1.25 Million Views for 2024
These Are the Top 10 Reader Favorites
The year 2024 was a pretty exciting time to be running this shop. Loose Cannon amassed 1.25 million views over the past 12 months. As befits the holiday, we’ve compiled a list of the top stories of the year based on viewing statistics.
Here they are, counting down from No. 10:
No. 10
Earl Barcome and his dog Gunn are momentarily famous, having been featured in a helmet-cam video gone viral after they were rescued in heavy seas while Hurricane Helene was barreling toward Florida’s Big Bend region. Barcome radioed the Coast Guard after his 36-foot sloop Selkie1 had become disabled about 25 miles off the Southwest Coast of Florida.
No. 9
Hurricane Dorian swept over Abaco on September 1, 2019, breaking Anna Marie’s anchor rode and carrying away the 89-foot motoryacht on its 20-foot surge. By September 3 the sea had receded, having deposited the barely damaged vessel onto a remote, hardscrabble shore, 300 feet from the water.
Australian owners Geoff Bradley and Jenny Kelly (a descendant of the notorious outlaw Ned Kelly) took stock, and within six months they had begun executing a plan to relaunch Anna Marie all by themselves and without heavy equipment.
No. 8
An ancient 90-foot schooner transporting coffee and cacao from Colombia to Europe sank in the Bahamas early yesterday with eight persons aboard. U.S. Coast Guard helicopters from nearby Great Inagua rescued six of them from a pair of liferafts.
No. 7
By MARK CLAYTON
As you read this, I will ask you to keep in mind that we are always very polite and accommodating to officials. We understand they have a job to do, and we are respectful of their job. During our almost 10 years of full-time cruising and in our previous part-time sailing life, we have been boarded by authorities multiple times. Each time we enter a country, we expect customs to look around our boat. This is normal in our lifestyle. However, no searches have ever been like this.
No. 6
Last month, Loose Cannon reported about how a 15-month-old Florida girl came within an inch of losing her life after a recreational vessel with unusual handling characteristics flipped upside down on the St. Johns River.
The September 22 story caught the attention of a Norfolk personal injury lawyer named Emily Brannon, who called because she is planning to file a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the Seadoo Switch on behalf of a Virginia family. Their daughter had recently died under near exactly the same circumstances as the St. Johns River case.
No. 5
The yacht had ignited at a marina on Longboat Key in Florida, but it was her owner in Ontario, Canada, who actually noticed the fire first. By dawn on Tuesday, August 6, the Aquila 70 Luxury—flagship of the MarineMax powercat fleet—lay wrecked with her starboard hull underwater.
The name of the vessel is Steady AF,1 and she cost about $5 million. Now, she is the subject of an insurance investigation after Longboat Key firefighters surmised her lithium-ion battery bank may have been the cause of the fire, although no official determination has been made.
No. 4
Saturday morning, August 10: The Jeanneau Prestige 45 was thundering along at 25 mph on the western end of Lake Erie. She was transiting a 22-mile swath of the lake that borders southern Michigan when she was brought to an abrupt halt. The operator was surprised by what felt like a car wreck.
Jeanneau Joe had run over a drone. The wreckage was tangled up in one of his forward-facing Volvo pod drives.
No. 3
Swedish sailor Magnus Reslow, who survived multiple beatings by pirates in December, was found dead on a Colombian beach earlier this week near his wrecked boat. Local fishermen found the body, and Reslow’s brother Martin confirmed its identity.
No. 2
Objectively, Grenada is a safe island despite the recent hijacking of a U.S.-flagged catamaran and the likely murder of her owners. Cruisers like the place, and nothing in the overall crime data suggests they shouldn’t. There’s more to it, however.
This story is a random collection of observations in the wake of the almost-certain deaths of Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, whose first Caribbean cruise ended horribly at Grenada.
No. 1
Amidst this litany of mayhem, we unapologetically wish each of you a very
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Help spread the word about Loose Cannon. Let’s keep this thing rolling!
Well done, bud! You consistently demonstrate the value of independent reporting and writing in the boating and yachting sector by delivering interesting stories that mainstream "partners-in-marketing" guys won't touch because they're concerned about offending potential advertisers. Of course, to be honest, I also kinda liked it back when you were my Editor and paying me for my freelance stories in Passagemaker. But I guess you can't have everything. Cheers!
Peter,
You are our on the front lines reporter/observer/investigator for all things ocean on all the oceans. Some see open water or a landless horizon as threatening especially in a stormy sea state. But nautical veterans are often happy to leave landlubbers behind to sort out the plethora of conflicts and disorders thereon. But the sea 🌊 is not always friendly or sometimes even the people on the sea can be threatening especially recently. It's always good to have a seasoned observer issuing periodic reports. The sea and or high winds can be very unforgiving as the unforgiven will tell anyone as everyone needs to or should know. I always wondered why the masts and sails of motor sailors look so low down compared to hybrid racing yachts. And it seems it is a higher standard of safety that takes into account all possibilities and doesn't write off fractional risk for a better appearance or style sales perspective. Too much heavy weight aloft is a danger signal to anyone familiar with high winds. Vents below the topsides, especially low mid-length that go even lower when the boat heels are a danger signal. The whole super size mindset of super yachts, super tankers, super cruise ships sometimes seems so ignorant and dismissive of that basic rule that the sea can be unforgiving. Happy New Year and looking forward to reading some awesome true life event sea stories in 2025!