Garmin Quatix7

The Garmin Quatix7 Marine GPS Smartwatch lets dad manage his day on the water with connectivity to Garmin chartplotters, easy autopilot boat control, a variety of GPS mapping features and more. This GPS Smartwatch comes in three versions: Standard Edition, Pro with a crisp AMOLED display and a Solar Edition featuring solar charging for those long summer days in the sun.

Garmin inREach Mini 2 Marine Bundle

The Garmin inREach Mini 2 Marine Bundle helps keep you in touch with pop while he’s off the grid on a boating adventure. The compact satellite communicator maintains signal on the water where cell phones won’t, includes an emergency SOS messaging system to Garmin’s coordination center and boasts a battery life of up to 14 days in 10-minute tracking mode. It also offers location sharing with loved-ones at home.

Helly Hansen Men’s HP Foil HT Sailing Shorts

If he’s got the need for speed, the Helly Hansen Men’s HP Foil HT Sailing Shorts are for him. These waterproof sailing shorts are designed for inshore racing in extremely wet conditions. They include a reinforced seat and are mesh-lined for comfort. These shorts are available in sporty navy, gray fog and black styles.

Helly Hansen Men’s Crew Hooded Midlayer Jacket 2.0

For fathers with a sailor’s soul, there’s the Helly Hansen Men’s Crew Hooded Midlayer Jacket 2.0. Originally developed as a waterproof insulation layer for sailors, this jacket is waterproof, windproof and breathable. The zipper withstands corrosion and is saltwater-resistant. The jacket is available in sleek white, gray fog, cobalt 20, red, black and navy colors.

Costa Saltbreak Sunglasses

You just can’t go wrong with a cool pair of polarized shades as a gift for dad, and these Costa Saltbreak Sunglasses are no exception. These sporty shades are available in silver, tortoise, matte black and wetlands frames, each with customizable polarized glass or polarized polycarbonate lenses.

Costa Tuna Alley Sunglasses

Named after the deep-blue Bahamian waters where the Bluefin tuna migrate north, Costa’s Tuna Alley Sunglasses combine practicality and style with plenty of customization options. These shades can be personalized to match dad’s style while he’s out on the water, from solid- white frames with blue polarized lenses to blackout frames with gray polarized lenses.

Rolex Submariner

What could be a better gift than the king of watches for a king in your life? The Rolex Submariner Date is an 18 kt. white-gold statement of deep confidence. The rotatable bezel is designed for a diver to accurately and safely monitor diving time and decompression stops.The dial’s luminescent Chromalight display allows for visibility in dark environments.

Rolex Deepsea

For gift buyers wanting to go the extra nautical mile, the Rolex Deepsea is 18 karats of bright, flashy and practical yellow gold with a Cerachrom bezel insert in blue ceramic and an oyster bracelet. This is the legendary divers’ watch, filled with luminescent material that emits a long-lasting blue glow for excellent legibility in dark conditions.

Penn Squall Lever Drag Conventional Rod & Reel Combo

The Penn Squall Lever Drag Rod & Reel is lightweight, ergonomic and corrosion-resistant. With stainless- steel gears and a high-speed gear ratio, this lever-drag is outstanding for nearshore trolling for kings and dolphins. This rod comes in medium and heavy power levels, 6- and 7-foot rod lengths as well as 15- to 30-pound and 30- to 80-pound line ratings.

YETI Tundra® 65 Marine Cooler

Help him keep his drinks cold on the water with the YETI Tundra 65 Marine Cooler. This spacious cooler can easily handle a day’s provisions for a family of four. It fits up to 77 cans or 58 pounds of ice, and the YETI Fatwall design provides 2’ of seamless insulation on the walls and bottom with 3’ of insulation on the lid.

YETI 30 oz. Rambler® Travel Mug

The YETI 30 oz Rambler Travel Mug will keep his adventure going longer. This is YETI’s biggest travel mug, providing a trip-proof grip thanks to its elevated handle. In the case of bumpy waves, its leak-resistant Stronghold lid includes dual-slider magnet technology to prevent spills.

Mustang Survival HIT Automatic Inflatable Life Jackets with Harness

The Mustang Survival HIT Automatic Inflatable Life Jacket with Harness is a boating essential and an excellent gift. This life jacket is designed for serious sailors to use in severe weather with exclusive technology that enhances safety and minimizes maintenance. Reliable automatic inflation even in severe conditions adds peace of mind to this life-saving device.

Noco Boost Pro GB150 Ultrasafe Lithium Jump Starter, 3000 Amp, 12V

The Noco Boost Pro GB150 Ultrasafe Lithium Jump Starter delivers 3,000 amps for jump starting a dead battery in seconds. It’s a powerful battery booster that doubles as a portable power source for charging USB devices or powering 12-volt devices. Perfect for dad’s car, boat, RV or truck! On top of that, the jump starter includes an ultra-bright 500 lumen LED flashlight with seven light modes, including SOS and an emergency strobe.

