These days it’s hard to be carry the label “maker” or “hacker” without also being proficient in some kind of CAD- even if the C is for Cardboard. But before there was CAD there was Drafting and its associated arts, and one couldn’t just select a shape and see its area in the square unit of your choice. So how could an old school draftsman figure out the area of complex shapes? [Chris Staecker] introduces us to the polar planimeter, a measuring tool created specifically for the purpose and explained in full in the video below the break.
The polar planimeter being discussed is a higher end unit from the 1960’s. Interestingly, the first polar planimeters were invented in the early 19th century even before the math that describes their function was completed. A lever is placed in a fixed position on one end and into the planimeter on the other. The planimeter itself has another arm with a reticle on it. The unit is zero’d out with a button, and the outline of the shape in question is traced in a clockwise fashion with the reticle.
What makes the polar planimeter capable of measuring in multiple dimensions is the fixed arm. The fixed arm pivots around, allowing the planimeter to track angle changes which affects the output. So, the planimeter isn’t just measuring the length of the perimeter, but the size of the perimeter. The final measurement is output in square inches.
Overall it’s a really slick tool we didn’t know existed, and it’s fascinating to see how such problems were solved before everything could be done with a mouse click or two. Be sure to check out this 100+ year old reference set to round out your knowledge of past knowledge. Thanks to [Zane] for the great tip!
Everybody says follow your dream, but when you go to a career fair, the people who make a lot of money have made a deal with the devil and worked in sales. Not my idea of a good time. What if you could actually follow your dreams and still make some good money. There are […]
Just in time for opening day of baseball, New York City has exempted athletes from its citywide vaccine mandate. Now Kyrie Irving and other unvax'd athletes can play in professional sports. Meanwhile, all other employees in the stadiums are subject to the requirement. The New York Post captured the scene with the headline, "Tale of Two Citis."
New York City Mayor Eric Adams was quite candid why he created an exemption for rich athletes, but not other people, including those with sincerely held religious beliefs:
"A small number of people have an outsized impact on our economy."
Yes, he said the quiet part out loud. From the earliest days, of the pandemic. COVID policy was always dictated first by the policy preferences of those in power, and second by #science. The Governor of Pennsylvania deemed the Peeps marshmallow factory to be an "Essential" business, but gun stores were not. Governor Cuomo allowed 7,000 fans to watch a Buffalo Bills game, even as people were barred from assembling for religious gatherings. And now, the Mayor created a Kyrie carveout to help wealthy athletes. Oh, and the Yankees, Mets. and Yankees have been lobbying the Mayor to change the policy.
But privately, efforts were already underway by the owners and executives of some of the wealthiest and most influential sports franchises in the country to persuade Mr. Adams to change his mind.
The Yankees president, Randy Levine, personally reached out to the mayor's team and encouraged officials to consider that baseball is played outdoors where Covid transmission rates are lower than indoors.
Steven A. Cohen, the hedge fund manager and Mets owner who last year gave $1.5 million to a super PAC supporting Mr. Adams's mayoral campaign, has been paying $10,000 a month to a lobbying firm, Moonshot Strategies, to push state officials and City Hall on several issues, including Covid protocols.
Both baseball teams are believed to have players who remain unvaccinated, with opening day now two weeks away.
Corey Johnson, the former speaker of the City Council who now runs his own lobbying firm, is receiving $18,000 a month from the Nets's holding company, and lobbying records suggest that he recently contacted the mayor, his chief counsel and his chief of staff.
Yet, more than 1,500 city employees were fired for not being vaccinated. They probably were not able to afford such an expensive lobby effort. Rent seeking is tough.
In light of Fulton, these exemptions for athletes undermine the state's compelling interest to mandate vaccines. But don't worry. The mayor checked with his lawyers:
Dr. Jay Varma, an epidemiologist and health adviser to Mr. de Blasio, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday evening that vaccines work "unless you're rich and powerful, in which case lobbying works."
Dr. Varma called the new policy the "Kyrie Carve Out" and said he was concerned that the legal standing of the city's vaccine mandates could now be challenged in court as "arbitrary and capricious."
Mr. Adams rebutted that criticism on Thursday: "I would not be standing here today if I did not speak to the attorneys, and they said that this passes legal muster."
