THE GREATEST RIB TEST EVER
T
he 50th anniversary of a whole new class of boats doesn’t come along very often so when it does, you want to make sure you celebrate in style. The idea
we came up with was to invite the cream of the British RIB builders and importers to take part in our very own round-the-Island rally on the day before the offi cial yacht race. Of the dozen or so different players we contacted, we expected fi ve or six to turn up. The fact that we ended up with 11 on the day (we only missed out on the full dozen because one was mugged on the way back from the Monaco Grand Prix) serves to show just what a buoyant and enthusiastic bunch the RIBster fraternity are. Even if you’ve never owned a RIB the
chances are you will have enjoyed a ride in one. They are such fun, agile and capable boats that it’s impossible to drive one and not come away with a broad grin on your face. However big your current cruising boat there is something infectiously enjoyable about helming a light, powerful, seaworthy craft such as this. Even owners of larger cruising craft often
have a RIB as a second boat for those occasions when they just want to get out on the water and blow the cobwebs away.
The fl eet assembles south of the Needles for the next handling test
As sharp as an arrow: the 11 RIBs get in formation for the photo shoot
The point of this group test wasn’t to
arrange a straight back-to-back shoot-out between perfectly matched rivals but to show the variety of RIBs on offer between 7.4m and 10m and try to capture the unique character and abilities each one offers. To discover these differing traits we felt we
needed to do more than just blast around the bay and back, we wanted to see how they coped over the course of a typical day out on the water. By driving them around the Isle of Wight, we would get to experience how they behaved in a variety of different sea states and conditions.
The following day a series of handling and
performance tests would demonstrate how the different hulls and engine set-ups compared. We also invited Jeremy Watts, the current round-Britain record holder and MD of Bladerunner builder Ice Marine, to help assess the high-speed handling of these seriously quick boats. Driving boats of this size at well over 50 knots is not for the fainthearted or inexperienced. The results were every bit as fascinating as
we’d hoped for and serve to show that variety truly is the spice of life, even in the world of rigid infl atable boats.
SEE THE VIDEO
mby.com/rib
The Ballistic’s punchy E-Tec engines power through the chop in Scratchell’s Bay
Strap in: two days at over 40 knots
The Cobra’s distinctive tan tubes show up against the Bembridge lifeboat station
AUGUST2013 45
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