights of tidal shifts, he says. This is different from a charter where guests can simply decide where they might want the yacht to go the next morning, but a schedule is necessary when you’re talking about experiences that are a world away from shopping on St. Barts or sipping cocktails off St. Tropez.

“When you push the guests a little bit out of their comfort zone, that’s when they have the real wow moments, and that’s what we do,” Zugaro says. “They have to have some faith in the guides and the activities that we’ve put together for them to experience the best of the destination. They’re not there to lounge about and sunbathe. They can do that in the Med anytime they want. Here, the setting lends itself to going out and being active, and coming back to a beautiful ship.”  

Get Ready to Book

The 15-stateroom, 200-plus-foot vessel Aqua Expeditions plans to introduce in this region next year will be the sixth vessel in the company’s global fleet. More details about the new addition are expected to become available in a month or so, with bookings opening soon and charter operations beginning at the end of November 2025.

Aldabra

Aldabra, in the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, is the world’s second-largest coral atoll. The land tortoises that roam here can grow to 550 pounds and live for 150 years. The presence of so many tortoises is why people call this island “the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean.”

Cosmoledo

Also in the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, Cosmoledo has become known as a bucket-list destination for saltwater fly-fishing. Anglers who wet a line here often go for giant trevally, but they can also encounter a wide diversity of bonefish, milkfish, permit and various species of triggerfish.

Kilwa Kisiwani

This hamlet in Tanzania has fewer than 1,000 residents. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where cultural tourism is regulated to protect the integrity of the artifacts. The Great Mosque here dates back to the 12th century. The Husuni Kubwa, or “great palace,” dates to the early 14th century.

Stone Town

Stone Town is the capital of the Zanzibar archipelago. For generations, it was a main trading post on the spice, silk and slave routes. African, Arabian, European and Indian cultures are all represented here, with walkable streets and alleyways that feel like a labyrinth.

Pemba

Part of the Zanzibar archipelago, Pemba is known for snorkeling and diving on coral reefs, and for birdwatching ashore. Pemba is also the world’s primary exporter of the clove spice, with millions of clove trees that can grow to 50 feet in height. That’s the origin of Pemba’s nickname, “Clove Island.”

Farquhar

Farquhar is an atoll within the Farquhar island group in the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. It’s named for British merchant Robert Townsend Farquhar, who worked for the East India Company as well as the British government during the early 19th century. 

Mahé

Mahé is the largest island in the Seychelles, and will serve as a primary pickup and drop-off point for Aqua Expeditions charter clients. Airlines that operate here include Air France, Emirates, Qatar and Turkish Airlines. From the New York City region, a one-stop flight takes at least 18 hours.

East Africa

Tanzania, where Aqua Expeditions is scheduling charters, is more than 1,000 miles south of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. “The concern about pirates is way, way north of where we’re operating,” says founder and CEO Francesco Galli Zugaro. “Tanzania is not the concern. That’s where we are operating.”

Aldabra Giant Tortoise

The Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean are known for their population of giant tortoises, which number around 20,000. On Aldabra in the Indian Ocean, the number is closer to 150,000. This is the world’s largest population of the species. Historically, the Indian Ocean region was home to 18 or more varieties of tortoise, but only this species remains because of sailors who hunted them and introduced rats, cats and pigs that ate their hatchlings and eggs.

Take the next step: aquaexpeditions.com

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Nick Leason, co-founder and CEO of Lift Foils, says that when it came to the shape of the Flying Cat, the creative process involved trust.

“We work with a designer that’s in Hawaii, and he did the design. He’s kind of a mad scientist with wild ideas,” Leason says. “He builds boards for the best surfers in the world, and they do some amazing things that no man has done before, so I can’t question his madness.”

The catamaran-style hull on the Flying Cat (starting at $2,400) is designed to help riders get up on the foil faster, with less paddling at the start. Adding stability to the board, Leason says, helps to achieve that goal. It doesn’t necessarily make using the toy easier for beginners, he says, but it does give an assist to all the people who have embraced the sport and are trying to do some pretty ambitious things.

