FAST LEARNER
Alexi Watts may be married to a powerboat racer but their first proper cruise together on a 50-knot Bladerunner 45 proves to be a steep but very enjoyable learning curve
A shakedown cruise to Mallorca on a 50-knot Bladerunner is a steep learning curve for novice crew member Alexi Watts
While my husband is a very experienced powerboat racer with many years of designing and testing the Bladerunner boats we build at our company Ice Marine, I don’t get out on them as often as I would like. So when Jeremy decided we should do a shakedown test of our new BR 45GT demonstrator together, I was over the moon. Especially when he suggested we take it on a two-week cruise to Mallorca. This would be the first time we had holidayed together without children for 25 years. As the date got closer I began to get nervous as the reality of being the only crew member on board struck home. “Don’t worry,” Jeremy said, “I can do all the driving and mooring, all you have to do is sort out the fenders and lines.”
Our trip did not start well with a four-hour flight delay courtesy of a French Air Traffic control strike. Our precious boat fared even worse. It was being trucked down to Palamos, Spain
on a low loader but refugees had managed to sneak on board during an overnight stop and the lorry driver was imparting dire news of damage and mess. Thankfully the damage was mainly superficial but Jeremy wouldn’t allow me to see it until he’d finished cleaning up the mess. It was all a bit overwhelming, we were finally here after months of planning and tomorrow we would be off on our big adventure.
OFF TO A FLYING START
At last we were on our way to Sitges. The sea was a bit rough but not enough to hold us up. One of the joys of the Bladerunner’s air entrapment hull is that it flies across the wave tops using the tunnels to create lift, reduce drag and soften landings. And thanks to the triple 370hp Volvo D6 engines it’s also unusually refined for a high performance craft. Jeremy was in his element, gently feathering the throttles to keep up an average speed of around 30 knots. I soon started to relax and enjoy the ride, although eventually I did have to put up the electric window
on my side of the cockpit to protect us from the occasional wisp of spray whipped up by the strong cross winds.
Sitges Marina was very picturesque but extremely hot. It was my first time docking stern-to in the Med but I managed to get all the fenders and lines on and didn’t embarrass myself too much. To keep cool we hid inside the saloon with the air-conditioning on before heading off to a quayside restaurant once the sun started to set. On our return we switched on the stereo and sang along to Frank Sinatra while watching the fish swim around our underwater lights before settling down on the surprisingly large, comfy berth and drifting off to sleep… before being rudely awoken at 1am by loud music that didn’t let up on until 5am. We are clearly getting old! Still reeling from lack of sleep, we set off early to make the long 110nm passage from mainland Spain to Mallorca. One of the joys of a truly fast boat is that it can cut long journey times in half. The BR45 is good for 50 knots flat out which means it can cruise very comfortably all day at any speed from 25-45 knots. As the water was still quite lumpy Jeremy stuck to around 30 knots and soon we were eating up the miles with nothing but us, the sky, the sea and a couple of container ships on the horizon.
I had just fallen asleep when Jeremy shouted “dolphins”. He eased off the throttles so we could watch the dolphins leap and dive around our boat before disappearing back into the deep. After just three hours Mallorca started to appear over the horizon and a few minutes later our destination of Port de Soller gradually revealed itself. Wow! The mountains are staggering, huge, high, craggy granite walls plunging into the sea.
FEELING SMALL
Soller is a gorgeous old town with elegant stone houses and colourful shops and restaurants strung out along the curved shore front, and a tram running the length of the bay. We had taken the precaution of booking a berth at Marina Tramontana and as the day progressed, the spaces filled up with bigger and bigger yachts until we felt like a small fish in a very large and exclusive pond.
We walked into town and swam off the sheltered sandy beach. The water was wonderfully warm, salty and relaxing. At least until I felt something move under my feet followed by a nip on my leg. The fish were biting back! It wasn’t painful, but it was off-putting so we headed back to the boat and set about unpacking our electric folding Go Cycles. I hadn’t done much
cycling lately and felt a bit wobbly at first but the Go Cycles soon became our best friends as we explored, shopped for provisions and rode around without having to work up a sweat pedalling. We both feel that our holiday wouldn’t have been the same without them.
We also chose an electric outboard for the tender which proved so much lighter, quieter and easier to store in the tender garage than a petrol one while still propelling us around at a decent speed. It was such a nice spot that we decided to put the galley to the test by cooking dinner on board.
The next day we had cruised swiftly along the coast at 35-40 knots to Cala Portals, a beautiful little bay with turquoise waters and a tiny beach surrounded by rocks and caves. Being faster than most other craft meant we were able to bag the prime spot. We set our anchor, lowered the electric ladder and jumped straight in for a blissful swim. As the day went on the bay began to fill up with boats and we had to adjust our anchor a few times. But as the evening came the other boats began to melt away to be replaced by fish playing in our underwater lights.
We settled down to sleep but just as were nodding off the wind picked up. Our anchor held firm and didn’t slip once but Jeremy just couldn’t relax and barely slept. Half the boats that had started the night at anchor had left by the morning. We waited until first light before packing up and zipping back round to Puerto Portals, where we anchored in the bay and slept for a couple of hours. We woke to the sound of sealions barking and thought we were going mad from sleep deprivation until we realised we’d dropped anchor in front of a sea life centre.
