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With its seamless hull construction, the 28 slices through choppy water with ease. Teak and titanium accents act as honest materials that lend the boat's carbon-Kevlar body an organic feel. Twin 600 horsepower engines allow the 28 to reach speeds over 80mph. Thanks to its streamlined architecture and go-fast capabilities, the small Fearless can take turns at top speeds. According to Roland Heiler of Porsche Designs, only a small amount of the hulls surface actually touches the water. Unlike standard speedboats, which average 700 hours of construction time, it takes 1200 man-hours to complete the 28. |
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Upon entering the world of luxury yachting, every waterman must ask himself a simple question: Am I a cruiser or a speed demon? Cruisers need not apply in Jeffrey Binder’s world. With performance on his mind, the former corporate lawyer- turned-entrepreneur approached Porsche Design Studio four years ago to develop a collection of luxury vessels for his budding yacht company, Fearless. “Porsche’s bloodline is such that they start with the technical aspects and design around that,” says Binder, who raced Cougar powerboats off Miami’s coast for Benihana in the early ‘80s. “We went to Porsche and said, ‘Here’s a blank sheet.”
Founded in 1972 by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, the Austrian-based design studio has integrated the automaker’s advanced technologies and signature Stuttgart aesthetic into everything from chronographs and aviator sunglasses to kitchen appliances and pipes. With the launch of the MoMA-worthy 28 this February, at the Miami International Boat Show, the studio added motorboats to their repertoire.
Appointed with naval-inspired teak flooring, off-white automotive-style bucket seats, and a leather-wrapped panel of single gauges, the boat’s interior resembles the cockpit environs of a high-end Carerra GT. Bolstered, of course, by mesh-covered, 600 horsepower engines floating over two muscular titanium exhaust pipes. And to make the boat perform like its Autobahn-blazing analogue, Fearless broke from the design orthodoxy of standard high-speed boats, which typically employ a rub rail to attach the deck to hulls that flex and slow down a vessel in waves. Instead, the 28’s deck completely wraps around the top of a split, Kevlar-and-carbon-reinforced hull that virtually hovers above sea chop at 80 mph.
“The entire hull was created by milling and machining the plug, so there’s no work by hand, no Bondo. It’s a seamless construction with a very high level of stiffness,” says Porsche Design’s managing director Roland Heiler. “The boat doesn’t jump up, it cuts through and smooths the water.”
Building on the success of the 28—with only sixty models produced per year, there’s already an eight-month waiting list—Fearless is rolling out a 44-foot yacht next year in Miami, followed by 68-, 125-, and 150-foot models set to debut at the next three Monaco Yacht Shows. While Binder and Heiler are keeping mum about most of the 44’s specs, they did say it will have a lounging cabin and employ a more architectural body than the 28, while building on its predecessor’s power (twin 700- 1075 hp Mercury Racing engines will top out at over 100 mph) and exclusivity (only forty models will be built each year). With that in mind, Mr. Binder hopes all the testosterone and rubbernecking produced by his boats won’t send the wrong message. At the end of the day, luxury and performance are merely tools to help his customers adopt a more carefree lifestyle. “When you go on these boats, you can take a very steep turn at sixty or seventy miles per hour and still carry on a conversation—rather than being drenched and not able to hear yourself,” he says. “You can’t be going that fast and have fear. It’s all about living in the moment.”
Explore more at www.FearlessYachts.com.
Photography credits:
Images courtesy of Fearless Yachts
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