Sooner or later, a case will come to the courts that is not on an emergency basis. For example, an employee who lost his pension due to the termination will sue for damages. And in light of Fulton, and the Kyrie Carveout, the employees should prevail.
WASHINGTON — Exercise is great for anyone’s body and mind, but researchers with the American College of Cardiology say that exercising regularly may actually do more for the heart health of those struggling with stress-related conditions. Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital found that habitual exercise offered double the cardiovascular benefits among people dealing with depression or…
More than five years after the company did away with the chronological feed in lieu of an algorithm-based system, Instagram has officially brought it back after teasing its return yesterday.
For Women’s History Month, Atlas Obscura’s Women in Conservation series celebrates women of science who are protecting our planet’s biodiversity in innovative ways.
For the Maya, the honey bee is more than an insect. For millennia, the tiny, stingless species Melipona beecheii—much smaller than Apis mellifera, the European honey bee—has been revered in the Maya homeland in what is now Central America. Honey made by the animal the Maya call Xunan kab has long been used in a sacred drink, and as medicine to treat a whole host of ailments, from fevers to animal bites. The god of bees appears in relief on the walls of the imposing seacliff fortress of Tulum, the sprawling inland complex of Cobá, and at other ancient sites.
Today, in small, open-sided, thatched-roof structures deep in the tropical forests of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, traditional beekeepers still tend to Xunan kab colonies. The bees emerge from narrow openings in their hollow log homes each morning to forage for pollen and nectar among the lush forest flowers and, increasingly, the cultivated crops beyond the forests’ shrinking borders. And that is where the sacred bee of the Maya gets into trouble.
In 2012, the Mexican government granted permission to Monsanto to plant genetically modified soybeans in Campeche and other states on the peninsula without first consulting local communities. The soybeans are engineered to withstand high doses of the controversial weedkiller Roundup; multiple studies have shown exposure to its main ingredient, glyphosate, negatively impacts bees, including by impairing behavior and changing the composition of the animals’ gut microbiome. Though soy is self-pollinating and doesn’t rely on insects, bees do visit the plants while foraging, collecting nectar and pollen as they go. Soon, Maya beekeepers found their bees disoriented and dying in high numbers. And Leydy Pech found her voice.
A traditional Maya beekeeper from the small Campeche city of Hopelchén, Pech had long advocated for sustainable agriculture and the integration of Indigenous knowledge into modern practice. But the new threat to her Xunan kab stirred her to action as never before. She led an assault on the Monsanto program on multiple fronts: legal, academic, and public outrage, including staging protests at ancient Maya sites. The crux of the legal argument by Pech and her allies was that the government had violated its own law by failing to consult with Indigenous communities before granting the permit to Monsanto. In 2015, Mexico’s Supreme Court unanimously agreed. Two years later, the government revoked the permit to plant the crops.
As Pech saw it, the fight was not simply about protecting the sacred bee. The campaign was to protect entire ecosystems, the communities that rely on them, and a way of life increasingly threatened by the rise of industrial agriculture, climate change, and deforestation.
“Bees depend on the plants in the forest to produce honey,” she told the public radio program Living on Earth in 2021. “So, less forest means less honey, which means less money for families who keep bees. The killing of our bees has led to more poverty in our communities.”
The legal argument Pech and her allies used to take on Monsanto has already become a playbook for other Indigenous communities facing similar challenges. In 2020, Pech received the Goldman Environmental Prize—sometimes called the “Green Nobel”—for her fierce protection of the bees and the health of her community and its land. She now uses her voice to advocate for environmental causes throughout the Americas, and stresses that the fight is not over, even in the dense forests where her bees forage: Despite her group’s legal victories, she says the so-called “Roundup-ready” soy continues to be planted illegally in the region.
Pech, who described her calling as a beekeeper as “ancestral,” told Living on Earth: “Struggles like these are long and generational. And it's our responsibility to involve our children and our grandchildren in our fight for justice. Because in the end, having land to call your own is having a sense of belonging.”
Make your way down the Texas ICW from Kemah to Corpus Christi
The Texas coastline journeys in a gentle new moon arc from the Cajun flavor of Port Arthur on Sabine Pass to the tropical feel of Port Isabel on the Rio Grande. It’s a working coastline where shrimpers, oil riggers, and barge captains compete for territory on the water, while seaside communities and entire ecosystems struggle for survival against devastating hurricanes and a rapidly changing climate.