“You’re basically catching open-ocean chop and getting into these swells,” Leason says. “You have to paddle like hell to get a little bit of speed and get that board to take off. Once you’re on the foil, you need to stay on the foil by connecting all the swells. But the results are amazing. The fact is that we’re riding open-ocean swells nonpowered, and some people are crossing Hawaiian islands. Two guys the other day crossed from Oahu to Kauai—100 miles with no power. That’s impressive. It’s crazy. It’s like sailing without a sail.”

The speed, Leason says, gets up to about 17 knots.  Once the Flying Cat is up on the foil, riders propel it by moving in an up-and-down motion.

“Front foot, back foot, front foot, back foot,” Leason says.  “Then you catch a swell and relax. I’ll use the paddle at times as I’m pumping. I’ll dip the paddle in and give it an extra push. It just depends on technique.”

The feeling, he adds, is exhilarating: “What other device have you ever seen where man is taking flight with the use of their body like a bird? That’s how you feel—like a bird.”  

Take the next step: liftfoils.com

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When Sunseeker introduced its 86 Yacht in late 2014, the model replaced the 88 in the Yacht range—one of seven lines that Sunseeker currently offers.​

Belowdecks, accommodations on the 86 include four staterooms, with options to have the master suite amidships or aft.

The 86 had four powerplant options, all MTUs, ranging from a combined 2,760 hp up to a combined 3,900 hp. Top speeds range from 27 knots to 31 knots.

At press time, there were 18 Sunseeker 86s available, ranging from $1.76 million to $6.02 million.

From the Archive

“Sunseeker designed the 86 Yacht from the keel up to deliver serious cruising flexibility. Conceived by the builder’s long-standing in-house naval architect, Ewen Foster, this yacht’s hull form is a hybrid. It can deliver the usual Sunseeker planing speeds, but it’s a little bit deeper in the forefoot and a little flatter aft, which helps deliver more efficient displacement and semi-displacement performance. The transom deadrise is 17 degrees.”

— Yachting, March 2015

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The abbreviation GT means different things to different people. The origin is Italian, gran turismo, usually translated as grand tourer. The first automobile version was a derivative of the 1930 two-seater Alfa Romeo 6C that could travel long distances without its passengers needing dental work afterward. To me, the moniker has always meant an extra level of comfort with a sporty demeanor.

On that point, Pershing and I are in accord. The GTX80 is the second model in Pershing’s GTX series, after the GTX116 that launched 18 months ago, and it glove-fits my definition of what a GT should be.

“The starting point for us was respect for Pershing’s performance heritage while moving the brand into that GT sphere and adding an extra level of luxury to the expected aggression of the X-line models,” says Michelangelo Vallicelli of Vallicelli Design.

The GTX80’s profile is cleaner than Pershing’s X-line models and has additional volume forward, with about a third more space in the cockpit thanks to fold-down quarter platforms—a first for the builder. There’s also more usable space in the main salon, which occupies virtually the full 19-foot beam. Instead of side decks, crew have narrow walkways with no guardrails. The yacht’s snub nose and unbroken sheerline mimic the GTX116.

On Hull No. 1 of the GTX80, the salon has an aft galley and a bar with stools in the after port corner. A dining area is to starboard, although owners can opt for a sofa here instead. Amidships to port is a C-shaped booth sofa, and opposite that is a spiral staircase that connects with the deck below.

From the outside, the superstructure glass around the salon does not look vast, but lower panes on each side, plus fretting in the bulwarks amidships, allow more light in and create broad sea views from the low-slung sofas. The galley bar is a sculptural element. A drop-down window and fully opening aft-deck doors blur the lines between inside and outside. There’s room for two stools at the countertop in the cockpit. With the substantial upper-deck overhang and screening to the sides, the space is well protected from the elements.

The helm is on centerline, while the bridge console with Simrad displays and two pilot seats is to port. There’s plenty of fresh air at the helm via a sunroof and flanking doors that lead out to the foredeck terrace. Up on the flybridge, there’s a three-seat helm station with steering also set in the middle. Booth dining and a sun pad aft add relaxation options.

Accommodations belowdecks include four en suite staterooms. The owner’s stateroom is amidships, with a dogleg entrance from a central hall and an aft-facing berth offset to starboard. All of this adds privacy and means more space for the en suite. There’s room for a sofa to port and a vanity to starboard. Picture windows that measure 19-by-61 inches let in natural light.

