CRUISINGW
hile my husband is a very
experienced powerboat
racer with many years of
designing and testing the
Bladerunner boats we build
at our company Ice Marine,
I don’t get out on them as often as I would like. So when Jeremy
decided we should do a shakedown test of our new BR 45GT
demonstrator together, I was over the moon. Especially when he
suggested we take it on a two-week cruise to Mallorca. This
would be the first time we had holidayed together without
children for 25 years. As the date got closer I began to get
nervous as the reality of being the only crew member on board
struck home. “Don’t worry,” Jeremy said, “I can do all the driving
and mooring, all you have to do is sort out the fenders and lines.”
Our trip did not start well with a four-hour flight delay
courtesy of a French Air Traffic control strike. Our precious boat
fared even worse. It was being trucked down to Palamos, Spain
on a low loader but refugees had managed to sneak on board
during an overnight stop and the lorry driver was imparting dire
news of damage and mess. Thankfully the damage was mainly
superficial but Jeremy wouldn’t allow me to see it until he’d
finished cleaning up the mess. It was all a bit overwhelming,
we were finally here after months of planning and tomorrow
we would be off on our big adventure.off to a flying start
At last we were on our way to Sitges. The sea was a bit rough but
not enough to hold us up. One of the joys of the Bladerunner’s
air entrapment hull is that it flies across the wave tops using
the tunnels to create lift, reduce drag and soften landings. And
thanks to the triple 370hp Volvo D6 engines it’s also unusually
refined for a high performance craft. Jeremy was in his element,
gently feathering the throttles to keep up an average speed of
around 30 knots. I soon started to relax and enjoy the ride,
although eventually I did have to put up the electric window