The WiLder 60, From Wider Yachts

With the WiLder 60, Italy’s Wider Yachts is introducing more than a new model. It’s launching the first design in a whole new brand of boats. The aluminum design is described as a hybrid between a chase boat and a performance cruiser, with reported 40-knot speed and a customizable platform for one-off orders. Power is a pair of twin 1,300 hp MAN V-8s. The first hull is already in build and scheduled to launch this summer, with a draft of 3 feet, 4 inches that should make the boat usable in skinny-water destinations. Hull No. 1 will have three staterooms and two heads for weekends with friends or family at anchor. For easier maneuvering in close quarters, the boat will be outfitted with Quick Marine bow and stern thrusters.

Lazzara LPC 70, Set for Delivery in 2024

Lazzara Yachts is building this LPC 70 power catamaran for an owner who expects to cruise in the Mediterranean. There are five guest staterooms on board, including a master slightly abaft amidships that has a starboard-side fold-out balcony. The main deck has a day head, and the galley is located forward on the lower deck, with stairs leading to the main-deck dining table. Aft, there’s relaxation space for guests, along with a garage that can house an 18-foot tender and two personal watercraft. When the tender and toys are deployed, the space becomes a beach club. Lazzara is projecting a top speed of 20 knots and a cruising speed of 18 knots with twin 550 hp Volvo Penta D8s. Twin 1,000 hp Volvo Penta D13s are optional.

Vicem’s 65 Classic Flybridge, With Down East Style

The Vicem 65 Classic Flybridge is a Down East-style boat with a reported maximum speed of 32 knots. The builder says the light-blue hull color is proving popular, though owners can choose whatever color they wish. Accommodations include an amidships master stateroom with a king-size berth and a forepeak stateroom for guests. Both are en suite, and they’re separated by a galley and dining space, giving everyone their privacy. The dining space can convert to a sleeping area for extra guests. Alfresco dining is up on the main deck. Vicem says the 65 Classic Flybridge can be built in fiberglass, but cold-molded construction is available as well. Lithium-ion batteries can power the boat for 15 hours without generator use.

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It’s always a good day when a new build becomes available for charter, giving guests a chance to check out the latest offering from a prominent builder. That’s the story of Sea-renity, a Horizon FD100 that is marketed as a 2023 build and is now based in the Bahamas for charter inquiries throughout the summer season.

This particular FD100 has an interior that’s unusual, with a substantial amount of light wood that’s paired with black accent items throughout all the guest spaces. The decor was created by the Miami-based JAC design studio. “A lot of boats these days, it’s grays or blues and greens. This is different,” says Sarah Egger, charter manager with Fraser.

At an industry charter-yacht show in the Bahamas earlier this year, brokers also commented about how large the boat felt compared with others that are the same length overall. The extensive use of glazing certainly contributes to that ambience, as does the combination of decor and overall design. “The space on the inside, the volume, it seems much bigger than it is,” Egger adds. “I think it’s the lightness, but it’s also the build. That Horizon has a wider beam.”

As of this writing, Sea-renity had just completed its first few charters with friends of the owners on board, and the new owners had used it as well. Egger says a few of the favorite spaces are the yacht’s three bars—one in the beach club, one on the aft deck and one on the bridge deck next to the hot tub—along with the Portuguese seating and sunning space forward of the bridge. There’s also a beach club aft, which Egger says the owners are planning to fill with an increasing number of water toys. A towed tender is also in the works.

Sea-renity itself has a cruising speed of 13 knots and a top hop of 20 knots, which should be plenty fast for zipping around the Bahamas in style.    

The Horizon FD100

This is a current model available for orders with Horizon Yachts. It can be built as a skyline or tri-deck, which means either an enclosed sky lounge or an open flybridge, respectively. The designer of the Horizon FD100 is Cor D. Rover, whose other work includes yachts as large as the 220-foot Benetti Seasense. He has been working with Horizon Yachts since 2012. As a team, Rover’s studio and Horizon count more than 60 yachts either built or in build now. 

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Dayboat performance combined with weekending possibilities? That’s what Sunseeker has achieved with the newest addition to its Performance line. The Superhawk 55 has a reported 38-knot top hop by way of twin 725 hp Volvo Penta IPS950 engines and can sleep four people in two staterooms. The boat made its US debut at the recent Miami International Boat Show, with more than 50 units sold already.

