WATERLINES
It’s Monday morning, and
the storms that pummeled
France over the weekend have
dissipated. The bright gold
Mediterranean sun, low in its
winter arc, throws sparks off the
water that dazzle my eyes as I
command the new Beneteau
Swift Trawler 34.
I have flown over 4,000 miles
on a mission—to tour and test
the newest cruising boat from
the global powerhouse French
builder—and we are headed
south into the Bay of Marseille.
There are two prominent islands
just off the coast, and I am on a
course that will take me between
them. I touch the “mode” switch
on the SmartCraft digital
tachometer to get a precise
readout on fuel consumption,
then smoothly move the single
throttle/shifter lever to the
forward stop. The wind is
blowing through my thinning
hair, and I am suddenly a
younger man, a husband and
father of two boys who’s in a
hurry to get places, to bridge the
gap between soccer practices and
homework, to go to bed nearly
exhausted and start it all over
again tomorrow.
I look at the digital readout
on the bottom edge of the
tachometer, check the speed
over ground on the Raymarine
C120 plotter, and realize that
we’re doing 21 knots and that
no one will be running this kind
of speed unless there’s some
urgency to get off the water—or
unless speed is a vital part of
The Need For Speed
someone’s cruising lifestyle,
shortening the time between
ports to get there sooner or
stay there longer. So I pull the
throttle back to the nominal
high-cruise speed of 18 knots.
The gauge tells me the single
Cummins 425 CV diesel is
burning about 16.5gph, and a
quick computation shows our
range is roughly 206 nautical
miles, based on 90 percent of
usable fuel.
John Wooldridge
Editor-In-Chief