Pleasure boats share the Texas Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) with heavy commercial traffic. Vessels traveling the waterway handle 90 million tons of freight annually, and Texas ports are key shipping hubs for North America. Many of the numerous overhead cables crossing the ICW carry high voltage; take extra caution in threatening weather. In the 2020 count, 15 passes link the Gulf to the ICW and sheltered water, but many are extremely shallow and benefit from local knowledge. Don’t hesitate to ask. Coastal residents are naturally friendly and helpful to visitors.
Wind in My Face
For years a drab, sprawling oil town, Houston has evolved into the “Capital of Southern Cool” with a city center well worth a long weekend visit. The 35 miles of Bay Area Houston coastline is lined with varied attractions including the San Jacinto Museum of History, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, the Butler Longhorn Museum, and the Armand Bayou Nature Center, one of the country’s largest urban wilderness preserves.
The region’s sailing hub and home to one of the largest sailing fleets in the U.S. are the waters around Kemah, from the Karankawa Indian word meaning “wind in my face,” and neighboring Clear Lake which has the most populated boating waters in Texas. Beware, the interior can be shallow for a larger vessel.
Kemah Boardwalk is a 60-acre entertainment complex alive with waterfront restaurants, amusement rides, summer concerts, and Salsa Sunday dance lessons. Aside from daily events, every holiday has a festival. The most popular is Yachty Gras when boats festooned with lights and regalia parade through the Kemah-Seabrook channel.
The western shoreline from Clear Lake to Galveston Bay is lined with marinas providing ample transient dockage. Seabrook Marina & Shipyard has more than 650 slips, including multihull and catamaran vessels, to 125 feet. Its repair facility can handle boats to 80 feet. Kemah Boardwalk Marina, located bay side of the south-end base of the Kemah-Seabrook Bridge, has 414 deepwater, floating dock slips with wide finger piers.
Out on the Barrier Islands
“The Republic of Galveston,” as locals call it, a somewhat worse for wear but still beguiling Southern city, reflects the influence of its earlier inhabitants: Native American, Spanish, French, pirates and outlaws, plunderers and profiteers.
The local trolley passes elegant Victorian-style buildings housing a fascinating selection of art galleries, restaurants, and museums on its journey to the Strand Historic District, home to The Grand 1894 Opera House, Pier 21 entertainment area, and the 1877 Tall Ship Elissa. The Grand 1894 Opera House, survivor of multiple hurricanes and two pandemics, is a historic venue beloved by its performers.
Local favorite Sunflower Bakery & Cafe serves brunch daily until 5PM (closed on Tuesdays). Head to Little Daddy’s Gumbo Bar for soul-warming comfort food, burgers, and po’ boys. For a Texas-inspired, button-popping experience, order the Ultimate Naughty Nacho (waffle chips, four scoops, four toppings, whipped cream, cherries, and nuts) at Hey Mikey’s Ice Cream.
More than half the coastline between Galveston and Corpus Christi is protected by low-lying barrier islands which create large bays and lagoons for safe sailing. South Texas is never short on wind; it blows more than 300 days a year from the southeast off the Gulf. If it’s coming from any other direction, experienced sailors advise staying inside.
The Wild Side
The ICW passes three national wildlife preserves and several small communities, each with a distinct personality. No frills here; just balmy breezes, boat-to-fork seafood, and repeated opportunities to experience nature or to hit the beach, the local shops, or the fishing grounds.
Matagorda Bay is scattered with fishing towns like Port O’Connor, a virtually undiscovered angler’s heaven. In Palacios, the “Shrimp Capital of Texas,” recreational boaters share the harbor with Texas’ largest fishing fleet along with nearly 200 shrimp trawlers, one of the biggest concentrations in the country.
For a peaceful weekday getaway where seagulls are the major source of conversation, try 26-mile Matagorda Beach near the mouth of the Colorado River. The beach has minimal services but is home to a more than 1,330-acre nature park. Matagorda Harbor, at MM 440, has slips for boats to 100 feet, fuel, bait, and a restaurant.
