Better (motor) boats
Back in the heyday of the Orma 60 trimaran circuit those involved spent much of the summer travelling between the different venues around the French coast following the fleet through their calendar of inshore regattas. My memory of it was that it wasn’t really possible to do much in the way of following the yachts themselves because the random collection of standard ‘Pêche-Promenade’ motorboats that were borrowed from the local marinas for that purpose just wasn’t up to the job. Once across the line the racing fleet
would be gone in a flash leaving us lot (journalists, photographers, sponsors and the rest) bouncing around and going nowhere. Taking pictures from such boats is, of course, a waste of time unless there’s no wind (in which case it’s still a waste of time, come to think of it…). Fascinating though the trimaran racing
was the Pêche-Promenade experience was also, in a strange way, quite thought- provoking. Why would owners of these boats put up with such a dismal boating experience? Would they not get more enjoyment from something more sophisti- cated – a slippery thoroughbred of a boat, with low fuel burn which offers a quieter, less stressful means of travel?
38 SEAHORSE Before having the pretension to imagine
that we can, at a stroke, create a better, smoother-riding thoroughbred-of-a-motor- boat that would surely replace everything else overnight, it’s pretty important to start by finding out what qualities and draw- backs there are in the existing collection of mainstream products – as seen through the eye of an average buyer. Firstly, the sensory pleasure of riding
that our Slippery Thoroughbred offers is likely to be a luxury that most boat owners just can’t really justify. Not many people actually get to enjoy the pleasure of own- ing a second home by the sea (especially in crowded old Europe) so the family boat has to be chosen on the basis that it offers the most space and living comfort for the money, so that above all it can fulfil that role as a floating weekend retreat. In looking at what’s currently available
to a buyer, the first point of interest is that planing hulls – or hulls that look as though they might plane – are the norm. This may be because such hulls are quite ‘people shaped’, being pretty much square in cross- section – with the machinery tucked con- veniently down at the back. To maximise the chances of planing they should also be quite short and wide, which also makes
them marina-friendly as berthing tariffs are usually levied on the basis of length. The pressure to increase the habitable
volume of each successive model, along with the addition of a huge range of readily available creature comforts, has meant that in many cases these boats have become overweight and have increasing trouble even getting up onto the plane… which is what most of them were origi- nally supposed to do. Historically, though, there’s no secret
about the fact that the vast majority of buyers have not hesitated to sign up for the one with the most space – and that cun- ning little extra child’s berth hidden away somewhere. You can’t argue with that. Meanwhile, engine manufacturers have
worked wonders in producing ever more power out of their products, but the quantity of fuel needed to run remains directly and stubbornly related to the power output and not to the weight of the engine. So the weight/power spiral keeps on winding upwards. Once those real-life facts are noted it
seems clear that our own ambition should simply be to offer an alternative type of boat rather than a straight substitute for the standard item. A quiet long-range
SALLY COLLISON/DPPI
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