I’m pleased to pass along METS notes from Andy Murray, Service Manager at Globe Marine, and Kees Verruijt, a software developer/entrepreneur and marine electronics enthusiast. A big thanks to both for some interesting impressions and news nuggets. Of course all biases expressed, or mistakes made, are their own! First up, Andy:

This expedition yacht comes courtesy of Terranova, a relative newcomer to the megayacht world--and to marine construction overall, having only been established eight years ago, in Italy, and built two previous yachts.

Keith Ammons, better as The Boating Guy for his work on the National Marine Manufacturers Associationon's Discover Boating website, is now a blogger on Mad Mariner. His blog, called – you guessed it – The Boating Guy, will be updated weekly.

Poor Mary B got hammered last weekend coming back from Ballena Isle Marina, normally a pleasant beam reach. The weather on Sunday wasn’t nearly as mild as it had been when she left Oyster Cove the day before. The wind kicked up from the northwest, making her sail home a slog to weather. As we all know, a gentlewoman never, ever, sails to weather. The unexpected rough water brought things crashing down inside the cabin. Shelves emptied themselves onto the cabin sole, lockers deposited their contents and Harry the cat hung on for dear life.

Thanks to my friends at Shine Micro, I was able to visit the exhibition booths at the big eNavigation conference today.