@bearnecessities:

Virgin Atlantic Challenger II? I knew nothing about this awesome vessel until it appeared recently in Plymouth looking a bit worn and tired. Turns out a local ferryman / boatyard owner had found it in a Spanish boatyard, bought it and is going to fully restore her. Have a look here

Must have been awesome to fire her up!

Despite all that, still prefer sail…

If the Good Lord above had meant us to windsurf, he wouldn’t have given us arses to sit on, now would he? 😉

@ Joshvegas

Now that is proper boat porn

Look at those womanly curves …. beautiful

Would

I do love windsurfing in the Trade Wind zones, where you are holding onto a bit of plastic, with no mechanical propulsion, riding waves and capturing winds that have been circling the globe for millions of years. Kinda spirichul like.

You can use your arse later for sitting at a beach bar while sipping a refreshing caipirinha through a straw.

Some of those boats above are Ok 😉

But boating is about purity in both soul and spirit. If it’s too complex or needs too many rail fodder types then it’s not pure and therefore stodge. Open60’s for example are complex in structure but pure in spirit, one man, one boat, simple. J’s are elegant yes, but complex in form and function ergo..stodge. Laser1’s pure, simple, one man. Even a small boat like Melges24’s where 4 men can become complex, simple boat yes, complex crew so for me that sits on both sides of the dock.
Windsurfing, simple, pure, one man, one shorebreak. Thats elegant. 😉

Reef break FTW

@matt the VO70’s and the new One Designs are truely awesome modern racing machines but they aren’t “boat porn” when the racing is said and done and the afterlife charter business exhausted they will be scrapped, no one will lovingly care for them no expense spared as they do the J’s

Even on fast fun Sailing boats, as soon as the wind gets up I always feel I`d rather be on a Board, Its just so much more involving, you are far less remote from what’s happening

I got to drive a Riva a few times in an old job. This particular one had a deep throated Chevy engine which sounded gorgeous. It however handled like a pig and had been painted blue with a light blue vinyl interior, although the lines and curved screen still made it a head turner. I did get to drive Prince William and Prince Harry on it during a trip to Thorpe Park, before returning to driving a big plastic, Volvo driven parascending boat which was my usual day job.

Not normally a power boat person but that does look good. I saw a Reba in action this summer. Also lovely

I thought the AC72s were amazing this summer. As they are nearly as fast as that speed boat, well what more can I say

@bikebuoy ‘birch bark canoe’ for a proper dose of purity.

Combine two sports and you get…

But then, I’ll always have a soft spot for one of these;

I need to get some shots of our Salcombe Yawl in action. But I still miss our old Bantham boat – one of the first 4, and literally in another class compared to the modern ones – bamboo mast and spars, copper buoyancy tanks and scarily fast, especially when you thought about how old she was (not that you had time while you were sailing her…)

northernerindevon – fantastic news; I knew it was for sale @ 1/4 mil in the Spanish boatyard oddly enough; so glad it’s been bought and being restored. It’s an iconic piece of the 80’s – surprised Richard didn’t keep it, but then he had reasons to not look back fondly 😕

Klunk, those J’s are exquisite! But the AC72’s at full speed, out of the water like that, are incredible, the speed for a sail-driven vessel mind-blowing.

@joshvegas, that rowing-boat is a thing of sublime beauty, a real work of art!

That’s a 19m CountZero. Sexiest boat in the thread by far, but I’m a bit biased 😉