The master’s head and a sturdy bulkhead separate that guest space from the engine room and a twin-berth crew cabin accessed from the cockpit.

In the bow, there’s an en suite VIP stateroom with an aft-facing double berth. There are a pair of twin-berth staterooms, both en suite, with the head in the starboard stateroom also serving as the day head. That stateroom can be outfitted as a mini lounge or media room.

Decor has a masculine edge, which is on-brand for Pershing, or owners can choose their own themes. Hull No. 1 has a smoky-blue hull and onboard textures that include dark grays, distressed steel lacquer work, cream leathers and light-oak soles. Leather tiles add color to staterooms; they can come in all shades or be switched out should the current or subsequent owner want a different vibe.

The only power package offered is triple 1,000 hp Volvo Penta D13-IPS1350s. Pershing quotes a 34-knot top speed, and during my runs off Venice, Italy, we saw 33.6 knots at the maximum 2,475 rpm (with a half-load, trim assist off and the two Seakeepers engaged). These GTX models are around 10 knots slower than Pershing’s X-line models. All the boats handle well. We were in 10-knot winds and 2-foot seas, and we completed doughnuts in four to five boatlengths. The yacht had great visibility through the one-piece windshield and side glazing, with only the chunky A-pillars creating blind spots.

Running at a fast 28-knot cruise and approximately 2,150 rpm, the fuel-burn rate was around 116 gallons per hour. That, plus the 1,347-gallon fuel capacity, means a range of 300 nautical miles allowing for a 10 percent reserve. Slow it down to 10 knots at just over 1,000 rpm, and the burn rate tumbles to 18 gph with nearly double the range.

Whether owners choose to run the Pershing GTX80 fast, slow or somewhere in between, this yacht is indeed a grand tourer filled with style and comfort.  

More to Come

Pershing expects to build five GTX80 hulls a year. Prior to Hull No. 1, four had already been sold. Hulls No. 5 and 6 have US specs and are bound for Florida. Two more GTX models are under development and expected to launch within the next two years: The GTX70 should premiere at the 2025 Cannes Yachting Festival, with a GTX90 sometime in 2026.

Vallicelli Design

Yacht design is in Michelangelo Vallicelli’s DNA. His father’s studio, Vallicelli Design, has a catalog of sail and power yachts that’s as long as it is impressive. Michelangelo joined the firm as chief designer three years ago and is racking up successes with the Ferretti Group. He handled the interior schemes of the wallywhy motoryachts and now is advancing Pershing to its next chapter. He has worked with accomplished yacht-design teams, including Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Lazzarini Pickering.

Take the next step: pershing-yacht.com

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The big one is coming: “The most powerful storm ever seen on Earth will form from a cluster of convective supercells sometime around 2100. The hurricane will be presaged by a half-century of droughts, wildfires, floods, famine and sea-level rise.” And New York City will take a direct hit: “Those lucky enough to live in a modern, structurally sound skyscraper in midtown or upper Manhattan will watch from upper floors as foaming brown channels of water rush through the streets and float cars, ferries, trees and buses down Third Avenue and Broadway.”

Mercy.

This dire, doomsday forecast is just one arresting moment in award-winning writer Porter Fox’s book Category Five: Superstorms and the Warming Oceans That Feed Them. For seafarers, especially, this work is vitally important.

Fox comes from a sailing family. His father, Crozer, was a Maine boatbuilder who founded Able Marine, maker of the salty Whistler line of yachts. A few years ago, Fox and I sailed together on mutual friend John Kretschmer’s cutter in the Caribbean. (Full disclosure: That voyage plays a significant role in Category Five.)

Fox’s previous book, The Last Winter, was a deep dive into the effects of climate change to northern climes. Category Five is another examination of extreme weather, but unveiled on a much broader canvas: the vast oceans from which all weather derives.

Literally and figuratively, Category Five covers a lot of water. It delves deeply into the scientific realms of oceanography and meteorology that shape our contemporary understanding of the seas, and the ways oceans “have shaped the arc of human civilization and the genesis and growth of nations throughout history.”

What makes this book such an absorbing read, however, is the sometimes eccentric and always eclectic cast of characters—all intensely intertwined with the oceans across multiple pursuits, studies and disciplines.

