Jan 11, 2022
Everyone has gone digital including Volvo Penta. Under the headline ‘Boating for everyone’, Volvo Penta used this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to imagine a brave new world for exploring and experiencing life on the water built around accessibility for all. Through an immersive and visionary exhibit, visitors can get an exclusive look at how the company imagines the boating experience of tomorrow. Volvo Penta aimed to kickstart a dialogue with CES attendees and online boating audiences on how to evolve boating together.
An experience designed around you
In the future, Volvo Penta believes that how and why people boat will change, with a more human-centric approach elevating the experience and new technology and business models making it more accessible. Individually tailored experiences offer stronger emotional connections and greater scope for reaching new levels of enjoyment. As part of this, the new customer experience must embrace less experienced boaters and new entrants. For both first-time boaters and highly skilled enthusiasts, there is a need to create a more personalized experience.
Artificial Intelligence and automation: For Volvo Penta, AI and automation are key enablers in delivering Boating for everyone. First-time boaters (or those with experience, who simply prefer to enjoy the on-water experience instead of driving) could choose high-level automation. This could be activated at the start of the experience — for example, having the boat automatically deliver itself to the customer meeting point at the marina and then navigating itself out to open water.
In between the limits of no experience and full experience, automated ‘nudging’ could enable inexperienced boaters to learn more of the driving process as they progressed. Through AI, the user could learn about driving gradually. This would ensure peace of mind, but also increase boating competence and confidence steadily.
AI could also be integral to delivering more personalized experiences: understanding user preferences and offering recommendations around experiences, sports, destinations and more.
For those who missed CES, updates are posted across Volvo Penta’s social media channels: Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

By Andy Adams
Over the years Canadian Yachting has had the pleasure of doing several boat review articles on new Neptunus models and we are familiar with the qualities that Neptunus is famous for. They have all been exceptional yachts, but this is the one I would most want to own myself. It’s a personal choice and a matter of taste as to whether you would prefer to have a sedan express model or a flybridge but in my opinion, the flybridge layout offers some wonderful attributes.
We met with Neptunus Managing Director Jan Willem De Jong this past fall to take the new Neptunus 650F out in Lake Ontario.
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By Mark Stevens
I was first seduced by the United States Virgin Islands during a ferry ride from St. Thomas to Tortola to begin one of our earliest British Virgin Islands charters nearly twenty years ago.
A perfect sunset off St. John with St. Thomas views for backdrop.
Clearing Pillsbury Sound, surrounded by voluptuous emerald mountains as the ferry sliced through royal blue waters, I was struck by the unspoiled ambiance of St. John, the island gliding past our starboard beam and the irresistible charm of a village called Cruz Bay visible from our quarter stern.
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Story and photos by Matt Bera
We settled Svala into what my family and I had come to think of as the most desirable anchorage on Lake Ontario, on a sunny summer afternoon. With an abandoned settlement, an old schoolhouse full of swallows, giant snakes and a rum-running past, Main Duck Island had it all.
That we had to sail past the Psyche Shoal, a magnetic disturbance, and into the middle of the rumoured Marysburgh Vortex made an even better sea story. It had taken us two attempts, two years, two boats and a new sort-of experimental engine to get there.
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By Zuzana Prochazka
Never chartered? No problem. Here’s how to plan, execute and enjoy a vacation on a charter yacht where life is easy and the sunsets can’t be beat.
Decide on a crewed or bareboat charter
A crewed charter means you have a captain who manages the boat and maybe a chef or mate as well. Crewed charters ensure a safe and comfortable vacation with most everything done for you. The chefs are usually outstanding so if you’re a foodie, you’ll be in heaven and you may be able to pick up new recipes too. Larger crewed yachts may also have a mate who works with the captain and will do things like getting toys (kayaks, SUPs, snorkel gear, etc.) ready for you to use so you do very little work.
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On November 15th 2022, Mercury Marine, a division of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC), introduced the industry’s first ever V10 outboard with the official launch of its all-new 5.7L 350 and 400hp Verado® outboard engines.
Consistent with the award-winning Verado brand, the new V10 engines are the quietest and smoothest in their class running 45 percent quieter than a leading competitor at cruise. In addition to NVH, the new Verado’s are not only compatible with the latest Mercury SmartCraft® technologies but will also be offered with an optional dual-mode 48V/12V alternator to seamlessly pair with Navico Group’s Fathom® e-power system, an integrated lithium-ion auxiliary power management system, providing boaters the opportunity to eliminate an onboard generator system.
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