FAIRLINE TARGA 40

Fairline makes a powerful play for compact cruiser supremacy

- Alex Smith

There’s a bit of a gap in the high-end 40ft sports cruiser market. Sunseeker doesn’t really get involved until the 55ft mark and while Princess’s V40 continues to provide a handy compact cruiser option, the fact that it’s been around since 2017 is beginning to show, not least in the simplicity of its deck layouts. So Fairline, canny operator that it is, has decided that now is the time to reinvent the entry point to its Targa range with a boat that bludgeons its way to the top with an irresistible blend of deck space, cruising capability, flexibility and quality. Yeah, yeah, we know. You’ve heard it all before. But as we arrive at a windswept Ipswich pontoon with a mindset somewhere between professional impartiality and resolute scepticism, it’s hard not to feel the love, because the styling of this thing is delicious. The snub-nosed semi-plumb bow is neatly spiked with a set of backlit logos set into stainless steel strips. Above that, the parallel ‘spears’ that frame the foredeck sunpad are subtly picked out with recessed purple LEDs and the long plunging hull windows are dramatically mirrored in the topsides, where the absence of any obvious rear hardtop pillars does really good things for the profile. In short, it may be designed as a 40ft sportscruiser but it’s tough to imagine a boat of this length and volume finessing itself into a form any lovelier than this.