T

he chances are that unless you’re a powerboat

racer, a military adviser or a raving boat nut,

you may never have heard of Ice Marine or the

Bladerunner boats it builds. On the other hand,

I can pretty much guarantee you will have seen

one before.

Cast your mind back to the opening ceremony

of the 2012 Olympics and you may remember

the iconic television footage of David Beckham powering down

the Thames at night on a fancy-looking boat with the Olympic

torch burning brightly in the bow on the fi nal leg of its journey

to the stadium. That boat was a Bladerunner RIB 35, and

crouching under the centre console ready to take over the

helm for the very public docking manoeuvre was Ice Marine’s

founder and managing director Jeremy Watts.

I have another more personal reason to remember them by,

involving a very close shave with a channel marker buoy. At 70

knots. In the dark. I was reporting on the Bradstone Challenger

team’s preparation for an attempt on the Round Britain speed

record in a Bladerunner 51 and was one of the few people not

wearing night vision goggles at the time. They managed to restart

my heart and went on to break the record with hours to spare.

BRIT PACK

The glass sunroof and

deck hatches let plenty

of light into the interior