Kretschmer, a lifelong offshore sailor and noted marine author, is the first of these characters; his harrowing tale of getting ambushed at sea by lethal Hurricane Bob in 1991 is not for the faint of heart. Next is Jimmy Cornell, a Romanian refugee turned broadcaster and then circumnavigator; his oceanic obsessions led to a career in nautical publishing, and his book Cornell’s Ocean Atlas charts the snowballing growth and intensity of tropical cyclones.

Then there are the scientists. From his base in South Florida, Greg Foltz of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was able to enter the eye of Hurricane Sam virtually in the North Atlantic—with 125 mph winds swirling—via a 20-foot unmanned sail drone, a vessel “never intended to outrun hurricanes, [but] designed to sail into them.” The builder of that drone, oceanographer Richard Jenkins, launched his career chasing land-speed records across lake and salt beds in wind-powered vehicles.

And then there’s “carbon modeler” Galen McKinley, whose studies “transect many fields: computer science, oceanography and climate science.” She’s a carbon-dioxide detective, chasing a riddle with elusive clues. Fox writes: “The journey of CO₂ from the sky to the ocean—where gradients, currents and processes yet to be fully defined either sequester or release it into the air—was in fact the tale of climate change itself, of our fate on this warming planet, and of the future of superstorms. I wanted to see the carbon cycle for myself and find some answers.”

Woven through it all is Fox’s journey as a sailor charting his own course through life, the son of an enigmatic father who navigated his own bumpy seaway. In that regard, Category Five is not only a beautifully written rumination and dissertation, but also a memoir. One that comes from a mariner. One of us.  

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Timezero and Sea.AI have partnered to integrate data from Sea.AI with Timezero’s navigational software. The result for boaters is a boost to situational awareness on the waterways.

This partnership allows mariners who cruise with Timezero software and a Sea.AI Sentry system to display Sea.AI data and alarms atop TZ Professional’s cartography.

The Sentry system uses a combination of daylight and thermal-imaging cameras along with AI to detect, identify and track floating objects. TZ Professional software combines Sea.AI’s target information with radar and automatic identification system data.

While this integration can help to keep mariners safer, it required aligning Sea.AI and Timezero’s data formats. “We tested a specific workspace within a newly developed HTML environment tailored for third-party applications to seamlessly incorporate the full Sea.AI app,” says Frederic Algalarrondo, Timezero’s sales and marketing director. “We also revamped the interface with new icons and visual cues to ensure users could easily distinguish Sea.AI targets from radar and AIS targets. These efforts were crucial in delivering a user-friendly experience.”  

Going Pro

TZ Professional gives access to Sea.AI’s features, settings and alarm controls. When users click on a target, a text box shows classification information. Timezero presents Sea.AI’s live daylight and thermal-imaging camera feeds of the target next to a chart-plotter screen. Symbols show if a target has been detected by AIS (empty triangle), radar (empty green circle) or the Sea.AI system (solid green triangle). 

Take the next step: mytimezero.com

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One of only three American seaports on the National Register of Historic Places, Port Townsend, Washington, is a picturesque city whose Victorian architecture, beautiful beaches and top-notch dining make it a richly rewarding stop while cruising the Olympic Peninsula.

Things To Do

Start your exploration of the two dozen Victorian beauties of Port Townsend’s historic district at the Jefferson County Historical Society’s Museum of Art and History on Water Street. The exhibits chronicle the port’s importance during the timber boom and Klondike gold rush, and the resulting architectural legacy. The museum offers guided group walking tours during the summer, private tours year-round, and a self-guided walking tour booklet that visiting cruisers can purchase online. The town also hosts a Victorian Festival each spring.

It’s also possible to explore Port Townsend via the čičməhán Trail, which connects 18 historic sites important to not just the history and culture of the town’s European settlers, but also the S’Klallam people who have lived in the area for hundreds of years.

Among modern-day highlights, just a short walk down Water Street from the museum is the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, which features the creatures of the Salish Sea. There’s no missing Hope, the cherished orca skeleton suspended from the ceiling. On nearby Tyler Street, the Port Townsend Farmers Market is among the largest in the state with up to 90 vendors selling produce, crafts and other items every Saturday from April until mid-December.

