south by Capt. Scott Nault, an independent
captain out of Florida. I asked Nault to
describe what the ride had been like. He
told me that during the first leg, from
Beaufort, North Carolina to Charleston
he “was trying to vary the rpm because
the engines were so new. So I’d open it up
for a little bit and saw 37 knots and some
change. Then we’d alter our rpm again.” In
other words, the perfect conditions for a sea
trial. According to Nault, the ocean was flat;
2200 rpm was close to wide open, and gave
them a 33-knot cruise, burning around 55
gph. The second leg from Charleston to St.
Augustine, Florida was rougher, with some
occasional 8-footers thrown in. “We had to
slow down significantly. I brought her back
down to 27 knots and she continued to run
phenomenal, very dry and solid boat.”
Also overseeing the 41 was Hatteras Yachts’
Director of Sportfishing Capt. Jeff Donahue.
When I asked him about the 41, and how it
fit into Hatteras’ stable of sportfishing boats,
he gestured over to where she was tied up in
an attention-grabbing slip. “That’s a boat that
was designed and built for a good purpose,”
said Donahue.
He waved off a question about what the
next size in the lineup will be. “I don’t like
nostalgia unless it’s mine,” said Donahue.
Actually, I lied. He didn’t say that—that was
Lou Reed. But Donahue’s answer might as
well have been the same. “We’ll see what
comes after that,” he said, hinting at the
future, which, of course, might be found
somewhere in the past. —Simon Murray
45