The Superhawk 55’s dayboat functionality is immediately apparent when guests step on board via the 6-by-15-foot swim platform and up two steps into the 188-square-foot cockpit. Here, there is an aft sun pad and two aft-facing settees surrounding an expandable table. This gathering space also has a wet bar forward with a sink, a refrigerator, an ice maker and a grill. Owners can also opt for a 43-inch 4K television with Apple TV and Airplay that can hide away in the wet bar. Beneath the sun pad, there is a garage that can hold a Williams Minijet tender or water toys.

Forward of the wet bar is the centerline three-seat helm station. Whoever’s driving will have two 16-inch Volvo Penta Glass Cockpit multifunction displays and Volvo Penta’s integrated pilot system with an IPS joystick to assist. Pantograph doors on both sides of the helm let the skipper or first mate easily access the side decks.

Access to the galley belowdecks is via stairs to starboard of the helm. The 120-square-foot galley is illuminated by natural light that pours in via hullside windows and segmented windows above. To port, the galley has a refrigerator, a freezer, a ceramic four-ring cooktop, a Miele microwave oven and a dishwasher; to starboard, there is a sofa for guests seeking a reprieve from the elements.

Owners and special guests alike will have roomy accommodations on the Superhawk 55, with a 123-square-foot, full-beam stateroom amidships as well as a 105-square-foot forepeak stateroom. Each stateroom has a 43-inch 4K television with Apple TV and Airplay, and a double berth. The aft stateroom can be ordered with twin berths instead, for families with kids.

The Superhawk 55 is for multifaceted owners. It’s a thrill-seeker that can serve as an adventure vessel for the day and be back in time for dinner, or it can be an effective cruiser for longer family voyages.  

Take the next step: sunseeker.com

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Aceleron’s essential batteries are the world’s first modular high-performance batteries. The company designed the lithium-iron-phosphate batteries for the circular economy, so all componentry is modular and can be removed. Aceleron enables this via its clever use of compression—screws, fasteners, bolts and trays that mechanically sandwich individual lithium cells together to form battery packs—rather than the traditional methods of gluing or spot-welding componentry. This lets owners replace components while facilitating future upgrades. “As better cell technology becomes available, existing cells and components can be removed for repurposing, and the newer, more-efficient cells can be installed,” says Carlton Cummins, Aceleron’s co-founder and chief technical officer.

Given the importance of high-performance batteries and their safety considerations, Aceleron had to thoroughly vet the tech. “We had to ensure our new assembly technology could perform just as well as incumbent technology for assembling batteries,” Cummins says. The time investment paid off, and Essential batteries are now internationally certified and compliant with National Marine Electronics Association standards.

Each Essential battery has a modular battery-monitoring system, Bluetooth connectivity and two CAN bus connection ports. This allows users to monitor their batteries’ health and performance metrics locally via an onboard network.

Power Up

Aceleron’s Essential batteries are available in 12, 24 and 48 volts; each is rated to 5,000 charge/discharge cycles. The batteries can be installed in three orientations. As space allows, they can be run in parallel to theoretically supply unlimited amounts of electricity. The company sees uses on boats as well as in other applications, including on motor homes, with all-terrain vehicles and in telecommunications stations. The lightweight design also makes the batteries usable in mobile applications.

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Silent-Yachts, which is based in Mallorca, Spain, started building its fleet of solar-powered electric catamarans in 2016. The Silent Tender 400 is the company’s first tender, and another, larger version is already on the drawing board. The DNA is obvious: The ST400 employs lightweight carbon fiber and an efficient hull shape to deliver a sporty-looking ride. 

The tender can be ordered with an owner’s choice of an electric outboard or an electric jet drive; customers can also choose a 16-kilowatt-hour lithium battery or upgrade to a 20 kWh battery for longer reach. The boat purportedly allows for two hours of run time at 10 knots, and it can be fast-charged in two and a half hours. 

The 13-foot ST400 accommodates up to six passengers but weighs only 198 pounds, excluding propulsion. The boat is a center-console that borrows aesthetic choices from the company’s 60- and 80-foot catamarans, including angular lines, a distinctive black-and-white finish and stem-to-stern chines. The ST400 also carries a practical yet stylish rubber stripe that helps protect its carbon-fiber topsides from docks, davits and poor docking decisions.

Whom It’s For: Boaters who want a high-tech, lightweight and performance-minded tender that can do 20-plus knots sans a traditional internal-combustion engine.

Picture This: You and your family are cruising Cape Cod, Massachusetts, aboard the solar-powered Silent 60 catamaran. You tuck into Provincetown for the evening. The mooring lines are secured, and you and the troops cruise over to Long Point Light Station in your ST400 before making a harbor tour and then heading to the Lobster Pot for dinner and drinks.  