Set aside a day to explore the many attractions of Fort Worden Historical State Park. The fort, bunkers, Battery Kinzie and Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum showcase the installation’s importance as part of the “Triangle of Fire” protecting the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Point Wilson Light, built on Admiralty Inlet in 1914, has the highest lens on Puget Sound and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Stroll the park’s broad beaches to collect sea glass and spot eagles, ospreys and other bird species. The park’s grounds also have 11 miles of hiking trails.

Food and Drink

Port Townsend stands out for its stellar dining scene. The Blue Moose Café is a popular breakfast and lunch spot, known for its eggs Benedict and peanut-butter-and-banana pancakes. Finistère is a foodie favorite for such upscale fare as Parisian gnocchi with duck confit and summer truffle, and well-curated wine pairings. The Fountain Café earns raves for fresh, locally sourced seafood and pasta dishes. Alchemy Bistro and Wine Bar is known for creative cocktails and entrees. Café Tenby serves high tea on the weekends, and its delicious scones and clotted cream are available any time.  

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Tiara Yachts plans to introduce its 56 LS at the Miami International Boat Show in February. The 56 LS expands the builder’s Luxury Sport series, which now stretches from 34 to 56 feet length overall. This series is designed for outboard propulsion, and the 56 will be the Michigan-based builder’s first quad-engine model.

“The Luxury Sport formula has been a successful one for Tiara, elevating the day-yachting experience with versatile social zones and luxurious amenities. The 56 LS builds upon that foundation. Everything is amplified on this boat,” Tiara Yachts CEO Tom Slikkers said in a press release. “I’m confident our customers are going to be just as excited as we are about this addition to our portfolio.”

Equipped with four 600 hp Mercury Verado V-12s, this yacht is expected to have a top speed of nearly 50 knots, making it one of the fastest Tiaras ever built. Pair that with the 21 degrees of deadrise at the transom, and this 56-foot cruiser should get on plane quickly and handle chop with ease.

Social spaces from the stern to the bow are accented with thoughtful design elements. The cockpit is flanked by foldout terraces, expanding the beam by nearly 6 feet and increasing the space around the modular lounge area. The idea is for owners and their guests to be able to use that space in various ways.

Andrew Bartlett, director of design at Tiara, says a goal for this model is to give fans of the Luxury Sport line even more of what they want. “Our LS line has been a favorite of our customers, and we’re eager to showcase this new addition to our portfolio,” Bartlett stated in a press release. “Our customers will find multiple features on board that allow them to enjoy the water, entertain family and friends, and comfortably stay overnight. As outboard models continue to have a resurgence in the boating industry, we’re excited to introduce another Tiara to the market.”

Accommodations for up to four people are belowdecks. Amidships, the full-beam master stateroom has a centerline berth and en suite head. The VIP stateroom is forward, in the bow, also with a centerline berth and en suite head.

The 56 LS is a vessel equally ready for entertaining guests or cruising on extended itineraries, or for owners to do a bit of both at the same time.  

Take the next step: tiarayachts.com

The post Introducing the Tiara Yachts 56 LS appeared first on Yachting.

After college, I scored a part-time job acquainting freshly minted boat owners with their new rides. This job entailed reviewing the basics, such as explaining the boat’s systems and working on docking. I tried to be thorough, but I often felt that these two-hour sessions gave newbie owners a feeling of confidence without real competence. Many of these owners would have benefited from additional hand-holding.

Now, decades later, Brunswick Corporation is advancing its Autonomous, Connected, Electrified, Shared strategy with a Boating Intelligence initiative that uses AI to make boating a better experience.

Boating Intelligence won’t autonomously pilot a Brunswick-built vessel—at least not yet. But it encompasses the myriad ways the company plans to use AI to make boating a more inclusive and user-friendly activity. The important pillars include creating interaction between the vessel and its captain, providing key data at strategic times, and helping to raise users’ levels of proficiency.

If this sounds like an advanced version of Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, you’re on the right track; however, you can also expect Brunswick’s Boating Intelligence Design Lab to create user-centered solutions to boating’s pain points.

