The Annapolis Boat Shows have been returning to City Dock for decades. While you’ll see plenty of familiar faces on the docks year after year, the boat models evolve. Lines get modernized; creature comforts get upgrades. It’s fascinating to recognize the progress being made in boatbuilding as it happens in real time.
Every once in a while, something comes along that is so different, so new, that it becomes a showstopper. Everybody wants to tour it. And this year, the Annapolis Powerboat Show has three.
Ghostworks M40 Minerva
What do you get when you connect an America’s Cup designer, a composites specialist, and the Navy Special Ops? You get Minerva, the fully carbon, customized M40 from Ghostworks Marine, a new operation out of Michigan. The whole line is designed, engineered, and built on the Great Lakes.
Minerva’s M-shaped hull may look familiar, and that’s because it’s the same hull behind the new Chesapeake Bay ferry concept. But that’s about the only similarity.
The M40 can go from idling to top speed in 6 seconds, a smooth and stable vessel that handles more like a Porsche than a boat. The hull design grips the water’s surface and can handle tight turns without slowing down. And she’s the ultimate workhorse, capable of holding three times her displacement. That’s handy for carrying 50-caliber guns and anti-ship missiles, or supporting a great flybridge and ample seating for the family.
This boat can be used by agencies for defense purposes, or it can be customized for your family boat rides (if you like to intimidate while you cruise).
The M40 (and her little sister, the M35) are in Annapolis before heading down to several defense-oriented shows. Find both on the Demo Dock and be sure to ask where the torpedoes get stowed.
Candela C-8
There’s a chance you saw the Candela C-8 at last year’s Powerboat Show. If you did, you’d remember. She was hardly at the dock, however, and instead was zipping around the harbor giving tours. She’s hard to miss: a foiling powerboat hovering two feet off the water, cruising along at speeds in the 20s.
Perhaps one of the most impressive things about the Candela is that she’s fully electric. With top speeds at 27 knots (ideal cruising is 23) and a range of 57 nautical miles, she’s fun and sporty and more (quietly) entertaining than most of the other boats on the market. And with a fully-customizable interior, this is a zippy cruiser that can provide the platform for some pretty epic adventures.
Wellington Yacht Partners Premieres the Duchy 27
It’s the first Annapolis Powerboat Show for the Newport-based Wellington Yacht Partners, who brought the Duchy 27, a gorgeous model from Cockwells Modern and Classic Boatbuilding, a shipbuilder in Falmouth, Cornwall. This is the British boat’s debut in American waters, and her builder has come along to discuss the benefits of the beautiful weekender or dayboat.
Cockwells has been building custom yachts and trawlers for decades, and is especially well-known for superyacht tenders. The Duchy 27 shares design elements with the Patriot 29 by Mathews Brothers, but carries the air of the Celtic Sea in her wake. Gorgeous teak decks, custom joinery, and a spacious cockpit give the Duchy 27 an air of luxury that will help her stand out on the Bay. She’s a lobster boat that rides in comfort, a classic yacht built in the modern world. And you might fall in love.
