Life is Better on the Water — Issue #2
Life is Better on the Water
Issue #2 by Better Boat
Welcome back to Life is Better on the Water. This issue has a Gilded Age yacht that doubled as a newspaper baron's sanctuary, a new artificial reef off Martin County, a Coast Guard boat roundup, a Grady-White worth staring at for a little too long, and one tuna story that makes every normal fishing trip feel underpowered.
This Week in Boating
The Yacht That Saved Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer built one of the most famous names in American journalism, then spent his final years nearly blind, hypersensitive to sound, and slowly falling apart. His fix was his yacht, where open water gave him the quiet and calm that land never could. Rich, famous, and completely undone by his own nervous system: the boat was the only place that worked.
Read more at Power and Motoryacht
Guy Harvey Documentary Brings Marine Conservation Story to Theaters
Guy Harvey built a career painting fish and somehow turned that into a global conservation movement. Now there is a full documentary about how he did it. If you have ever owned a Guy Harvey shirt without knowing much about the man behind the marlin, this is a good excuse to find out.
Read more at Yachting Magazine
Ford's Manufacturing Tech Just Slashed the Wait Time for the Sharrow Propeller
The Sharrow Propeller has been one of the most talked-about upgrades in recreational boating, but a months-long wait killed a lot of sales before they started. Ford Motor Company just partnered with Sharrow Engineering to apply automotive-scale manufacturing to the process. If you have been curious about the efficiency and noise gains but were not willing to wait half a boating season, that problem appears to be going away.
Read more at Lakeland Boating
The Most Unusual Boats the US Coast Guard Keeps in Its Fleet
The Coast Guard runs everything from shallow-water skiffs to heavy weather cutters, and some of the vessels in between are genuinely strange. Boating Magazine rounded up the most unusual ones in the fleet. Worth a look if you have ever watched a Coast Guard boat pass by and wondered what exactly you were looking at.
Read more at Boating Magazine
E-Flares vs. Pyrotechnics: Is It Time to Make the Switch?
Flares that expire, corrode, and count as hazardous waste are not exactly a selling point. E-flares skip all of that: no expiration date, no toxic disposal headache, and they are now USCG-approved as a substitute for pyrotechnics on most recreational vessels. If your flare kit is due for a refresh anyway, this is a good time to ask whether the reusable option makes more sense for how you boat. Better Boat Air Horn pairs well with any updated safety kit.
Read more at Boating Magazine
Martin County Drops a 227-Foot Ship to the Bottom on Purpose
A 227-foot vessel now sits on the ocean floor off Martin County, Florida, purpose-sunk to become an artificial reef. The site honors someone named Boo McCulley and gives the local marine ecosystem a brand new structure to colonize. Divers and bottom fishermen in the area just got a new spot worth circling on the chart.
Read more at Coastal AnglerFeatured Boat
Grady-White Reimagines the Express 340 With a New Layout and Fresh Features
Grady-White took one of its most popular models and rebuilt it from the layout up. The details on exactly what changed are still thin, but Grady does not usually redesign a boat without a reason worth paying attention to. If you have been shopping in the 34-foot range, this one is worth a closer look when the full specs drop.
Read more at Power and MotoryachtGone Fishing
NC Man Catches 212-Pound Bluefin Tuna From a Jet Ski, Ten Miles Offshore, Alone
A Jet Ski is not supposed to be a bluefin tuna boat. Hunter Hicks apparently missed that memo. Ten miles off the North Carolina coast, Hicks hooked a 212-pound, 70-inch bluefin solo, fought it (his words: like fighting Mike Tyson), and then towed the whole thing back to shore. No sportfisher. No crew. Just a personal watercraft and a very bad decision that turned out perfectly.
Read more at Coastal AnglerWhat Your Boat Really Needs
Seagull Negotiation Beacon
A polite but firm deck mounted device that translates your body language into legally binding seagull terms. It explains that your sandwich is not maritime salvage, your console is not public seating, and your freshly cleaned deck is not an invitation.
Overheard at the Marina
A boater will spend three hours explaining why his dock line method is superior, then tie a knot that looks like a plate of wet spaghetti and say, that should hold.
Better Boat Pick