Take the next step: silent-yachts.com

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Located just off the northern tip of Eleuthera, Harbour Island doesn’t have a to-do list so much as a just-be list. While cruisers can certainly go offshore fishing and snorkeling in its crystal-clear waters, the island’s Pink Sand Beach invites visitors to simply sit back and relax.

Pink Sand Beach 

This waterfront expanse is the magnet and money shot of Harbour Island. Its always-cool powder-soft sand beckons the barefoot to stroll its 3-mile stretch along the eastern, Atlantic Ocean side of Briland, as locals call their home island. The sand’s trademark pale-pink hue, which stems from the pinkish-red shells of a single-celled organism called foraminifera, has landed the beach in countless social-media snaps as well as on several “best beaches in the world” lists.

Queen Conch

To riff on Bubba’s shrimp rhapsody in the movie Forrest Gump, Queen Conch is renowned for serving up this mighty mollusk in a multitude of delicious freshly prepared dishes: conch fritters, cracked conch fries, conch pasta, conch ceviche and, especially, its house specialty, conch salad, which often runs out before the dinner crowd. Customers from all over pull up a chair on the restaurant’s colorful open-air patio and pair the restaurant’s fare with great harbor views and a Goombay Smash, the official drink of the Bahamas, or a bottle of Kalik, a popular Bahamian lager.

Dunmore Town

Rent a golf cart, and explore the bougainvillea-lined streets of Dunmore Town, one of the oldest settlements in the Bahamas and the only town on Harbour Island. Its Georgian architecture, upscale boutiques and jet-set clientele draw comparisons between Harbour Island and Nantucket, Massachusetts. Start your morning at Arthur’s Bakery & Café to sample its jalapeño cheese bread and doughnuts, among other temptations. Stop in and browse at The Sugar Mill, the treasure trove of a boutique co-owned by India Hicks, the British designer, relative of the royal family and longtime resident who is the celebrity face of Harbour Island. Her book Island Style captures not only Hicks’ own design aesthetic—a combination of carefree Caribbean culture and British colonial formality—but also the overall Briland vibe. For dinner, there’s no shortage of refined restaurants. At The Landing, pair a bottle from its Wine Spectator-lauded list with contemporary seafood dishes. Or, at The Dunmore, enjoy “beach chic” and Caribbean-influenced seafood surrounded by vintage photographs in the clubhouse or with the gorgeous views on the patio.

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Sporty is not an obvious adjective for a tri-deck packing nearly 400 gross tons, but it fits the new Custom Line 140 flagship and its previously launched sisterships, the CL120 and CL106. All three models are composite, have bold styling and share key design cues. The exteriors and space planning are the work of Francesco Paszkowski, while the interior decoration is by Margherita Casprini, working closely with the Ferretti Group’s in-house team at Custom Line Atelier.

The yacht they created is a triumph. Beyond the Custom Line 140’s super-cool lines, there’s 3,230 square feet of usable space inside and 2,150 square feet of real estate outside. A fold-down garage door allows for a beach club, a conventional cockpit and an extra-large space on the upper deck aft, with the guest spaces having full protection from decks above. There’s more seating forward and on the sun deck, which is partially protected by a carbon-fiber hardtop and which has a wet bar, a lounge and a hot tub. And the sun deck is a 750-square-foot blank canvas for owners, in terms of furniture to dress the space.

Inside, the Custom Line 140 is calm, light and bright, thanks to a plethora of glazing. Stained- and bleached-oak veneers play off dramatic marbles throughout the yacht, whose furnishings have natural tones and textures. The main salon and dining area are open plan and measure around 450 square feet. Owners can choose free-standing furniture as they see fit here too. The Custom Line 140 that I got aboard mostly had pieces from Minotti. Also an option for owners: an opening glass door to starboard in the main-deck lounge and opening glass doors on both sides of the sky lounge. In the sky lounge, these doors transform the space into an entertainment zone for parties.

On the main and upper decks, guest lobbies are amidships to starboard. Partial side decks are on the main deck, with doors amidships to the portside pantry and adjacent lobby. There are full side decks on the upper deck, although there’s a stair break just abaft the bridge, which means you can’t quite circumnavigate it.

