| Palmer Johnson 120 |  |
"Now what?" It’s a
rhetorical question, but Captain Dave Frevert asks it out loud. He turns,
looking aft through the LCD glass partition that separates the race car–like
bridge from the rest of the main deck on Palmer Johnson’s 120-foot
Vanquish. Off the stern quarter, a marine patrol officer is signaling Frevert that
he’s approaching. "Well, it can’t be about our wake. I haven’t been above three
knots since we came back in through the breakwater," Frevert announces to no one
in particular. Vanquish is stopped at idle anyway, waiting for
one of the countless drawbridges on the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale
to open. Around her, countless small powerboats blaze by, blatantly ignoring the
No Wake signs and the officer now idling alongside us, discussing something
important with Susan, Frevert’s wife and first mate.
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The patrol boat wheels away just as the bridge begins to rise.
Susan pokes her head into the helm station, a high-tech enclave of black and
orange leathers and brushed aluminum. "He just wanted to know who built it.
Couldn’t believe it when I told him. Kept shaking his head."
 Built in two pieces, the sun deck’s stairs
disappear for a clear view out. (Click image to enlarge)
A grin erupts on Captain Dave’s face. "That’s not the first time that's happened. It would be easy to imagine Vanquish getting cited
for speeding even while tied off in a slip. Her athletic lines, metallic Light
Glacier Blue Awlgrip paint and coppery boot stripe just scream "speed."
Ironically, the illusion is reversed for those on board. A deep-V hull, Quantum
stabilizers and library-like quiet make 17 knots feel like idle speed. Built
with a composite superstructure on an aluminum hull, Vanquish displaces just
145 tons and nearly jumps to plane thanks to twin M90 MTU diesels.
Whether she’s effortlessly skimming along at her 24-knot cruise
speed or simply serving as a floating tanning parlor in the Med, her new
European owners and their four kids will have to get used to people staring. "In
all my years at the helm, I’ve never seen anything like it," says Frevert.
"Someone is going to get whiplash walking past her on the dock. Everywhere we
go, cameras come out and people just can’t help themselves. We get so many
questions that sometimes it’s hard to get any work done."
The fourth in the 120 series inaugurated with the 2003 launch
of Cover Drive,
Vanquish is significant because, according to PJ
President Mike Kelsey Jr., she represents critical mass for the line.
 The fordeck is actually the lid to a recessed
garage that houses a 15-foot tender. (Click image to enlarge)
"It takes a musician one big hit to get noticed, but it takes
at least one great album to really command attention. Well, this boat and Hull
No. 5, a boat called Hush that just launched, constitute a body of
work that commands attention."
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