Editor’s Note: Greening Gently

Electric boating just leaves bubbles

Sept 12, 2023

By John Morris

Electric boating just leaves bubbles


Boating started out green.  Sailboats didn’t have motors and while galley slaves may have tossed their food scraps over the side, that was about it.

More recently, outboards and diesels came along and while initially they were smoggy and leaked petrochemicals into the water, they evolved into being inoffensive.  Certainly, their impact was minor compared to commercial shipping, leaking urban manufacturing and sewage and plastic detritus that people tossed into the environment.

Now we appear to be entering a completely new phase where recreational boating is showing leadership by embracing solar panels and more recently electric powering (look at the stories below on Merc and Vision Marine, for example). Our companion publication, Sailing in Canada, covered the Shark Worlds, which took place last month in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  In their report, the Shark Class reported “Our team followed the Sailor for the Sea Clean Regatta protocols and achieved the Gold Standard.” We heard the same message from the organizers of the recent edition of Chester Race Week, for example.  Environmental awareness has become a fixture of the boating mindset. Good news!

This comes as no surprise – when you’re out there on the water, you are in contact with the environment. Continuing exposure to oceans, rivers, lakes, and beaches is helping boaters to become advocates for green thinking.

Video Gallery

Neptunus 650F Review

Neptunus 650F 400

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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Destinations

The Other Virgin Islands

Sunset off St John

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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Lifestyle