The right look

Peter Poland tests the second-hand Swedish production powerboat that just looks ‘right’ to so many ex-sailors

- Peter Poland

A few years back, I took a party out to watch the America’s Cup anniversary jubilee fleet parading in the Solent. Our spectator craft was a nippy, low-wash Hunter Landau 20 motorboat. One of my guests had briefly owned an elderly 12m yacht and he was keen to see her sailing again. Beautifully restored by her new German owners, she was a sight for sore eyes. As were all the other 12s out on the water that day. It was a memorable and magical experience.

But this glimpse back at sailing history was marred by one unpleasant modern phenomenon. Large numbers of gin palaces were careering around at high speed, ploughing up the Solent into a rutted mess, making a lot of noise and generally blocking our view.

“Oh dear”, muttered my ex 12m-owning friend. “Why do all those noisy motorboats have to go flat out all the time; and why do they all look like trainers?”

A bit harsh perhaps, but he was a lover of classic-looking boats. He got me thinking... and I realised he had a good point. They did indeed look a bit like trainers, with their sloping, shiny white superstructures and assertive, over-styled windows.

“I could never be seen in something that looks like that,” my friend added. “I wonder what sort of motorboats ex sailors buy when they stop sailing?”

A few years later, I got an answer to his question. Another old friend told me he had decided to buy a motorboat after a lifetime of sailing. He had sailed countless races in such boats as Sigmas, Hustlers and a wild mini-tonner. He was a yacht surveyor by profession, so he knew what he was talking about when it came to structures, performance and quality of build.