SAY 42

If weight is the enemy of speed then this feather-light new sportsboat, from the man who crafted carbon-fibre mouldings for McLaren supercars, will leave competitors in its wake

- Hugo Andreae

Every car and boat builder knows that weight is the enemy of speed. Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus sports cars, summed it up particularly well, saying, “Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere.”

Exactly the same principle applies to boats, especially planing ones, but it’s the effect weight has on fuel efficiency that is arguably even more compelling given the financial and ecological pressure bearing down on boat owners. The heavier a boat is, the more power it needs and the more fuel it burns. The more fuel it burns, the larger the tanks have to be and the more weight you end up carrying. It’s a vicious circle that results in a heavier, slower, thirstier boat with larger fuel bills and a bigger carbon footprint.

Colin Chapman’s solution was to make his cars simpler and lighter than the competition. It worked – in 1968 Graham Hill won the F1 world championship in a Lotus 49 weighing a meagre 499kg – well under half the weight of a modern Mini!

Perhaps it’s no surprise then that the man behind SAY Carbon Yachts, Karl Wagner, also comes from an automotive background. His previous company, Carbo Tech, produced carbon-fibre mouldings for the likes of McLaren and Aston Martin as well as various F1 teams. Now he’s using that expertise to build lightweight carbon-fibre sportsboats. There are currently two models in the range, the SAY 29 and this boat, the SAY 42, although a SAY 52 is also in development.

WEIGHT WATCHER