Brunswick’s ACES strategy dates back to 2019, when the company created a unified framework for the use of new technologies across its brands. In mid-2024, Brunswick furthered ACES by announcing Boating Intelligence and rebooting the supporting Design Lab (originally called the I-Jet Lab).

“Think of BI as our next step in ACES and its own entity,” says Jeff Reifsnyder, Brunswick’s director of advanced technologies and head of the Boating Intelligence Design Lab. “AI plays a big part in this. We wouldn’t call it Boating Intelligence if AI wasn’t involved.”

For years, the connected-boat model (with cloud computers monitoring, tracking and controlling onboard systems) has attracted interest and robust sales. Reifsnyder says Boating Intelligence will further this model with onboard AI tools such as computer vision, machine learning, large language models and virtual assistants.

For example, he says, whereas connected boats might report the number of hours a bilge pump runs each day, Boating Intelligence might parse the data to identify abnormal activity and use virtual assistants to offer the owner DIY solutions or information on the nearest service center.

More important, Reifsnyder says, is that Boating Intelligence is Brunswick’s way of identifying boating’s sticky wickets and using modern computing tools to ease the user experience. Brunswick’s key objectives involve turning boats into interactive partners, delivering just-in-time information, and providing guided mastery of the boating experience.

“Part of turning the boat into a supportive partner involves delivering the right information at the right place at the right time,” he says, noting that boaters shouldn’t be restricted to their helms for this interface. Reifsnyder likens the job of Boating Intelligence to that of an executive officer aboard a military vessel, linking the crew and the vessel to accomplish the captain’s orders.

One example in the future could be Boating Intelligence helping owners interpret sonar or radar returns, and thus better understand how these instruments work and how to master the technologies.

The Boating Intelligence Design Lab is located at the University of Illinois Research Park. “It’s where advanced technology can be explored without the pressure of a production environment,” Reifsnyder says. But instead of creating technologies and then seeking ways to apply them, the Boating Intelligence Design Lab will consider boaters’ real-world problems before determining—or inventing—the best tools and technologies to help them.

One example of this is autonomous operations. At the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show, Brunswick showcased a self-docking Boston Whaler 405 Conquest with automotive-style parking assistance and the ability to navigate to user-designated locations.

“Autonomous operations require myriad advanced technologies,” Reifsnyder says. These include virtual path planners, which determine where the vessel will go, and computer vision, which lets the boat’s computer “see” the outside world using cameras and sensors. “Brunswick has a portfolio of autonomy and advanced driver-assistance systems that will be developed in the coming years, including object detection and avoidance while cruising.”

The Society of Automotive Engineers describes six levels of autonomy for cars, and a similar model has been adopted in the marine space. Here, Level 0 refers to manual operations; Level 1 involves driver-assistance technology; Level 2 means partial automation; Level 3 refers to conditional automation; Level 4 delivers high levels of automation; and Level 5 refers to autonomous vehicles.

“We’re chasing Level 3 autonomy,” Reifsnyder says. “A lot of what we’re doing is software-related, but not all of it, and we’re not excluding hardware or product development.”

While these are early days for Boating Intelligence and its Design Lab, Reifsnyder says the products and tool sets will initially focus on beginner and intermediate boaters. “That’s where a lot of the pain points are,” he says. “But in the future, I see us providing tools for boaters of every level.

“Some people want full autonomy,” he adds, but “a lot of experienced boaters aren’t interested in intelligent systems that take away the work or the experience.”

Provided that Brunswick hits the correct balance, Boating Intelligence tools could help flatten learning curves, add safety margins, and encourage beginner- and intermediate-level boaters, all while broadening the boating market. The risks include ostracizing seasoned boaters, and adding costs and complexity.

That said, there’s little question that Boating Intelligence would have been useful when I was acquainting novice boat owners with their new whips. Given the embarrassment of slamming shiny fiberglass into docks, I imagine that plenty of those owners would have preferred auto-docking and an onboard virtual assistant to yours truly.

Smarter Interfaces

The gains from Brunswick’s Boating Intelligence will likely be under-the-hood advancements. One exception, however, will be the user experience. Here, boaters can expect to interact with advancements via a Simrad multifunction display or the Simrad app on a wireless device.

The post Brunswick’s Boating Intelligence Meets AI appeared first on Yachting.