Personally, I’m doing better still in the guest quarters, my lower deck midships suite giving a flavour of what charter guests will soon be enjoying. The only clue we’re in delivery mode are the thick alloy deadlights covering my, and every other, cabin’s hull ports. The other comforts are all as though in service: mood lighting, Harman Kardon AV, soft furnishings galore and lux-sprung, comfortable twin beds above a carpet with velvet pile so deep that it not only seductively swallows toes but leaves perfect Man Friday footprints. What a castaway from reality! The detailing is interesting, too, the


cabinetry shrink-wrapped with stitched leather and topped with a textured, fluid metal coating that also protects against marking and scratching. Even my walk-in wardrobes and the dining table and bars in the two saloons on main and upper decks share this durable, stylish topping.


CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS Batting along at 17.5 knots on 1,790rpm in a gentle swell, we transit the shipping channel just to the west of Casquettes TSS (Traffic Separation Scheme), the ship’s central monitoring system reporting consumption as 550lph, before rising to 900lph as we up the pace to 19.5 knots. The planned average is 700lph. No problem – with a verified 5,700- mile range at 11 knots from the new, semi- displacement hull form, twin 2940PS V12 MTUs and a substantial 60,000 litres of fuel, there’ll be no refuelling en route. With a change of watch, bosun Stuart gets


In confused seas and building


swell, Blush pushed on at a pace across the Bay of Biscay, her ride good by design and further aided by mighty Quantum stabilisers


an update from Mark on the latest Furuno radar tweaks. There are two sets, enabling different range and view settings for rapid situational understanding. Mark’s very familiar with this run, “All the way down to Gib, the traffic’s pretty untroubling. Just gets more interesting as you come into Gibraltar, especially with the Moroccan drift netters who can get a bit shouty! But it’s easy for us to stop, start and swing around.” And it is. At 21 knots full chat, the 155


effects a crash stop in just four boat lengths and turns a complete circle in the same short distance with minimal inward lean. During the first night we maintain


1,900rpm and 19 knots through the water, but with the wind building to Force 5 as we enter the Ushant TSS at 0730 we cut to 16 knots at 1,600 rpm and a kindlier 500lph. All targets on radar lie behind us, ahead,


Sunseeker’s own superyacht captain Mark Solomon, familiar with this passage, helps pilotage entering the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco seen to starboard


steering 208°, just the empty Bay of Biscay, and in the strengthening head wind a full 36 knots apparent across our decks. To which we’re immune! With Sunseeker’s proprietary, Tijssen-style electronic management system monitoring virtually every single function on board, and with ten strategically sited CCTV cameras, there’s no need to leave the twinned, hi-tech conning seats as we begin our wave-plunging ride south. The view is commanding and there’s even armrest-inset mouse control of the console displays. By mid-afternoon we’re slowed to 14 knots


with the forecast showing we’re better not rushing to round the distant Cape Finisterre


into even worse weather. I do rush, though, to the beach club saloon on the lower deck aft to enjoy the wind-blown wake, giving an incredible sense of speed. The shout goes up, “Dolphins! Lots of them.” Come 2100 the wind’s risen to Force 6 and


in a foul four-metre swell we knock the speed back to 10 knots and 53lph on each engine. Given the seaway, skipper Sean is


pleasantly surprised by the motion. “You know, this is really good, despite the light weight, it’s much more like my previous boat, a heavily built steel 42 metre yacht.” An interesting comparison because Blush, at just 270 tonnes, with its innovative, single- infusion, carbon ring beams, floors, main deck and detailing, is around 150 tonnes lighter than a steel equivalent. It’s this weight advantage that is also the key to its impressive performance and fuel economy. Through night two, the wind settles around


25 knots but with more than 30 knots of apparent wind and, unfortunately, confused five-metre swells, Biscay lives up to its infamous reputation. Impressively in my midships suite, aided by massive Quantum stabilisers, life carries on almost as normal, still showering and sleeping well, that deep mattress actually lulling me with a comforting, body-floating gentle rise and fall.


All systems aboard Blush are remotely monitored, still Chief engineer Mark Cryer does his regular rounds


Forward, where movement is greater, some crew begin to suffer as occasional bursts of green water blow back over the pitching bow, drenching the wheelhouse and testing the seven big screen wipers to their limits. “Whoa, there’s a big daddy,” says Stuart, “Hang on to your hats.” Speed goes to just under 8 knots. He briefly considers heading in towards the


shore, as waiting it out might beat slogging on at low speed, but the decision is to keep course for Finisterre and then head into Vigo, just north of the Portuguese border, to sit out the next impending front.


BETTER THAN EXPECTED Finally towards nightfall, after a day spent plodding onwards at 10 knots and a while down to 6 at a straw-thirsty 30lph, the wind veers and drops. Revs climb, the miles disappear and at 0600 on day four Vigo lifts out of the gloaming, its sodium orange light show a welcoming fanfare. Coming in bang on high tide at 8 knots and with three miles to go,


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