Go-Fast Boats Get Centered at Miami Boat Show

Statement’s 34-footer is just on of the high-performance center-console V-bottoms that will be on display at the 2012 Miami Boat Show.

Statement’s 34-footer is just on of the high-performance center-console V-bottoms that will be on display at the 2012 Miami Boat Show.

Most trends in the high-performance powerboat world are cosmetic. A few years back, for example, a slew of go-fast V-bottoms with cut-down decks—meaning lower profile and no cabin—and sit-down cockpits—meaning bucket seats in place of stand-up bolsters—were everywhere to be found at the annual Miami International Boat Show Miami. OK, you could make a minor case that with the lower decks a few models picked up a little speed and that the bucket seats were super comfy, but for the most part it was all about looks.

A few years before that at the Miami event, you’d have been hard-pressed to find a go-fast catamaran more than 36 feet long that didn’t have some kind of cartoon theme or mural, which ranged from classic to classless. But again, it was a cosmetic trend, and cosmetics are about fashion. To borrow loosely from Oscar Wilde, “Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.”

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