DOUBLE HEADER

LOA: 54'

Beam: 14'8"

Draft: 3'1"

Displ.: 28,660 lbs.

Fuel: 396 gal.

Water: 132 gal.

Test Power: 2/600-hp Volvo Penta D8-IPS800s

Price (Open): $1.63 million

Price (Express): $1.65 million (no aft bulkhead)

Price (Express): $1.67 million (aft bulkhead included)

Boat testin’ is an unpredictable sport. So, I wasn’t particularly surprised, after arriving at Old Port Cove Marina in North Palm Beach, to encounter iffy meteorological conditions. More to the point, the incoming tide was seriously stacking up against the upstream sides of the pilings and the wind—coming out of the east at 15 to 20 knots—was flat-out honkin’. And both forces were more or less aligned, whooshing along in the same direction, straight into the marina.

“Gonna be interesting,” I chortled, anticipating a day that would spotlight more than just wind and tide. Palm Beach, an Aussie builder with a well-deserved reputation for classic, highly-finished, hi-tech, carbon-fiber yachts, had just introduced two low, lean 50-footers that, from what I’d heard, pushed the company’s