Each month we pick out an iconic boat that can lay claim to the title of world’s coolest boat. This month, we take a closer look at the Barracuda SV11
Most boats are a carefully considered compromise designed to cover as many bases as possible: floating holiday home, party island, offshore cruiser – jack of all trades, as the saying has it, master of none.
Safehaven Marine’s Barracuda SV11 eschews all those compromises, becoming the jack of a single trade, master of one. Its single dedicated purpose is to conquer rough water and transport its crew safely, regardless of conditions.
One cubic metre of water weighs one tonne. And a big wave comprises many cubic metres. It’s why the glass on the Barracuda is one inch thick! It’s also why the bow is so pointed that it can pierce all that water and punch clean through it, courtesy of a pair of Caterpillar C9 575hp diesels.
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Of course, what you tend to find on the other side of a huge wave, once you’ve blasted through it, is a lot of air and a serious drop. So the Barracuda has four-point harnesses to hold you in place during the inevitable descent, while a 22 degree deep-vee hull and X Craft C-Force suspension seats help cushion the landing.
Not to mention a heavy-duty hand-laid FRP composite hull (6,800g on hull bottom, 8,500g along the keel).
Such a focussed boat requires an equally focussed customer base, and customers don’t come much more focussed than the military, which is why Safehaven’s options list is rather different to that of Princess Yachts.
The Barracuda is a fearless wave machine
There are no hot tubs, no teak deck option, no rise and fall TV. But there is a rise and fall gyro stabilised machine gun platform that emerges from the foredeck, controlled from the wheelhouse. Bulletproofing and a gun rack for the AK47s are also on the menu, should its customer base require it.
But like the original Land Rover Defender, what’s really cool about this boat is its complete lack of style for style’s sake, it’s the shape it is because it’s the shape most fit for purpose. And that purpose, apart from going where no fast boat has gone before, is to do it in secret. Which is why every panel is designed to disperse radar reflections rather than beam them back to whence they came.
For all its super cool all-weather performance, perhaps the coolest thing of all about the Barracuda SV11 is that it’s a bona fide stealth boat!
Barracuda SV11 specifications
Year: 2015
LOA: 11m BEAM: 4.0m
Power: Twin Caterpillar C9 575hp diesel engines
Speed: 33 knots
Price when launched: £1 Million
To submit your suggestion for the world’s coolest boat, head over to the MBY forum.
