One of the perks of being a kid whose father worked in the marine-electronics business was early access to technology. For my generation, long before the modern age of hybrid propulsion systems, solar arrays (that actually work) and Starlink, the term “state of the art” referred to things such as night-vision binoculars, mainstream autopilot and handheld GPS.
I often reflect on a particular weekend cruise from my family’s home port of Niantic, Connecticut, to Watch Hill, Rhode Island. We were anchored off Fishers Island for the first night’s stopover, and my dad had brought along a manufacturer’s demo pair of night-vision binoculars for us to play with. The brand was ITT Industries Night Vision, they were mustard-yellow, and they smelled like something out of a hospital surgical unit. Even still, to be able to spy on boats, birds and buoys bobbing around in the pitch-black darkness from the cockpit of our Hunter 31 made me feel like I’d just been gifted a superpower—or, at the very least, like I was a Navy SEAL in training.
The next morning, we awoke to dense fog blanketing much of Fishers Island Sound, making navigation potentially dangerous over our 9-nautical-mile hop to Watch Hill. We motored, with my mom keeping a forward watch from the bow pulpit for lobster-trap buoys and other traffic. My dad and I seized that opportunity to put Ragtime’s other nifty new gadget, a GPS system, to task.
In those days, GPS had only just started to become mainstream on pleasure craft. On that day, the navigation unit was a godsend, guiding us through the pea soup and pinning us within 50 feet of the first channel marker into Watch Hill.
Much has changed in the marine sector since those pioneering early days of night vision and GPS for all. When we talk about innovation today, we use words such as autonomy, sustainability, foiling, electrification and energy management.
Fast-forward to an unexpected opportunity I had in February while sailing in the Caribbean Multihull Challenge, which is a four-day rally for multihull enthusiasts that involves island-hopping around St. Maarten/Saint-Martin and St. Barts. At a time of year when the trade winds typically blow a consistent 25 knots, we experienced a rare pocket of dead air with a high-pressure system that had settled over the Leeward Islands. Our boat was the new 59-foot Fountaine Pajot TWe6 Smart Electric Yacht Aurora, a trendsetting spinoff of the traditional FP Samana 59, which had been ordered by the ocean-conservancy-minded TradeWinds Experience charter company.
Aurora, whose power generation comes from hydro, solar and wind, is the world’s first production cruising catamaran with 100 percent electric propulsion that uses hydrogen as an energy source. In the absence of wind, the eco-friendly design would effectively allow us to run in silence on electric propulsion all the way to St. Barts with zero emissions. Totally cool.
Innovation is the lifeblood of progress, and nowhere is this more evident than in our boating industry. With the growing emphasis on sustainability and responsible stewardship of our oceans, innovation has taken on a new urgency and importance. For sailors and cruisers, innovation is not just a means to an end, but it’s also an integral part of the experience itself, whether it’s harnessing the power of the wind more efficiently or designing more-comfortable and luxurious onboard amenities.
It is in this spirit of exploration and discovery that we recently introduced Next Marine, a groundbreaking initiative of the Firecrown Marine Group dedicated to following the cutting-edge trends in our industry, specializing in innovation, sustainability and the future of boating.
In our inaugural Next Marine column, we embark on this new journey to explore the latest innovations shaping the future of sailing and cruising, starting with TradeWinds’ eco-conscious initiative and the Fountaine Pajot 59 Smart Electric. But innovation in the boating industry is not just about technological breakthroughs; it is also about fostering a culture of creativity and collaboration. Through Next Marine, we also will shine a spotlight on the visionaries and trailblazers who are driving innovation forward.
As we set sail on this exciting new department, we invite you to join us in celebrating the spirit of innovation. It’s not just about building better boats or cooler toys; it’s about building a better future for our oceans and the generations to come.
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