MasterCraft is known for its recreational boats -- the company leads the market in inboard skiing, wakeboarding, and sport craft. With the 30-foot, 4-inch MasterCraft 300 twin inboard (the platform adds another 3.5 feet) the company moves into the big boat business, and with its first offering wants to reset a boat buyer's expectations about how a day-tripper should make its owner feel.

The cockpit features big-boat electric equipment standard, but you can opt up for items like the Raymarine E80 and get a systems monitor with maps, radar and a 3-D terrain view of the ocean floor. And you'll be able to see it, and to stay cool behind the wheel, under the boat's tinted glass hardtop that is lined with a misting system. However, the folks lounging on the transom's adjustable seating will probably be having more fun than the pilot, with custom wetbars on either side and space for an electric grill or, even better, a waterproof flat screen TV.

The 300 is the first boat in the segment with a twin-tipped monohull, which opens up space in the interior cabin. Head below decks with your head up and your chest out, and you'll find customized hardwood cabinets and hardwood floors, ultra-leather fabrics, a galley with all the mod-cons, and a stand-up shower with a full-sized door. When it's time to get off your sea legs, the room in that twin hull provides you a bed big enough stretch out in, meaning that unless you're a Grizzlies center you don't have to sleep in the shape of a 'V.'

And once you're in bed, if you realize you forgot to turn off that "Songs of the Humpback" CD, don't bother getting up. Just grab the Contour Zone remote (or C-Zone to you, Commodore), which puts you in pushbutton control of all the boat's electrical systems. That way you can let the real humpbacks sing you to sleep.



[Source: MasterCraft]

Ever since that youthful Christmas when we drove our remote-controlled car into the pool, we've been focused on keeping battery-powered objects away from water. Today, though, Sweden's Nimbus Boats gave us hope that one day big, battery-powered craft can live in harmony with "H" and its two "O" friends.

The 27-foot Nimbus E-power is the first commercially available electric boat. A full recharge only takes four hours, a span of time could provide the perfect interlude for a siesta and a frolic in the lagoon at that little atoll just over the horizon. Or at least, it would when they equip the lagoon with a 400V electrical supply. If you're using the standard euro-version 220V outlet, you'll need 28 hours to see the gauge back at "Full."

Lacking that crucial step, you'll need to within the E-power's range of 20 nautical miles (37 kilometers), and probably go easy on the craft's top speed of 27 knots if you want a full day of fun (cruising speed is 22 knots). A tank of juice costs €5, so your wallet will love you, and the boat creates no emissions so the fish will love you -- at least the ones you aren't busy catching now that you spend so much more time on the water...

We've seen some unique marketing stunts from Evian before but nothing like this. The French water brand has partnered with designer brands before but this time their partners are a bunch of special effects babies. The new advertising campaign, called "Live Young" features CGI-enhanced breakdancing and roller-skating babies. The Wall Street Journal reports that the video has already had 2.8 million views on YouTube in the U.S., and another 2.3 million internationally. The computer animation features babies cavorting around doing daredevil antics and skating around bottles of Evian to a remixed version song "Rapper's Delight."

The Wall Street Journal article questions whether or not the dancing babies are cute or creepy. They don't work for me in terms of promoting Evian but many people seem to find them adorable. Check out the video and vote below:

KOR ONE believes that being healthy and living a sustainable lifestyle is something that should be celebrated and displayed, not hidden or kept quiet in an aluminum water bottle. KOR ONE water vessels have a transparent design specially created to showcase the liquid inside, as well as a screwless lid design that is not only more convenient to use (no time-consuming twisting involved) but also more comfortable thanks to no threads and an ergonomic opening that's just the right size.

Plus, each bottle is color coordinated to support a specific earth-friendly cause. Sales of the Blue bottle supports Algalita Marine Research, the Green supports The Wetlands Initiative, Orange the Container Recycling Institute, and Pink sales go to Blue Planet Run. $29.95

The Evian Jean-Paul Gaultier bottles were nice but the new ones designed with Baccarat are in a league of their own. The Evian x Jean-Paul Gaultier x Baccarat take on the concept of purity, Evian's main selling feature, in five different incarnations, the bubbles bottle, drops bottle, tray bottle and spring bottle. France's colette will present them from March 16th to 21st and at Maison Baccarat March 24th to 30th before they are auctioned on April 7th at Artcurial, to raise money for the RAMSAR convention.

[via High Snobriety]

Luxury boat builder Tiara Yachts in Holland, Michigan becomes the latest yacht builder to lay off workers. The company, which makes sport fishing boats, eliminated 300 jobs last year. Now it is planning to lay off 300 of its 400 employees for at least a month. The month off will hopefully allow sales to catch up with production. The company had expanded rapidly over the past few years. In 2005, it invested $14 million in a massive facility expansion and at one point employed close to 800 workers. Tiara Yachts hopes to be able to call back the laid off workers once demand for their powerboats improves.