Along the more than 40-nautical mile stretch from Port O’Connor to Rockport, cruisers are often joined by pelicans and dolphins. In Aransas Bay, the waterway passes Aransas National Wildlife Refuge which provides nesting grounds for Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles and foraging habitat for piping plovers. North America’s tallest birds, five-foot whooping cranes, winter over here. Unbothered by cruising boats, many of these gentle giants can be seen from the ICW.
Explore Aransas Bay
Rockport straddles a peninsula between Copano Bay and Aransas Bay and is sheltered from the Gulf by San Jose Island. The area’s unique charm has spawned one of the best small art towns in America, and Rockport Center for the Arts hosts an annual Art Festival on Aransas Bay.
Rebuilding is nearly complete after the devastation of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. In
the historic town center close to the famously clean beach, Winery on the Bay turns hurricanes into spirits with its 2017 Hurricane Harvey Rosé. Next door, the Dog’gone Brewery offers a variety of canine-themed microbrews. For a taste of the East Coast in the South, stop by 495 Chesapeake Eats for wood-fired steak and seafood, plus house signature dishes like Maryland fried chicken, blue crab dip, and soups.
Cove Harbor Yacht Club & Boathouse Resort is a full-service marina with more than 180 slips, gas, and diesel. It’s a short walk to waterside Paradise Key Seafood Bar & Grill.
Aransas Pass is a small paradise where the fish are always biting. Across Aransas Bay on the far northern end of Mustang Island is the town of Port Aransas, one of the Gulf’s most popular tourist destinations. Fresh culinary treats and unique coastal treasures fill Port A’s restaurants, boutiques, and art galleries.
The piers, jetties, and sandbars along Mustang Island’s beaches create perfect breaking waves for amateur surfers. Horace Caldwell Pier is a popular surfing spot, but if you prefer riding a horse instead of a board, galloping along the shore is one the best ways to experience the Texas beaches.
Formal competitions like Texas SandFest and the annual Harvest Moon Regatta draw international competitors and spectators. The 150-nautical mile course from Galveston to Port Aransas is North America’s largest port-to-port event. Held in October during the Gulf’s best sailing weather, the sail takes 20 to 25 hours in a fair breeze.
Destination Corpus Christi
The coastline becomes southbound at Corpus Christi. Although a sizable city, Corpus Christi has retained the flavor of a smaller town. Dependable winds make it a great location to host a number of international sailing championships. Every Wednesday evening, locals compete in races starting at the Lawrence Street T-Head.
Corpus Christi Marina’s 560 wet slips and fuel dock are centrally located to multiple attractions. Must-see stops include the Texas State Aquarium, South Texas Music Walk of Fame, Texas Surf Museum, and the Mirador de la Flor monument which honors the tragically short life of Selena, the famous “Queen of Tejano Music.” Rockit’s Whiskey Bar & Saloon, Cassidy’s Irish Pub, and the Czech-Mex Bakery & Cafe are all within a few blocks.
Gulfside, Padre Island National Seashore—the world’s longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island—separates the Gulf from the Laguna Madre, one of a few hypersaline lagoons on earth. The park encompasses about 70 miles of coastline, dunes, prairies, and wind tidal flats teeming with life. It is a nesting ground for Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles and more than 380 bird species. The park is not accessible to pleasure craft, but park tours are arranged in Corpus Christi.
To the End
It’s 134 nautical miles south to the end of ICW. About halfway, the Mansfield Cut provides deepwater access between the Gulf and the ICW at Port Mansfield, a small fishing hub with slips, fuel, and restaurants. Sweet Gregory P’s Smokehouse Grill serves breakfast before dawn, barbecue until it runs out, and homemade pies or cobbler to indulge a sweet tooth.
Although the ICW officially ends at the Port of Brownsville, the entrance is primarily for commercial traffic. The last stops for cruisers are Port Isabel and South Padre Island whose only similarity is geographic. Dock at Sea Ranch Marina 1 on Padre or sister facility Sea Ranch Marina 2 at Port Isabel.
Historic Port Isabel is a fisherman’s launch pad to the Laguna Madre and some of the best flats fishing on the coast. The only fishable population of snook in the United States outside of Florida resides in the Lower Laguna, as do mangrove snapper, gag grouper, and Spanish mackerel. Anglers frequent Brazos Santiago Pass and the Gulf for tarpon, kingfish, bonito, tuna, red snapper, wahoo, and a variety of billfish.
