Customised to the hilt and with Mercury power, Robin’s Nest takes the Vanquish 45 into orbit, says Cecile Gauert.
It started innocently enough on a beach in Anguilla over a barbecue lunch. A group of yacht owners were chatting about one of their favourite topics – their boats. I wasn’t eavesdropping exactly; let’s just say, I got interested. Next thing I know, I am in West Palm Beach looking for Robin’s Nest, a gorgeous Vanquish 45 with metallic gray paint, red boot stripe and vibrant blue cushions. She is easy to spot with her quad Mercury Verado 600hp V12 outboards and nicely angular hardtop. She is the first VQ45 built this way.
The original VQ45 model has Volvo Penta IPS but the owners of Robin’s Nest wanted more than the original 42 knots.
“When I saw the boat in Miami, as soon as I got on there and felt this aluminium, I said ‘It’s so what I want,’ but I told [Tom Steentjes, Vanquish’s founder and CEO,]: ‘This is so slow. Why don’t you put these brand-new Mercuries on? This boat will fly,’” owner David Reis recalls. He loves the Vanquish brand’s Dutch pedigree, and an attention to detail that matches his own.
The CEO was very receptive. “I like to get challenged by clients. We build a lot of custom boats and special projects,” Steentjes says. These include a 24-metre hybrid sportfish and a 35 metre with triple MTUs and surface drives. “We do a lot of special stuff, and it’s aluminium so we can weld whatever the client wants,” he adds. The new engines required a new hull (a stepped hull instead of the original deep V hull). In ideal conditions, this version can reach 70 knots at the very top end, which earned it the Vanquish “Veloce” moniker.
Robin’s Nest is the first, but chances are it won’t be the last. The blend of style – the minimalist, elegant exterior design is by Dutch designer Guido de Groot – and performance has translated very well in the US, where Vanquish has already delivered 70 boats. The tender market is also picking up.
Although the owners of Robin’s Nest have a larger Horizon yacht, they don’t use their Vanquish as a tender. They use it to cruise in South Florida, for jaunts to the Bahamas and they ship her to enjoy summer in the Northeast. When showing their boat, which includes a nice cabin below with good headroom and a berth, what really gets Reis going is the hull’s fit, build and finish – and, of course, the handling.
“This is where the little boy comes in,” he says, turning on the engines, which make an airy buzz instead of the usual hiccuping cacophony of large diesel inboards when they start. With two fingers, he sets the boat in motion. “I had never ever used a joystick before, and I used to laugh at people who use one. Now I am such a convert because there is nothing you can’t do with this,” he says. “If I am coming in big wind, then I prefer to use the throttles – I am happy to be old fashioned, too.”
Free from lines and other boats, we pick up a bit of speed. Reaching maximum speed isn’t an option, but when permitted to do so, he pushes her to 52 knots and, after a careful survey of the surroundings, executes a 360-degree turn at 42 knots, using the boat’s red wheel. Exhilarating, fun and perfectly dry.
On the way back, the ride is comfortable despite the wake created by passing traffic and strong winds, even with the Seakeeper off – a feature Reis says he seldom uses. “At mooring, I have used it a couple of times for the rocking but, under way, I rarely do. The boat is stable enough.”
What he does use is a Zipwake trim system. “The boat would normally not get on plane until 32 knots, which is crazy because, if you’re running at night, you are not going 32 knots and you want the bow down,” he says. “The Zipwake, a great GPS-based system; now the bow comes down at 22 knots, and it makes a huge difference.”
This VQ45 also has the first enclosed hardtop Vanquish has done with a full-height windshield and glass on the sides, offering excellent protection from spray or wind while maintaining great visibility. “When you go Boca to Miami, Miami to Key West, or to the Bahamas, it’s the wind that kills you after a couple of hours, but here you can be perfectly enclosed, and you don’t feel so tired when you get there,” he says.
Other custom features that Vanquish implemented at the owners’ request are two side boarding doors and a hydraulic stair off the transom, which lowers into the water or goes up to a dock. It recedes into a compact casing. For night-time operation, Reis also asked for special fittings to hold an LED light, powerful enough, he jokes, to light Shea Stadium. Regular and USB sockets are everywhere. “That’s how crazy you can be if you want,” Reis quips.
Trading the IPS engines for outboards left a large empty space, which is perfect for storage. Beside a Northern Lights generator, it’s large enough to store all sorts of equipment, including two electric scooters, folding bicycles and Seabobs.
The tour and experience are over too soon. With the boat kissing the dock, I step through the side door and turn around to see Reis’s wife, Robin, pulling in the fender, with the couple’s dog at her side. The sun kisses the metallic sides as Robin’s Nest turns under the action of her Mercury engines. The American flag snaps in the wind. I think this is a good marriage in more ways than one.