Flotsam & Jetsam: She’s fast, she’s beautiful and she’s for sale

Built in 2003, Ranger was the first modern J-Class sailing yacht.

She won the 2010 St. Barths Bucket Regatta, the 2011 J Class Association Regatta and took first place in the 2015 IRC A Division at Les Voiles de St. Tropez Regatta.

Like the original Ranger, the 1937 America’s Cup defender, she is built of steel, but unlike her predecessor, takes advantage of modern materials, including composite EC6 rigging and a carbon boom.

With her classic looks — large overhangs, a flush deck with doghouse, and a traditional interior with mahogany and raised paneling — she is sure to turn heads in every harbor. She sleeps 10 in four staterooms and is for sale at a reduced prize of $5.9 million. northropandjohnson.com

38 days
6 hours
49 minutes

The time it took
37-year-old Ohio school teacher Bryce Carlson
to row solo across the North Atlantic. He broke the old
record by more than 17 days.

Removing plastic from the ocean

Clothing manufacturers regularly come under fire as a source of ocean pollution, but Adidas is on a bit of a winning streak when it comes to recycling ocean plastics.

In 2016, Adidas partnered with Parley for the Oceans, and sold more than one million pairs of shoes that were made from recycled ocean plastic. They have now used recycled plastic again to create new jerseys for the Real Madrid football club.

The unique hot pink color of the 2018 recycled ocean plastic kit represents the various shades of coral in the ocean, a call to action by the two partners to protect those ecosystems.

The new kit was first worn on August 7, as Real Madrid beat AS Roma. No telling if the environmentally-friendly jerseys gave the Spaniards the edge. adidas.com

Modern Riverboats

Mark Twain wouldn’t recognize these riverboats.

In early October, American Cruise Lines will send its first Modern Riverboat, American Song, on its inaugural cruise from New Orleans up the Mississippi River. The ship’s 900-square-foot grand suites will offer panoramic views through floor-to-ceiling glass panels, separate living and sleeping areas, marble baths with double vanities and wrap-around balconies for outdoor dining.

Later this fall, the company will send a second modern riverboat, American Harmony to the Mississippi. In all, five ships are to be built in the Modern Riverboat series.

Currently, American Cruise Lines operates two Victorian-style paddlewheelers, Queen of the Mississippi and America on the

Mississippi River and various other vessels in New England, Alaska, the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast. americancruiselines.com

Saving the house that lit the gut

Plum Gut on the North Fork of Long Island may be one of the most treacherous passages in the Northeast, which is why the government put a lighthouse on either side of “The Gut.”

Now, one of those beacons, the Plum Island Lighthouse (also known as Plum Gut Lighthouse), which assisted mariners through these turbulent waters from 1869 until 1978, needs help of its own.

The deactivated, granite lighthouse with its cast-iron tower is listed on New York State’s Register of Historic Places, but the building is rapidly deteriorating. Local activists are trying to save it, but the lighthouse is now in the hands of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which says it doesn’t have the funds to maintain it.

According to the Southold Town Historic Preservation Commission, the cost to stabilize the lighthouse is about $100,000 and they are trying to identify funding sources to seal the exterior to prevent further decay.

This article originally appeared in the October 2018 issue.