South Padre is a resort community with numerous high-rise hotels, nightclubs, and souvenir shops, and in March, thousands of spring-breakers. Most of the restaurants, local shops, and attractions are found along Padre Boulevard. Clayton’s, Texas’ biggest beach bar, holds up to 5,000 people and serves drinks like Turbo daiquiris. One and done!
The Texas coastline isn’t laden with lavish waterside resorts with sugar-sand beaches and the foo-foo fashions found in other coastal states. But it does have warm, welcoming residents fiercely proud of their heritage, unhurried beach towns, fabulous fishing, unspoiled wildlife preserves, delicious seafood and, occasionally, a character or two as colorful as its sunsets.
The Caribbean is known for its sun, sand, sea, and…rum. Here are a trio of signature tropical cocktails, their key ingredients in case you want to whip them up at home, and where you can find the best when on the islands.
Pina Colada: Puerto Rico, specifically the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, is the birthplace of this frosty combination of coconut milk, pineapple juice, and rum. Order one from the hotel’s Caribar, and sip it on the terrace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Bushwacker: Created in a long-gone pub in the 1970s on Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas, USVI, it’s Paradise Point above Charlotte Amalie that now claims to serve the best. This concoction is made of equal parts of vodka, Bailey’s Irish cream, Cruzan Coconut Rum, Cruzan Dark Rum, Amaretto, and Kahlúa over ice, with a squirt of chocolate syrup and a cherry on top.
Painkiller: There’s long been a rivalry between a British Virgin Islands-based bar owner and rum-maker over who came up with the perfect combination of orange juice, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, and rum. The answer is Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke with Pusser’s rum as the spirited ingredient.
Boat trailers are built to take abuse, not only from the boat and open road, but from constant submersion. While freshwater can be benign, saltwater is brutally corrosive—a small amount of residual saltwater can damage internal parts when the trailer sits idle during the off-season.
Boat trailers are not all created equal, so how do you know which is best for your use? Some manufacturers construct trailers out of aluminum I-beam, others out of tube or C Channel steel. To add further confusion, steel trailers can be painted or galvanized. So where do you start in determining the boat trailer that is right for you?
There are a few key factors to consider when deciding which style boat trailer best fits your boating lifestyle.
Do you use the trailer in freshwater, saltwater, or both?
What size is your boat, and how much does it weigh?
What do you expect out of your trailer: strength, durability, longevity?
Galvanized
Galvanized boat trailers come in two forms: tube steel or C Channel steel. Most galvanized boat trailers are constructed out of pre-galvanized tube steel sections that are typically bolted together.
“The most structurally sound way to build a galvanized trailer is to weld the trailer out of C Channel steel, prep the frame, then have it dipped in a hot dip galvanizing tank,” explains Megan Meisler, co-owner of Loadmaster Trailer Company in Port Clinton, Ohio. Loadmaster offers custom galvanized trailers. “Building a trailer this way, like we do, makes sure the welds and all components are dipped. Galvanizing prevents the steels from saltwater corrosion.”
Aluminum
For people with smaller boats that submerge their trailers in saltwater, an aluminum bolt-together-style trailer is sufficient. The core product of these trailers is made of aluminum I-beam; however, the cross-members and axles are often made of a galvanized material. One thing to be aware of is that electrolysis can occur where these two unlike metals interact and cause corrosion. If you purchase an aluminum trailer, keep an eye on the intersection points where galvanized steel meets aluminum.
“An aluminum trailer will most likely serve a longer duty cycle as it isn’t prone to rusting,” says Jon Smiley, business development director for Bradenton, Florida-based MYCO Trailers. “An aluminum trailer is also lighter than a galvanized steel trailer, thus, reducing the load on your tow vehicle. However, MYCO traditionally recommends its galvanized steel trailers for commercial and industrial use.”
Properly Choose Trailer Size and Capacity
Confusion is possible as to the difference between the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of a trailer and the actual Net Payload (or Carrying Capacity). Every trailer has a GVWR. This is based on the capacity of the axles, tires, frame, and components. Often, people forget that the trailer has to carry its own physical weight.
