looks beckoned us to throw off the lines and chase the sunset and
when the opportunity arose several months later, we jumped at it.
The Power & Motoryacht team was thrilled to be the first journalists
aboard for the kickoff leg of Beneteau’s Swift Pacific Adventure, a
near-400-mile journey from Seattle to mid-coast Oregon.
Beneteau couldn’t have timed our start better. The previous after-
noon, I stood on the 47’s flybridge at Seattle’s Denison Yacht Sales
and took in my surroundings with equal parts enthusiasm and awe.
On a cloudless, 72-degree day the scene on the Emerald City’s Lake
Union was stunning: Kayakers and stand-up paddleboarders weaved
around sailboats, a smattering of gorgeous classic yachts and an ar-
mada of surrey-topped Duffy electric boats. Fireboats shot their can-
nons high in the air in celebration and every few minutes or so, a
seaplane lifted off its pontoons, the noise of its props filling the air as
it banked away from the city. Across from the marina, hundreds of
picnickers dotted the grassy slope at the waterside Gas Works Park.
On behalf of the Seattle Yacht Club in a tradition that dates back over
a century, it was Opening Day of the 2019 boating season.
After loading up gear and sundries, Digital Director John Turner
and I went over the 47’s systems—including the brand’s intuitive
Ship Control interface where essentially all onboard functions can
be monitored—with Willett and some of the Beneteau crew. Right
on schedule, we pushed off promptly at 1400 hours, escorted by a
few of the 47’s smaller siblings and admired by a robust contingent of
revelers on the lake, including a duo of Amphicars with crew decked
out in Hawaiian shirts and captain’s hats. We bid au revior to our
mini French armada at Fremont Cut and awaited the green light to
enter the Ballard Locks. Once through, the 47 got her first taste of the
Salish Sea and we started our journey in earnest to Port Townsend.
On the first day’s five-hour leg, the three of us spent the bulk of the
time on the flybridge, taking shifts at the centerline helm and open-
ing the optional ($7,080), electrically retractable flybridge bimini for
warmth—the cool air off the 50-degree water kept things chilly. The
city faded away, porpoises surfaced here and there along the route
and the mountains came into sharper detail: first, the looming cal-
dera of Mount Rainier and as we motored closer to our destination,
the craggy, snow-laden Olympic coastal range with its highest peak,
Mount Olympus towering out of the clouds off our port-side bow.
Save for some commercial traffic it seemed like we had the waters
to ourselves.
A favorable outgoing tide and 2- to 3-foot seas equaled a 22-knot
cruise at 2600 rpm. I used the opportunity to run numbers and was
impressed with the semidisplacement hull’s ability to run efficiently
at all speeds. With the 425-hp Cummins diesels spinning at 1500
rpm, we averaged 9 knots and reaped the benefits of a trawler’s fuel
economy, burning just over 7 gph for a 629-mile range. The sweet
spot was 2250 rpm, where we got over the hump and on plane at just
under 16 knots and averaged .75 mpg. She topped out at 25.8 knots
with the throttles pinned—good to know when you need to outrun
ominous thunderheads or just for the hell of it.
We spent the first evening amongst a yachty mix of wooden sail-
boats and working craft at Port Townsend. The crew had turned in
early, knowing we’d be likely sleeping in shifts on the Pacific for a
nonstop, overnight leg, but it wasn’t until just before departure that
we got the aforementioned snotty forecast. With that in mind, Turn-
er and I used the starboard side deck to untie the lines and free us
from the quay. (Like all Swift Trawlers, the 47 has an asymmetrical
layout, with the starboard side being wider and easily accessed from
the aft deck or the salon via a sliding door next to the lower helm.)LOA: 48'4"
Beam: 14'9"
Displ.: 27,958 lbs.
Fuel: 510 gal.
Water: 169 gal.
Standard Power: 2/425-hp Cummins QSB6.7s
Base Price: $733,000
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