There was a time when high speed on the water meant roughing it. At 50 knots, you would have expected a hard ride and
the minimum of creature comforts. All that has now changed and Italian builder Pershing has been one of the pioneers of
sophisticated high performance. Now you can have your cake and eat it too with the latest addition to the Pershing range.
The 80 offers the best of high society living in port, combined with the excitement of high speed at sea. For the lucky
owners of this new Pershing, life on board can take a whole new meaning.
Most performance yachts start to run out of steam at 40 knots as they come close to their top speed. Not this new Pershing.
At 40 knots, it is just getting into its stride, with this being just a comfortable cruising speed. Open up the throttles
and there is still exciting acceleration left. The response is immediate and as the engine note rises, the speed climbs
rapidly. On a test boat with heavy fuel load, we topped out at 48.6 knots. But with a lighter fuel load, the Pershing 80
can reach the magic 50 knot mark, which is exciting performance for even the most discerning speed demon.
Running at 50 knots used to mean that you felt the excitement – you had the wind in your hair. But the Pershing 80 is
so sophisticated that you don’t really sense the speed. You are closed in and so nicely cosseted in the calm and quiet
of this sports yacht that there is little physical impression of how fast you are travelling when the engines are flat
out. You can talk in a normal voice at the helm. The hull almost ignored the metre high waves and maintained a level ride,
though there was an increase in the harshness of the ride at higher speed. The only real impression of speed you get with
the 80 is when you start overtaking all the other boats around you.
Open up the sunroof and the saloon doors and you get a bit closer to the world outside, but even then the yacht remains
remarkably sophisticated and the breeze is only gentle. If you really want to get the feel of this yacht at speed, then
you need to head out onto the foredeck where there is an intimate seating area that is wide open to the wind. This is where
you can really feel the excitement of 50 knots at sea