In order to properly determine the actual total boat weight a trailer can support, you need to subtract the trailer’s weight from the GVWR. GVWR – (trailer’s physical weight) = Net Carry Capacity. The Net Carry Capacity is how much weight the trailer can support on top of it. For example, if the GVWR of a trailer is 12,000 pounds and the trailer physically weighs 2,000 pounds, the Net Carry Capacity of the trailer is 10,000 pounds.
“Hence, a trailer for a twenty-foot center console will have a GVWR far less than that of a larger thirty-foot boat,” says Meisler. “A boat’s loaded weight and length are taken into account in determining what model of a trailer is required to safely haul the boat.”
Using a 35-foot center console with two outboards, you would need to get the boat’s dry weight (hull only) and to that number add in the weight of the two outboards, fuel, water, holding weight, batteries, then a safe number for gear and electronics. So, a dry weight of 8,000 pounds plus 1,400 pounds for motors, another 1,800 pounds for 300 gallons of fuel, plus water, batteries, and gear could mean the boat’s loaded total weight is 13,000 pounds.
“It’s critical to ensure you figure out the actual weight the boat would be to ensure you do not overload the net carry capacity of the trailer,” says Meisler. “At first glance, you would think a fifteen thousand-pound GVWR trailer would be more than enough, but by the time you subtract the weight of the trailer, you would likely need to go heavier.”
In this situation, Meisler says she would quote a tri-axle trailer with three, 6,000-pound axles and 16-inch E radial tires and wheels to provide a GVWR over 18,000 pounds.
Pursuit’s Sport Series center consoles have all the amenities for a day on the water.
Center consoles are known for their maneuverability and fishing prowess, but they’ve become much more in recent years. The Pursuit Sport Series is a perfect example of how center consoles have evolved into comfortable, versatile platforms for any adventure.
Newest in Pursuit’s popular Sport Series is the S 358, its first 35-foot center console, that nicely balances the series with the S 428, Pursuit’s largest and flagship model on one end, and the modest, yet robust S 268 on the other. The range shares a lot of similarities, but each has its own personality.
Born to Fish
The S 358, like her bigger sisters, the S 428 and the S 378, boasts a wide-open cockpit with plenty of room to bait and catch and haul in some big fish. Anglers will find 12 rod holders standard around the gunwale fore and aft, and with the optional hardtop rocket launcher and Taco Grand Slam 390 extending outriggers, the fish will feel they’re at a smorgasbord. A 32-gallon recirculating lighted livewell with Oceana blue finish and a clear lid contains lots of bait, and the in-floor insulated fish boxes with diaphragm pump-outs port and starboard hold your catch. Tackle drawers are nearby in the portside helm seat base.
A big fishing advantage of a center console is that anglers can move around the entire boat to keep working the catch. Wide walkways on either side of the helm have coaming and rails along the gunwale for safety, and built-in coaming boxes forward keep fenders and dock lines secure while under the gunwales aft, holders keep rods and long gaffs safely stowed.
The same features carry on in the S 378 and S 428, but with the additional length of the 42, there are three fish boxes, two in the floor and a 68-gallon insulated transom box with a 36-gallon recirculating livewell on each side. On all three models, the patented foldaway transom seat opens the cockpit for unobstructed fishing off the stern. Fresh and raw water washdowns are located hull side at the transom to starboard with a hot/cold shower to port next to the transom door. Speaking of which, the door opens to access the engines from a wraparound platform and includes a flush-mount pullout ladder for swimmers.
Time to Entertain
With the catch boxed up and the washdown complete as well as one or two fillets ready to grill, the cockpit easily transforms into an entertainment area with a few simple moves. Chances are the mezzanine aft-facing seating and the transom seat were folded away to clear the cockpit for fishing, but when folded out, six can sit comfortably around a removable pedestal table. The entertainment center supports the mezzanine seating aft of the helm seats and includes a grill, insulated storage box, sink, and cutting board. Pursuit is all about function and versatility, and it shows in the S 358’s mezzanine seating. The starboard side folds up to keep working the grill while the portside seating can remain down for guests. The refrigerator is conveniently located underneath the grill with the door opening out in the starboard walkway.