Guest accommodations consist of five en suite staterooms and a total of 11 berths. The owners’ stateroom is forward on the main deck and occupies 505 square feet. Owners enter to starboard through a dressing area with two walk-in closets. The en suite has double-door access, a bathtub and a shower, or owners can opt for a walk-through shower stall between the his-and-hers sides. The big feature in the bedroom is an optional fold-down balcony, cleverly engineered to be deployed by guests as well as crew (of course, with safety overrides).

The other guest staterooms are belowdecks, all conventionally located amidships. The two aft are mirror copies: 160-square-foot doubles with outboard-view king berths and en suite heads. The other two staterooms, forward, are 130 square feet apiece, one with an inboard-facing double berth and the other with forward-facing twins and a Pullman berth. However, as the name Custom Line suggests, owners have flexibility when it comes to interiors. For instance, some owners may prefer to specify one of the staterooms on that lower deck as a gym, a study or a media room.

Day heads are off the main- and upper-deck lobbies. For the Custom Line 140’s crew of seven, there’s a captain’s cabin on the bridge deck and three cabins forward on the lower deck, along with a crew mess and a laundry room. All the crew areas are connected by a separate crew staircase for discreet access across all decks, including to the main deck’s galley and pantry, and to the upper-deck pantry. The pantries are also linked with a dumbwaiter. It is unusual to see this sort of guest-crew separation aboard what is, effectively, a production yacht.

There are two garages aboard the Custom Line 140. The main one, at the stern, has a door to port and can take a 20-foot tender or a 17-foot tender and a PWC. The other garage is under a lid forward of the windscreen with room for a smaller tender or a PWC. The first Custom Line 140 keeps a rescue boat there.

With its twin 2,638 mhp MTU 16V 2000 M96Ls and straight-shaft propulsion, this yacht is reportedly good for a top speed of 21 to 22 knots and a fast cruise of 17 knots, with a range of around 700 nautical miles, allowing for a 10 percent reserve. At an eco-cruise of around 12 knots and 1,400 rpm, that range would extend to around 1,500 nm. There are no alternative engines available. The hull has a planing profile and is trimmed with Humphree Interceptors.

The first Custom Line 140 is expected to remain in the Mediterranean this summer. Two more have been sold, and one of them should arrive in the United States this year. If the current sales pace continues, the future for this sporty-looking yacht is bright.  

In the Details

Fabricated in aluminum, the Custom Line 140 is defined by silver-painted hexagonal-section Y-stanchions and chunky handrails along the main side decks. These elements allow light into the main salon via full-height picture windows, and they also allow for great views out for the guests.

In the Beginning

At the 1996 Genoa International Boat Show, Ferretti was a one-brand business, known mostly for building flybridge yachts. The company announced that it was developing a second brand, Custom Line, that would kick in where the Ferretti flybridge and raised-pilothouse portfolio ended. Back then, the biggest Ferretti  measured 80 feet length overall. The first Custom Line 94 launched in 1998, setting the Ferretti Group on a path of becoming the multi-brand builder it is today, not only with Custom Line but also with Pershing, CRN, Riva, Itama, Bertram and Wally.

Serious Growth

In terms of dollar volume, Custom Line is the Ferretti Group’s biggest brand. Last year, it delivered more than 20 yachts that averaged around 115 feet length overall. Around 300 Custom Lines have been delivered to date. Custom Line models range from 93 feet to 164 feet. They include the three sporty 106, 120 and 140 CL models, along with five semi-displacement Navetta models: the 30, 33, 37, 42 and 50. The Navetta 50— the first aluminum model in the series—will debut in 2024.

Take the next step: customline-yacht.com

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I’ve been searching  for two seats and a console, but have been stuck in the wayback machine. What was once called a utility boat became a center-console in the 1960s. A blend of woven roving, mat and polyester resin, the center-console was a hand-rolled wonder. There were just a few brands, and if you can find one today, it’s likely on life support. I shared my obsession with a sales pal for a reality check. It didn’t help.

Bill is my vintage, and he shares my passion for center-consoles. He has two waterfront homes with docks, and keeps two seats and a console at each one. He buys them factory-fresh with full warranties and trades them in every few years like leased pickups. I think he’s lost count of the numbers.

While he claims his system works, the math bugs me. I understand the benefits of new boats, motors and warranties, but the prices—yikes. I’ve done my best to understand the modern markup, but it’s hopeless. I walked past a boat store just the other day and eyeballed a late-model, pre-loved, 30ish-foot example with a pair of supersize outboards. My ogling came to an end when I focused on the price tag pasted on its transom: just shy of $400,000.

