On board the bullish Viking 90

Bullishness is nothing new for Viking. In the early 1990s the builder famously led the charge against the industry-threatening luxury tax like a berserker on a beachhead. And when IMO regulators rolled out Tier III emissions standards a few years ago, the builder reacted with characteristic vigour.

Viking fishing fleet’s flagship at the time, the 92 would have to comply with the new mandate (by adding an SCR emissions control system). “It’s a tip of the hat to Viking’s leadership to say ‘well [expletive deleted] here comes some [expletive deleted] regulation and we are going to overcome it,’” David Wilson, Viking’s design manager, says. “And that’s how the 90 was born.”

I find massive bags of stone crab claws filling them to the brim when I get aboard a 90 at the Viking’s Florida Yacht Service Center in Riviera Beach. Under the fighting chair is a Seakeeper 35 that should be useful in any number of situations, but particularly for mitigating roll while drift fishing — a common cause of mal de mer.

One big change Viking would like to see is more horsepower and the builder is waiting for the engine manufacturers to supply it. Currently, the most powerful engines available for the 90 are twin 2,635-horsepower MTU 16V2000 M96Ls. That’s a full stable of horses by almost anyone’s standard, but it still has the 90 running about a knot shy of the magic 40-knot mark that Viking strives for.

The 90’s cockpit is the same size
as on the 92 and boasts a cornucopia
of fishing accoutrements

While I am aboard this 90, we get her to 32.5 knots, where she has close to a 600-nautical-mile range. The acceleration is smooth, and her performance at speed and during a demonstration of her ability to back down on a fish are what I expect from a Viking. Calm seas are not a true test for this hull, but Cannan tells me that she has performed admirably in rougher water. “People don’t realise just how big this boat is until the weather kicks up; she really stretches across the waves,” he says.

For a convertible, the saloon is quite remarkable and is in line with almost anything you’d find on a motor yacht in this size range. Walking from the action-packed and machismo-laden cockpit into the yacht’s interior is to enter a whole other world. An underlit, L-shaped Lumix stone bar grabs the eye and is the space’s centrepiece. The striking Lumix was initially a custom job on a Viking 80 but was so well received that it is now standard on the 90. Dark, high-gloss walnut throughout is a fitting wood choice for this boat’s masculine vibe.

A secondary wet bar aft might seem like overkill if you’ve never walked the docks at a big-game fishing tournament and seen how the parties unfurl after the scales have closed. The main saloon on this boat can accurately be described as the lower saloon, as the enclosed sky bridge serves a similar purpose. The first four hulls of this model all have an enclosed bridge. It greatly enhances the 90’s entertaining credentials and it may be what pushes her into superyacht territory.

Wilson and Cannan see other advantages. For one, Wilson says the aesthetics have improved. “It used to be that with enclosed bridge sportfishers, people said they looked like wedding cakes, but we have figured out a way to get the lines sleeker, and you don’t hear people saying that stuff anymore,” he says.

For Cannan, it’s about running the boat comfortably. “You can’t beat an enclosed bridge for a travelling boat,” he says. The owner has plans to eventually fish in Central and South America, which means the captain will log plenty of hours behind the wheel – and he is rather happy with the air-conditioned comfort behind the massive single-pane windshield.

When it’s time to fish, he will move to the wheel on the sky bridge. “It’s almost as high as the tower you’d have on an open-bridge boat,” he says. “They call them ‘three-hour towers’ because they take three hours to clean when you come in. And if you ever fall from a tuna tower it will be the last time you ever fall off anything.”

Speaking of falling, the one criticism I have of this boat is that it’s light on railings, but Cannan is aware of this and plans were afoot to rectify it. And since Viking’s subsidiary Palm Beach Towers does all its metal work, cinching up those overexposed spots should be an easy fix.

The 90’s tournament-fishing DNA has a happy dual advantage for those who would just as soon take a large family or group of friends to the Bahamas. This yacht has five staterooms, crew quarters for two, plus a pantry area on the main deck with a berth, which is large enough to host an extra crew member. The layout, highlighted by an en suite owner’s stateroom with a walk-in closet, is spacious enough for large groups to have their privacy whether they are chasing prize-winning pelagics or the next sunset.

Orders have been coming in fast since the public unveiling of the 90 at the 2022 Miami Boat Show, and Viking’s latest flagship seems poised to become another Jersey Shore legend. Though with the price tag for a well-equipped boat hovering right around $15 million, don’t expect these boats to ever be quite as omnipresent as the Jägerbomb.

First published in the March 2024 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.