Later in the day we cruised round to Cala D’OR. We weren’t sure we liked it at first. It’s a very narrow inlet with berths and restaurants all along the edges that made it feel rather claustrophobic. But after a peaceful afternoon sleep in our freezing air con we felt refreshed and ready to explore the area on our Go Cycles. We enjoyed a refreshing beer in one of the many restaurants then cycled off to the supermarket wobbling back with bulging backpacks and yet more bags swinging off the handlebars. Dinner was good, with a fun atmosphere as people wandered around the inlet admiring the yachts and deciding which ones they would buy if they won the lottery.
Best of all the water was calm and there were no loud clubs leading to our best night’s sleep yet.
CALA HOPPING
After another day to catch up on work and housekeeping (or should that be boat keeping), we fuelled up and sped across the swell to a perfect little bay we’d heard about called Cala Mitjana. There is an amazing private house here with manicured lawns and an enormous beach house on the water.
It was still bumpy inside the bay but the weather forecast promised nicer weather so I jumped into the water with a mask and snorkel to check the seabed for rocks. All looked good, with a sandy bottom and sheer sides to the granite cliff faces. Jeremy spotted an iron bollard set into the rock and after some minor acrobatics we managed to get a stern line attached to it. As the day progressed we were joined by lots of little Spanish boats leading to a brief altercation with a small hired boat when they got themselves tangled up in our bowline. They all departed come sunset and we spent an idyllic evening with just one sailing boat for company, lying on the bow cushions looking up at the stars as they poked out one by one.
We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and set off before the bay got too crowded again. The sea was lovely, calm and bathed in a wonderful soft light. The other benefit of the BR45’S hull shape is the stability provided by its two outriggers and even at 35 knots I felt totally safe sitting on the bow cushions watching the scenery scroll by. Gradually the landscape softened becoming flatter and more barren. All too quickly we arrived at Porto Cristo.
This felt more of a busy tourist port than the others so far but it was attractive and we managed to secure a berth at Club Nautica before the afternoon wind picked up. Jeremy got the tender out and we pootled about looking at the caves and exploring the harbour. That night every few hours a strange swell lifted us up and then dropped us down again, causing the low water alarm to trigger. Apparently this is a well known phenomenon that happens a couple of times a year, just our luck that we were there for it. The rain and wind left a red dust over the boat and we spent the best part of the day washing everything down.
We left Porto Christo the following day in blistering heat.
The waves were big rolling affairs and with the auto pilot setting the pace at 30 knots we rode smoothly up and down them like a watery roller coaster. After a very short time we had rounded the headland and entered Pollenca Bay. It’s full of small, rocky calas
with tree-shaded sandy beaches. We chose an attractive looking one with turquoise water and a few boats already at anchor. It was deep but very clear with big shoals of fish swimming around hoping for bits of bread from the boats.
PRETTY IN POLLENCA
Crossing to the other side of Pollenca bay we found another charming beach that we had been to on a family holiday years before. It seemed like a magical oasis then and looked even better from the sea. You aren’t allowed to anchor here but we were able to pick up a buoy for a few hours before heading to Porto de Bonaire for the night. On the way there I sat on the bow again but had an argument with the sun pad cushion. At 45 knots it wanted to take flight but I didn’t. I made a mental note to add more fixings when we got home.
We found Pollenca Bay so beautiful that we decided to stay for two more nights and could have spent the whole two weeks here. It just seemed more peaceful and less busy than the rest of Mallorca. On our last day in Mallorca, we took the boat across Pollenca Bay and headed round the point. The waters were even calmer here with an amazing sheltered inlet where massive cliffs fall straight down into the water. A few large motor yachts were moored up and looked deceptively small against the dramatic backdrop. The only noise was the occasional bleating of a goat and above us a large eagle circled.
The water was crystal clear and once the anchor was set I jumped straight in for a swim. Jeremy dived in next to me but decided to grab a cloth and clean the hull. Two minutes later I heard a yelp and “a jellyfish has stung me!”. We leapt out of the water to survey the damage. Jeremy said it felt like multiple bee stings and already had large welts appearing on his elbow. I dug out the Antisan cream, anti-histamine pills and ibuprofen. Meanwhile Jeremy caught the offending jellyfish in a bucket, so we could identify it as a ‘mauve stinger’ according to Google. The pain lasted about 40 minutes but didn’t stop him from finishing off cleaning the boat.
COMPETENT CREW
My first trip as deck hand was nearly complete, I had become proficient at putting out the lines and fenders, I had cooked some reasonable food in my little galley and hadn’t broken anything important. I was excited to see the children and share the boat with them on the next part of our family holiday in Spain.
The crossing to the mainland was easy and fast averaging 32 knots on a moderate sea, arriving in Palamos three and a half hours later. It felt like a proper homecoming, our docking was slick, all down to my professional handling of course, and we set about making our vessel ship-shape ready to show off to the family. After a somewhat stressful start it had been a happy and successful trip and we felt very proud of our new boat. She had performed wonderfully. A little too wonderfully, as we are already wondering how we can justify another shakedown trip next year!