Read More from Jay Coyle: Tell Tales

I called Bill to rant about the unfairness of it all. “My 25-foot Mako with a pair of 150s—a boat many considered the best in its day—cost me $19,000 brand-new, for God’s sake,” I groused. “I could have bought 20 of them for that kind of money.

“Its day was 1980,” Bill replied. “I hear this sort of thing all the time from experienced boaters.”

Ouch! In yacht-sales tongue, “experienced boater” is code.

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “I have more good days behind me than ahead of me, but that’s not the point.”

“Seriously, Coyle, when was the last time you bought a new boat?” he asked. “They’re not slathered together with a mop and a bucket of resin anymore. Today’s buyers insist on flawless finishes, high-tech materials, and plenty of horsepower and electronics.”

“Yes, yes, I know,” I told him. “They’re hard to miss. They’re everywhere.”

“You’re cheap, Coyle,” Bill said. I reminded him of the losses I’d suffered in past restorations. “It’s really not the money; it’s the value,” I insisted. “Classic center-consoles have a certain mystique. They’re different.”

I returned to the wayback machine and forwarded Bill my findings. “Take a look,” I said. “You don’t see one of these above water every day. It’s a rare ride.”

A few moments passed in silence. “Are you still there, Bill? Did you get it?”

“Yeah, I got it,” he said. “I get it, and I got one,” he admitted as he texted me an image of a small boat’s soggy remains.

It was the leftovers of a 20-foot Bertram center-console and…a cow? “It’s in a pasture in North Florida,” he said. “I bought it for $1,400 sight unseen. It just needs a bit of freshening up.”

Really? And I thought I had a problem.

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One by one, the fleet of a dozen multihulls—11 performance-cruising catamarans and a sole French trimaran—retrieved their anchors and hoisted their mainsails, each with a deep reef in the main. In the anchorage off Anse Marcel on the French side of the Caribbean island of Saint-Martin, in the lee of the isle, the waters were calm and serene. Outside in the nearby Anguilla Channel, however, the easterly trade winds were pumping, and it was a sporty scene indeed, with the roiled seaway flecked with whitecaps.

It was the second day of the fifth-annual running of the Caribbean Multihull Challenge in early February. For the first time, the event was also hosting a rally in conjunction with the usual regatta for racing cats and tris. While the race committee was setting racecourses back in Simpson Bay on the island’s Dutch side, the cruisers were setting sail for an anchorage on the far side of Anguilla, where an evening of music, dancing and merriment awaited.

As anyone who has been to one of the major boat shows in the past decade knows, the multihull segment of the sailboat sector is far and away the fastest growing. And while the CMC rally fleet was well represented by French builders such as Lagoon, Nautitech and Outremer, with a half dozen entries, the South African-built line of Balance Catamarans was easily the most dominant brand. Perhaps not coincidentally, the company’s founder and president, Phil Berman, was in the thick of things aboard his own Balance 482, In Balance, as part of a season of island-hopping.

“You learn so much from the experience of just getting out and sailing your boat, day after day, living aboard and cruising through the islands,” Berman, a former national champion in the Hobie 14 class, told me at the outset of the rally.

Balance is currently building about 25 of its swift, daggerboard-equipped cats a year, and the production run is basically sold out for the next two years. “It’s crazy, but we’re probably the fastest-growing catamaran builder in the world,” he said. “But we’re just doing what we’ve always tried to do, which is build comfortable cruising boats that perform nicely.”

Berman said he’d been looking for ways to link his owners, and the rally was just the ticket. “We’re trying to build a community with Balance,” he said. “And it’s working. The owners all become friends, and they just like hanging out together.”

As the fleet started blasting across the Anguilla Channel, with most of the Balance tribe hoisting spinnakers and seriously trucking, it was clear not only that the boats perform well, but also that their crews were top-notch sailors happy to push the envelope.

Berman said there were several other Balances cruising the islands. Next year, he says, he thinks he’ll have several more cats in the fleet. Steve Burzon, the CMC director of marketing, says he hopes to attract other brands to the rally. “We do all the organizing; they just need to show up, and, for the price of their entry fee, they get the parties, the camaraderie—everything,” he said. Burzon also acknowledged that the rally half of the event may soon overshadow the racing portion, which drew 17 boats this year. “We may have created a monster.”

It’s a good problem to have, and it will be interesting to see what transpires. In that moment off Anse Marcel, however, all those colorful spinnakers soon vanished over the horizon. While the racers back off Simpson Bay were getting ready for a day of bashing their brains out, the rally folks had different priorities. After all, there was a party to attend to.  

