Wright Performance 420 No. 2 Going To Team Farnsworth
You know Win Farnsworth, who lives in Pompano Beach, Fla., with his longtime girlfriend Sara Christine, from his top-speed shootout exploits in Low Altitude, a turbine engine-powered 50-foot Mystic Powerboats catamaran. Farnsworth parted ways with the 50-footer a few years back, but he never exited the high-performance boating world. He even went the center console route with a sexy 34-footer from Statement Marine and (before that) a Mystic 4200 center console.
Presently a blank canvas at Performance Boat Center in Osage Beach, Mo., the second Wright Performance 420 sport cat is going to Win Farnsworth and his girlfriend, Sara Christine, and will be powered by Mercury Racing 450R outboard engines (click image to enlarge).
But Farnsworth knew he’d eventually make it back to something a bit more sporty, as did Sara Christine. He just knew it before she did, as he ordered a Wright Performance 420 sport catamaran after falling in love with the boat during its debut at the 2019 Miami International Boat Show.
“I looked at the Wright Performance 360 and the new Victory cat, but I wanted something that could handle bigger water, something with more size,” he said. “The 420 seemed to be the right thing to do for me and Sara Christine, and it has a great layout.
“And obviously Doug Wright has proven hull designs,” he added. “We watch them win on Sundays in offshore races.”
From any angle, the newest Wright Performance 420 sport cat is a beauty (click image to enlarge).
Farnsworth wanted to surprise Sara Christine with the boat, but talking it up after the Miami show didn’t help his cause. Nor did taking her, at the invitation of exclusive Wright Performance 420 and 360 dealer Performance Boat Center, to the introduction of the new Mercury Racing 450R outboard engine in Nashville in June.
An exceptional sleuth by nature, Sara Christine knew something was up.
“When we were in Miami, Myrick Coil (of Performance Boat Center) showed us the demo boat, but we didn’t get to ride in it,” she said. “We were kind of bummed about it. After the event in Nashville where we got to ride in the boat, we were flying home and Win kept saying, ‘I really love that boat.’ I knew something weird was going on.”
Flash forward to the latest issue of Speed On The Water digital magazine, which features a profile of the first Wright Performance 420. The article includes a single sentence about the second 42-footer going to a “well-known buyer.” Careful reader that she is, Sara Christine became even more suspicious.
“I asked 100,000 times a day about it and he wouldn’t say anything,” she said, then laughed. “I called Bernie Neuhaus at Marine Unlimited after I read the article and asked him if Slug Hefner had ordered a Wright 420. He told me, ‘No, he ordered a Mystic.’
“I knew there was something weird going on,” she added, then laughed again. “I am nosy and then I got really annoying by bugging Win about it all the time.”
Sara Christine and Farnsworth have settled on the color scheme above, which will be applied in the paint shop at Performance Boat Center (click image to enlarge).
Farnsworth held his secret for seven months. But he finally cracked today.
“Between the article and 900 people messaging Sara with rumors, I had to come clean,” he said.
Powered by twin Mercury Racing 450R outboards, the all-white boat—his plan from the start was to present Sara Christine with a blank canvas for which she could pick the color scheme—will debut at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout event in Central Missouri. Thanks to deck modifications, it is even sleeker than the first Wright Performance 420.
“It is cut down one inch in the front and five inches in the rear, which should help increase the visibility from the rear seat,” said Farnsworth. “It’s also all carbon fiber and 450 pounds lighter than the first one.”
As it happened, during a recent trip to Italy Farnsworth and Sara Christine toured the Lamborghini facility. And, to put it mildly, the experience informed their future graphics decision.
“I loved Lamborghini’s custom color palette,” she said. “And that was how we picked out the colors.”
After its debut, the boat will be painted by Performance Boat Center. Then Farnsworth and Sara Christine will take delivery of the Wright Performance 420 No. 2 and bring it back to South Florida.
Wright 420 Performance Hull No. 2 is even sleeker than the first build.
Said Farnsworth, “Now, the cat is out of the bag.”
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