A really cool feature on the S 378 and S 428 is that the mezzanine seating is motorized and slides into the cockpit space with the push of a button. On the 378, the entertainment center moves with the seating and on the 428, the seating moves away from the entertainment center, both creating a separate, walk-through galley area behind the helm. Another special feature on the 428 that creates even more entertainment space is when the starboard cockpit hull side opens outward to form a beach deck. Yep, with the push of a button.
Comfortable seating and hanging out with family and friends aren’t confined to the cockpit. There’s a huge bow on the other end with wraparound and lounge seating to stretch out and relax. Electrically activated backrests on the port and starboard sides of the wraparound seating create a forward-facing lounge while the centerline console seating reclines and has armrests. Dine alfresco or play games on the custom fiberglass table that electrically raises and lowers…yep, with the push of a button. A filler cushion atop the table makes for a large sunpad, and an optional Mediterranean-style sunshade helps keep the sun at bay if necessary. The bow has its own audio controls and plenty of drink holders as well as storage under the seats.
The Centerpiece
The fishing, the entertaining, and the adventures are all guided from the center console. Helm controls are ergonomically designed within reach for fluid operation. The dash accommodates dual 16-inch displays, but the optional, factory-installed Garmin electronics package interfaces with the twin Yamaha Digital 425 XTO engine package, including integrated digital electric steering, Helm Master EX, and joystick controls for seamless connection. Similarly, the packages are also available with the triple engines on the 378 and the quadruple setup on the 428 with room for 22-inch displays on its dash. The three models have some great options, too, including SiriusXM satellite and weather, Garmin radar, and FLIR night vision cameras. Compass, trim tab control, and bow thruster joystick controls are standard.
The seating is just as comfortable at the helm as it is at the bow and in the cockpit due to the adjustable triple helm seats that each have individual armrests, bolsters, footrests, and air conditioning vents. The molded fiberglass, full-beam hardtop connects with a custom windshield system with tempered glass, an electrically actuated center vent, and windshield wiper with freshwater washer. It not only protects from weather but provides a solid base for electronics and outriggers on top. The sliding hatch supplies ventilation as well as access to the gear above. When the sun gets a little intense on the aft deck, an optional retractable sunshade mounted in the hardtop provides plenty of cover with, you guessed it, a push of a button.
Adding to the comfort level, an optional Seakeeper 2 gyrostabilizer will keep the rock and roll steady. On the 378, a Seakeeper 3 is an option, and on the 428, a Seakeeper 6 stabilizer is standard.
The Finishing Touch
One of the most beneficial features of the Pursuit S 358, and probably the most appreciated, is the well-appointed cabin with a private head. Not too many 35-foot center consoles can boast this feature with macerator head, opening portlight with screen, and Corian countertop with sink and pullout faucet/shower wand for hot or cold water use. There’s ample headroom, and the port and starboard hull windows provide plenty of light, including in the head. The forward seating area converts into a berth, and a 28-inch LED TV along with the optional microwave are quite convenient. This area is also where the main distribution panel is located, accessible yet out of the way.
Innovations abound in Pursuit’s Sport family, and the new S 358 is the balance point of the series. Intuition, imagination, flexibility, craftsmanship, and listening to ideas has made the Sport Series a favorite for all those looking for a boat that adapts to any adventure on the water.
About a quarter century ago I shared a quail field near Albany, Georgia, with an aging quail plantation owner who, like me, also enjoyed hunting big game across the American West and beyond. As we walked toward a brace of his pointers that froze simultaneously at the scent of yet another covey of bobwhite quail,…
A Brays Island Winter Classic: Grilled BBQ Swordfish with Pimento Cheese Grits Heat up your winter season with a dish that is sure to start a conversation at the dinner table. There is nothing quite like a swordfish freshly caught from Atlantic waters, and enjoying it with friends and family. Rich flavors combined with local…
Chicken Fried Rabbit The eating of rabbits and hares has a venerable history in Europe. Greeks, Germans, Spaniards and Britons love rabbits and hares, as do Italians in certain regions. they also happen to be the building blocks of any true hunter’s repertoire. At the table, these critters are often maligned as “poor people’s food.”…
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Aston Martin celebrates the final run of its V12-powered flagship with the all-new V12 Vantage.
Rare PVD-coated Royal Oak believed to be owned by the Chanel creative director will be auctioned.
A Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 once owned by Steve McQueen has come up for auction.