Fusion Marine MS-RA210 Stereo and XS Classic Speaker Kit

The Fusion Marine MS-RA210 Stereo and XS Classic Speaker Kit is a gift that will keep dad jamming while washing down the boat. Remember the Garmin Quatix7 from earlier? Advanced connectivity options give you the freedom to control this stereo from a compatible Garmin MFD, smart device or watch, making this a great gift to pair with!

Amberjack – The Loafer

It just wouldn’t be a complete father’s day gift list without mentioning some slick kicks. The Loafers by Amberjack are made with A-grade full-grain leather and sheepskin lining, and they come in a variety of colors and sizes. They are comfortable, stylish and they feature an athletic outsole with a heat-activated insole. And, after a day of cruising, they just look great when heading ashore to your favorite waterfront eatery.

The post Best Father’s Day Gifts For Boaters 2024 appeared first on Yachting.

When Jud Smith was around 10 years old, growing up in Marblehead, Massachusetts, he and his pals would go into Ted Hood’s lofts and play in the sailmaker’s scraps.

“I would climb on those piles of cloth like it was a hayloft,” he says. “I don’t know if they wanted us there, but it was an open shed, and we were playing. It was about as much fun as anybody could have.”

Smith and his friends would use the scraps to make sails for small boats, or for canoes, so they could race. “I remember breaking our neighbor’s sewing machine and everything,” he says with a chuckle.

Fast forward a half-century, and Smith, now of Gloucester, has spent 20 years as a sailmaker with Doyle Sails. He also just earned the title of Rolex Yachtsman of the Year for the second time—becoming the oldest winner ever—following his team’s win at the 2018 J/70 World Championships.

As if to put a fine point on the matter of age, the Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year are Carmen and Emma Cowles, who are 18-year-old twins from Larchmont, New York, and the second-youngest winners ever.

For what it’s worth, none of them are surprised about the others.

“There’s a lot of people my age still doing it,” Smith says. “I was just coaching this weekend. I’d say most of the people steering and driving are around 50 to 60, even into their 70s, and then most of the crews are pretty young.”

The Cowles twins started messing about with sails at the same age Smith did. They were 9 when their mother sent them for lessons at the Larchmont Yacht Club and made them try one regatta a year. By year three, the sailing lessons clicked. The girls missed their middle school graduation so they could compete, and they’re about to miss their high school graduation, as well as defer their first year at Yale University, as they mount a campaign for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 in the Women’s 470.

“We’re competing against people in their 20s, 30s, 40s,” Carmen says. “It’s their full-time job. It wouldn’t be a true effort if we didn’t focus just on the sailing for now.”

Guess who makes their sails? That’s right: Jud Smith at Doyle Sails, when he’s not out coaching other competitors.

“I want to help people use our product and get the most out of it,” he says. “It’s a good problem to have. If somebody beats me with my own sails, I’m happy for them. It’s a lot of fun.”

The post Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswomen of the Year appeared first on Yachting.

Rolex Deepsea D-Blue Dial

Rolex collaborated with professional scuba divers to create the Deepsea, which is waterproof to a depth of 12,800 feet. The case is made of Oystersteel, which is a part of the super-alloy 904L stainless-steel family used in the aerospace industry. The dial on this version of the Deepsea fades from blue to black, which is the color gradiation that film director James Cameron saw during his dive to the ocean’s deepest spot, the Mariana Trench. Rolex designed this version of the Deepsea to commemorate Cameron’s experience. He made it 35,787 feet below the surface.

Ulysse Nardin Freak Vision

The Freak Vision is an evolution of the InnoVision 2 Concept Watch that Ulysse Nardin unveiled in 2017. The shape of a boat hull inspired the flying carousel, whose motion tells time in a unique way and is the inspiration for the timepiece’s name.

Breitling Exospace B55 Yachting

An electronic tachymeter, a countdown timer for regatta starts, and other sailing-inspired features are built into the Exospace B55 Yachting. Pressing the crown or tilting your wrist activates two backlit LCD screens with smartphone-style features.

Sophisticated watches can also be paired with these unusual creations from Portugal-based Boca Do Lobo.

The Dali

The Cloud

The post Three Cool Nautical Timepieces appeared first on Yachting.

The engraved rolex timepieces on Peter Duncan’s and Erika Reineke’s wrists follow an accomplished year in sailing. Among several notable victories that each had, the 2017 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year won the 161-boat Audi J/70 World Championship, while the Yachtswoman of the Year took home the gold in the Laser Radial at Enoshima Olympic Week.

“I just felt so lucky to be there at the Olympic venue for the first time,” says Reineke, a Fort Lauderdale native.

