We we treated to an exclusive sea trial of the highly anticipated Fairline F Line 33 during the recent Cannes Boat Show
One of the unique aspects of the Cannes Boat Show is that after the show, as the sun sinks and the pontoons empty, a snake of boats depart their berths and head out into the Bay of Cannes for sea trials.
This isn’t exactly what you would call ideal test conditions. The boats are usually full with a combination of dealers, clients and desperate journalists attempting to note down trim angles and fuel efficiency figures, and the amount of marine traffic around the mouth of the port can make for interesting sea conditions.
Usually we would wait to test a boat as important as the F-Line 33 away from the chaos of the show, and we do indeed have plans to run an in-depth test in the next edition of the magazine.
But given the opportunity to get behind the wheel of the fastest Fairline ever built during the show we simply had to go for it, didn’t we?
Fairline didn’t mess about with this, the first F-Line 33 off the production line, fitting it with a pair of 430hp petrol V8s. The twin 220hp diesel option, good for a top speed of 33 knots, doesn’t quite light the fire like 860hp of petrol-powered ferocity, but that’s no concern of mine as I take the wheel and gaze down over a frameless windscreen and elegant foredeck flanked by LED strip lighting.
The steering wheel has been changed since the boat’s private launch in London, replaced by a multi-function Isotta like the one fitted to the Sunseeker Hawk 38 and Brabus Shadow. It’s reassuringly chunky and feels good beneath the hands.
The dash is clean if not as exciting as the rakish exterior and all engine information is displayed via the Garmin MFD without the ease of reference of a separate engine information screen or some analogue dials.
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The sterndrive joystick stands proud of the dash adjacent to the MFD, and on the opposite side an adjustable wireless charging pad provides the perfect spot to clamp your smartphone tightly in position.
Read our full first drive report of the Fairline F Line 33 in the November 2019 edition of Motor Boat & Yachting, out October 10.