Bottled water sales have slowed their rapid growth rate recently but believe it or not, even in this economy there were six brave (or perhaps foolish) souls willing to flout logic and spend £1,000 for a bottle of the Swarovski-crystal covered limited edition Love H20 bottles at Selfridges. Each bottle is bedecked with more than 6,500 Swarovski crystals and takes over a week to create. The company gets the water from Wenlock Spring Water in Shropshire. The six bottles have already been reserved and will be delivered after Christmas. In the meantime, the bottles are being used as display items in each of the six Selfridges stores across the UK. There is also a Love Limited Edition vodka which at least allows you to dull the pain of the knowledge that you spent so much on a sparkly bottle.

This home on 1.94 acres right on Long Island Sound offers more than a room with a view -- how about a whole house with a view? Located in Riverside, Conn. (part of tony Greenwich, where Kathie Lee Gifford and hubby Frank live) and built in 1956, this estate is offered for $12,900,000.

Sited in the gated Harbor Point Association, a peninsula of more than 500 feet of shoreline, this Contemporary Colonial offers the next owner the chance to build under current zoning for a new 11,000-plus square foot custom waterfront estate or live in the existing home, which is light-filled and recently updated with a cook's kitchen, built-in bookshelves, five tiled baths, new systems and new landscaping by a professional designer. There are two family rooms and two master suites among six bedrooms on both first and second floors. Three fireplaces and an artist's studio complete the picture.

Walk or jog to Elias Point, a sandy beach. A spectacularly landscaped enclave, historic Harbor Point is situated on the sweeping grounds of the former 49-acre Frederick T. Bonham estate, "Walhall," a legendary LI Sound private property with some of Southern Connecticut's best water views. The association's other amenities include a boat dock, boat mooring, picnicking and fishing privileges.

The Drink 1 Give 10 campaign is simple: for every liter of Volvic bottled water you drink 10 liters of clean drinking water will be provided to children in Africa. The campaign is a result of a collaboration between Volvic and UNICEF, and the money donated to UNICEF through Volvic will be used to build wells, educate the people, and help maintain clean water supplies -- because every child has the right to clean water.

If you don't have Volvic water available in your area you can also donate money to the cause directly.

We've covered bottled water for dogs before and apparently the trend is really taking off because now we're doing it again. Aqua Pure Breed is bottled mountain water for dogs that not only provides hydration but is also available in 4 different formulas to more personally meet your dog's healthy drinking needs. And Aqua Pure Breed promotes not only healthy drinking water for your pet but an overall healthy and active lifestyle by offering "Active Dog Guides" for major cities and they started the No Dog Left Behind program which encourages people to include their pet dogs into more areas of their lives. You can order online and get about a month's supply of water for $59.95.

When it comes to luxury it seems bigger is always better (with the exception of gadgets and technology, of course) but when it comes to boating Caillou is embracing a new philosophy: that small is good.

Inspired by sailboat designs from the 1800s and combining it with methods of today, Caillou strives to take the best of both old-fashioned boat building and modern technology to come up with a unique set of small boats that all have ease of use and convenience at heart. There are 3 different models available (Okume, Teak, and Glass) plus a small selection of used boats for sale on their website.

Although luxury boating is pretty closely associated with size, not all sweet yachts are necessarily the biggest. The newest design from Sabdes is a good example of that principle at work. The Sabdes 50M Superyacht may be slightly smaller than it's predecessors but it more than makes up for what it lacks in square footage by having both cutting edge styling and several eco-friendly features. The 50M has increased fuel efficiency and reduced emissions, a specially styled hull that reduces both wave 'slamming' and the wake impact that can disrupt marine life and cause shoreline erosion, and more energy efficient LED lighting. Plus it runs on a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system that gives it higher cruising speeds than many other similarly sized yachts.

On top of all that it kind of looks like a spaceship. That's always fun.

Via Bornrich

The home spa is usually the place to chill out not to work out but Dimension One Spas has created the Aquatic Fitness System an underwater gym. The workout offers low impact exercises to tone, shape and enhance flexibility while suspended in water. It can be used for rehabilitation and for more hardcore athletes. It lets you swim, stretch and row while immersed in water and also has an area for just relaxing. The water is cleaned with ozone and UV light and the exteriors are made from 100% recycled plastic milk jugs. There are three different models ranging from $29,995 to $44,995.

I'm not sure if it's the saturated adult health and fitness industry or the booming pet products trend, but something has encouraged the creation and launch of Fortifido, bottled vitamin water for dogs. Fortifido touts benefits like healthier bones, skin, and joints, (plus of course better breath) and comes in several different flavors including spearmint, peanut butter, and parsley (parsley???).

When it comes to water for dogs of course there's some controversy over bottled water versus plain old-fashioned tap water, but even if bottled dog water is something you would buy I think everybody can see it's mostly just a marketing scheme to make money. Despite that, though, I'll admit that it might be fun when I'm out exercising to whip out both a water bottle just for me and another one for my dog...

She'll be trying "parsley" first (and probably just once!).