While pursuing her sailing dreams, Reineke earned her degree in environmental geosciences from Boston College. Now the US Sailing team member can focus on her sport full-time. Up next is the 2018 ISAF Sailing World Championships at Aarhus, Denmark, the first chance for sailors to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games. The 24-year-old’s Olympic dream derives from her role model, Anna Tobias, who hosted a fundraiser at Reineke’s home yacht club before the 2008 Games.

“She won gold there in the Radial,” Reineke says, “and I knew at age 12 that I wanted to do what she had done.”

Duncan, who is 58 and from Rye, New York, says he has been sailing since he could walk, starting on his parents’ 210 at the American Yacht Club in Rye. Fast forward to 2017 when, apart from running a commercial real estate company in the Big Apple, he spent 110 days on the water.

The Winners’ Watches

“I’ve always been fairly driven with any of the stuff I do,” he says. His team’s win at the J/70 Worlds was one of five J/70 regatta victories last year. Duncan also raced in the Etchells, Melges 20 and Melges 24.

Taking the Trophy

“It’s you against the elements,” he says. “There are lots of things at different times that you have to deal with. That, to me, is exciting.”

His goal is to hopefully repeat what he calls a tremendous year. “We are plugging away in both classes again, getting ready for both world championships,” he says, meaning the J/70 and Etchells.

Receiving this honor from US Sailing and Rolex is a first for both winners. “When I found out we actually won, I was kind of beside myself that we were able to do this with the great people getting considered,” Duncan admits.

Reineke says she can relate: “Just to be nominated amongst some of the best women sailors in the country is an honor. To have earned the title is something I will never forget.”

The post Rolex Gives Out Its Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Award appeared first on Yachting.

A little before Annie Haeger was born, Steve Benjamin was on the cover of Yachting. He was with his crew on a 505, pushing the limits of speed. “We were hellbent, go-all-out,” Benjamin recalls, sounding a lot like Haeger talks today. She is training to represent the United States at this year’s Olympic Games in Brazil — playing through the pain of a recent back injury. “Pretty much the hardest thing for me,” she says, “is to take a break.”

Benjamin and Haeger have met, but they don’t usually race each other on the water. Their names, however, will be forever intertwined as the 2015 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year.

The awards come at very different phases in their lives. Benjamin, who is 60, has enjoyed a long and varied career as a helmsman and tactician aboard yachts of all kinds, being dubbed “Master of Faster” in one of the many articles written about his epic races. Haeger, who is 25 and always at the helm, describes herself as more of a NASCAR sailor, competing in short-court buoy races that rarely last more than an hour.

For both, though, earning a Rolex award seems fitting because their relationship with time is so similarly intimate. Whether they are talking about a race that lasts 36 minutes or 36 hours, they are constantly trying to shave seconds.

“It’s fractions of seconds,” Haeger says. “There are clumps of boats crossing the finish line. If you can get that fraction of a second anywhere around the racecourse, that’s a five-boat gain, right there.”

Just last year, Benjamin says, time was a bitter mistress for his crew during the Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race.

“We matched up against Rambler for the first time,” he says. “That’s a brand-new 90-footer owned by [noted yachtsman] George David. They were several hours ahead of us, but we knew, on corrected time, we were very close. Our navigator knew we had a chance to beat them, but he kept prodding us. First it was, ‘We’re 20 minutes behind.’ Then he’d say, ‘10 minutes behind.’ He was pushing us because he knew it was virtually a tied score.

“When we went to look at the posted score, we’d won by seven seconds. And that’s on about a 20-hour race.”

Haeger had a similar close call while racing in Europe last year.

“We were battling it out with the Polish girls at the finish,” she says. “Usually for us, an O flag goes up when there’s 8 knots or more of breeze. That means you’re allowed to pump, ooch or rock your boat as much as you want, all around the racecourse. It gets very physical. It’s so you can release the boat and get it to plane easier. That’s full-out for the crew downwind. They’re pumping the spinnaker and out of breath. I remember thinking it was a tie because it was so close. We beat them by less than a second.”

“When we went to look at the posted score, we’d won by seven seconds. And that’s on about a 20-hour race.”

— Steve Benjamin, 2015 Rolex Yachtsman Of The Year

Even when they’re not on the water, both winners say time is on their minds. Haeger feels the increasingly loud beat of the Olympic trials clock in her future, while Benjamin — who says he has role models in their 80s — is learning to enjoy a new relationship with time as he ages.

“I had prostate cancer six years ago,” he says. “That did change my attitude about time. It made me realize that every day is important. Every day that we go on the water, it’s great to be able to do that.”

