SHEER JOY!
Nick Burnham has his ‘Concorde’ boating moment. Or does he..?
Ithink it was Jeremy Clarkson who coined the phrase ‘Concorde moment’ to describe the exact point that something peaks, only to never reach those highs again. Concorde travelled at more than twice the speed of sound to deliver its passengers from London to New York in three hours. There is nothing in commercial flight like it anymore, it was the high point of the commercial aviation industry.
In 2010 I was invited to drive the original Miami Vice Scarab. Regular readers will know what a huge Vice fan I am, my own boat is named after an episode: Smuggler’s Blues. Getting to drive an actual boat from the series (which had been fully restored) was like a Trekkie hitching a ride on the Starship Enterprise. I had two unbelievable, unforgettable days with the owner and his friends and came away elated, but with the bittersweet certainty that I’d had my boating Concorde moment – it would never be that good again. And despite many fabulous experiences since, I was proven correct, right up until last summer.
James Barke from Boats.co.uk phoned me. He’s a fan of my Youtube channel AQUAHOLIC, and wondered whether I might like to make a film about a Princess 72 charter boat in Mallorca for the channel? I thought about it for a nanosecond before agreeing.
The first thing to do was to fill all four cabins. Marianne, my beloved of course, her two children, my son Dave and his partner Beth were all givens. We also invited Marianne’s brother Leo and his girlfriend Cat because they’re great fun and Marianne’s kids adore them. We were welcomed aboard at 10am on a sunny day in
August by Paul, the skipper and Victoria, the stewardess. After being shown the boat we set sail, lounging on the foredeck as Paul piloted the boat gently down the coast while Victoria prepared lunch.
The afternoon was spent in a bay, all of us enjoying the warm Mediterranean sea and an array of toys that included Sea Bob underwater scooters and paddle boards, before reluctantly dragging ourselves out for hot showers in the cabins and being run ashore in the tender for dinner.
After a great night’s sleep we woke to a full English breakfast being prepared, which we devoured on the flybridge beneath the shade of the bimini. Another morning cruise followed, another fantastic lunch and then everyone dived off the platform for another brilliant day of watersports. We dined on board that night, back on the flybridge in the warm still air, Jimmy Buffet in the background. We got the young’uns off to bed at 10, Marianne and I called it a night at midnight and we discovered the following morning that everyone else remained up top, chatting until 4am!
The following morning we cruised back to Cala d’or. The mood, it’s fair to say, was sombre, everyone on the boat had been completely blown away by the trip and no one wanted to leave. It wasn’t just the best boating experience of my life, it was possibly the best experience of my life. And I left knowing I’d finally had my Concorde boating moment. It. Was. Epic.
Except… James called a month later to say that he absolutely loved the films we’d made, and that he also has an Oyster 825 charter boat. I’ll keep you posted…