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What a shame that I had only an afternoon to play with Axopar’s new flagship, the 45 XC. When I first saw it the day before, the boat was tied to an outer pontoon at the Cannes Yachting Festival with a kayak and an electric mountain bike strapped to the coachroof rack, unwashed salt glistening in the early autumn sunshine. The 45 XC looked liked it had just returned from an epic voyage. These Finnish-designed crossover vessels look adventure-ready.

Outwardly, all Axopars share the same design cues: slightly reversed stems, a glimpse of hull steps at the waterline, high bulwarks and deep walkaround decks. On the bigger models, there are also cabins with an explorer-style, raked-forward windshield.

The XC in this model’s name stands for “cross cabin.” Think of a nautical multitool, and you will get the gist. Every cubic inch aboard has a function—or three. Stuff slides back and forth, glides up and down, and rotates this way and that way to meet all manner of guest demands.

For instance, when pushed forward, the 45 XC’s side-deck doors open up the after half of the cabin to the side decks, a feature that is made all the more interesting by fold-down bulwark sections that increase on-deck real estate and reinforce the connection with the sea beyond. With the addition of a couple of cushions, those fold-down surfaces become bench seats. Conversely, push those side doors back, and the bridge end of the cabin opens up. Moreover, a furniture module amidships can slide back and forth to maximize floor space forward or aft, while sunroofs above bathe the space in sunshine and fresh air.

The forward cuddy cabin, accessed via a sliding door to port of the helm and located down a few steps, has a lower salon with wraparound sofa seating and a V-berth tucked into the bow for overnights, long weekends or just rainy-day quiet time with a book. A head-shower compartment is to starboard. There is plenty of natural light, thanks to two windows and a skylight in the superstructure, which has sections that hinge up gull-wing-style to bring in more light and fresh air, as well as provide more access. With everything open, the 45 XC’s interior feels very different, making the forward cabin an inviting alternative during the day for those wanting shade and quietude.

Outside spaces are just as useful. There is a sun pad on the foredeck and various options for the cockpit, which comes bare as standard. The 45 XC that I got aboard has a U-shaped booth setup, but an alternative arrangement places a sun pad on top of the boat’s aft cabin that’s big enough for a second double berth and an extra head. The latter option also has a sizable window facing aft onto the motor casings and twin hatches that are otherwise hidden beneath the sun pad cushions.

The Axopar 45 XC is rigged for Mercury outboard power, and the one I got aboard came with the biggest available option: triple 300 hp Mercury Verados. Weather permitting, 900 heavy horses should deliver up to a cheek-flapping 48 knots comfortably. Frustratingly, during the early stages of my sea trial, we were bucking 3-plus-foot seas and a stiff southwesterly, so our best runs remained in the low-40-knot range for a long while until, by chance, we found a slightly calmer patch of water to push those ergonomically friendly throttles to the pins. A couple of reciprocal runs soon confirmed that the gloves could come off properly. From a standing start, the 45 XC was on plane in around 10 seconds, and just 20 seconds later, the boat managed a couple of reciprocal runs of 43 and 47 knots. The 45 XC that I was aboard was running a little under half load with two people, no stores, three-quarters fuel and a half-empty water tank.

Helm ergonomics are good, and the vessel’s handling is precise, although if the helmsman turns the wheel over too sharply, the 45 XC can oversteer, and those hull steps will momentarily lose their lift. Given suitable sea conditions, this crossover craft fast-cruises efficiently all day at around 28 knots, which equates to 5,000 rpm, or 80 percent of the engines’ maximum rev range. At that rate and allowing for a 10 percent fuel reserve, expect to get a 240-nautical-mile range between fuel stops. Nudge the speed up by 10 knots, and it will knock only around 50 nm off the cruising-speed range.

Most of the Axopar 45 XCs already sold for North American destinations are bound for South Florida, with options such as air conditioning, a wet bar and fishing amenities.

These crossover boats are indeed adventure-ready, no matter what type of at-sea adventure an owner has in mind.

The Range

The Axopar model lineup includes 11 models across five core hull sizes: 22, 25, 28, the best-selling 37 and, most recently, the flagship 45. If the standard offerings aren’t enough, German performance enhancer Brabus Marine has pimped-up versions of the 25, 28 and 38. They are billed as the Brabus Shadow 300s, 500s and 900s.

Design Origins

Axopars are built in Poland, but the creative team is Finnish. The concepts come from company founder Jan-Erik Viitala.

Take the next step: axopar.fi

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