1961-2014 winners

2014 Terry Hutchinson/Stephanie Roble 2013 Brian Porter/Jody Starck 2012 Johnny Heineken/Jen French 2011 Bill Hardesty/Anna Tunnicliffe 2010 Stan Honey/Anna Tunnicliffe 2009 Bora Gulari/Anna Tunnicliffe 2008 Terry Hutchinson/Anna Tunnicliffe 2007 Jeff Linton/Sally Barkow 2006 Jud Smith/Paige Railey 2005 Nick Scandone/Sally Barkow 2004 Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham/Jody Swanson 2003 Augie Diaz/Hannah Swett 2002 John Kostecki/Liz Baylis 2001 Steve Fossett/Cory Sertl 2000 Mark Reynolds and Magnus Liljedahl/JJ Isler and Pease Glaser 1999 Eric Doyle/Dawn Riley 1998 Paul Cayard /Betsy (Gelenitis) Alison 1997 Chris Larson/JJ Isler 1996 Dave Ullman/Courtenay (Becker) Dey 1995 Ed Baird/Cory Sertl 1994 Ken Read/Danielle Brennan 1993 Cam Lewis/Betsy (Gelenitis) Alison 1992 Kevin Mahaney/Julia Trotman 1991 Ed Adams/JJ Isler 1990 Jim Brady/Courtenay Becker 1989 Larry Klein/Jody Swanson 1988 John Kostecki/Allison Jolly and Lynne Jewell 1987 Ed Adams/Susan Dierdorff Taylor 1986 Dennis Conner/JJ Isler 1985 Ken Read/Kathy Steele and Heidi Backus 1984 Bill Buchan/Betsy Gelenitis 1983 Dave Curtis/Wendy Thomson 1982 Randy Smyth/Betsy Gelenitis 1981 Dave Curtis/Betsy Gelenitis 1980 Dennis Conner/Lynne Jewell 1979 Ted Turner/Nell Taylor 1978 Buddy Melges/Bonnie Shore 1977 Ted Turner/Jan O’Malley 1976 Lowell North/Allison Jolly 1975 Dennis Conner/Joan Ellis 1974 Ted Hood/Sally Lindsay 1973 Ted Turner/Sally Lindsay 1972 Buddy Melges/Jane Pegel 1971 Ding Schoonmaker/Jane Pegel 1970 Ted Turner/Jan O’Malley 1969 Robert F. Johnson/Jan O’Malley 1968 Lowell North/June Methot 1967 Bus Mosbacher/Betty Foulk 1966 Bill Cox/Jerie Clark 1965 Dick Tillman/Timothea (Schneider) Larr 1964 Bob Bavier/Jane Pegel 1963 Joe Duplin/Leggie Mertz 1962 Bus Mosbacher/Sue Sinclair 1961 Buddy Melges/Timothea Schneider

The post Annual Rolex Awards: Measuring Each Moment appeared first on Yachting.

Sailors Steve Benjamin, an Olympic silver medalist, and Annie Haeger, a Rio Olympics hopeful, were honored this week at the New York Yacht Club as Rolex’s 2015 Yachtsman & Yachtswoman of the Year.

Look for their inspiring stories in Yachting‘s April issue.

UPDATE: It was announced that Annie Haeger and her teammate Briana Provancha made the 2016 U.S. Olympic Sailing Team. Find out more on the Team USA website.

The post And The Winners Are… appeared first on Yachting.

Grill Mate: The new, virtually windproof 17-inch diameter Marine Kettle 2 ($240) is marine-grade stainless, and features a front-mounted electric igniter, a new burner to reduce flare-ups and a stay-cool handle._ Magma Products, (800) 866-2462; www.magmaproducts.com_

Shine Brightly: The new Firefly3 ($96) provides a bright (.75 candela) 360-degree strobe light for a minimum of eight continuous hours and meets USCG and SOLAS requirements as a compact, personal flotation rescue light. ACR Electronics, (954) 981-3333; _www.acrelectronics.com_

Precision Luxury: The Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona ($23,950), in 18-karat white gold, is a 44-jewel, officially certified Swiss chronometer and stopwatch. Self-winding, it has three screw-down crowns and is waterproof to 330 feet, and has a special Oysterlock bracelet. Rolex, (800) 367-6539; _www.rolex.com_

Chester Yawl: With a little woodworking experience, you can build this rowing classic from a kit ($1,299) that incudes everything you’ll need to get on the water. Chesapeake LIght Craft, (410) 267-0137; _www.clcboats.com_

Size Matters: The 36-inch wide Admiral (starting at $5,090) is just right for those who want company but don’t have space for two seats, or those who feel confined by narrow seats. With a powder-coated or polished chrome finish, in your choice of upholstery. Stidd Systems, (631) 477-2400; _www.stidd.com _

Paper & Plastic: For thse who value paper chart backups to electronic charts, Maptech’s ChartKits ($130) and Waterproof Chartbooks ($50) now come with a companion CD-ROM for optimal navigation. Maptech, (888) 839-5551; _www.maptech.com_

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