This is getting even better

Editor's Message February 11, 2021

 

Feb 11, 2021

This has been a different kind of time to use a euphemism, but for us here at CY OnBoard it has been useful. Thanks partially to the conditions you Canadian boaters currently face, boating is growing in popularity and our digest and websites are booming.  Our rates of engagement continue to blossom and our subscription list is expanding. 

We have also been expanding our range of coverage.  We see our online publication as the home for EVERYONE in Canada who loves boats. Of any kind.  We tailor our coverage of both powerboating and sailing to an audience that just plain loves boats – their beauty and design as well as function. 

We have learned from your comments and feedback that the how-to and technical side of the boating experience is also meaningful.  Unlike golf or bowling, being a boater requires an extensive understanding of how things work including topics ranging from hydrodynamics to meteorology to electronics to history and, of course, gastronomy. Boats encompass all the most complicated aspects of technology and sport then add a huge helping of family fun!

Unlike printed magazines, our platform allows us to immediately see what you are reading from our online publication. Well not you but all of you collectively. For example, our Boat Nerd column last week drew a huge audience of readers. Obviously an in depth tech-y look at a topic appeals to you. Our Ask Andrew columns always are enjoyed, as are, more recently, our discussions of sail technology.

In this issue, we take a look at a growing concern for all of us both from a practical and ecological point of view.  Our fiberglass boats are lasting forever, which is great from a usefulness perspective but not so great from a disposal standpoint.  In this issue we start a well-documented two-part series that will have you thinking about your boat in a new way.

In every issue we continue to look at products and accessories, at boat builders and boat users. Owning a boat involves being part of a community, learning, acquiring skills, making friends and enjoying the planet.  We are working hard to cover all the corners of what is likely the most complicated passion Canadians can undertake. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Please send along your comments any time to cyonboard@kerrwil.com

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