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Are you a sucker for gadgets and gizmos? The latest electronics? Even for the non-shopper,
they are hard to resist. Temptations are everywhere you go—airport kiosks,
sprawling malls and catalogs. Do you really need a clock that tells you the time
in Japan and Dubai? Or an electronic frame that displays a slide show of your
trip to Montana? A portable foot massager? An Astroturf putting green for your
swimming pool? A riding lawn mower with a GPS receiver? Were you the first in
line for the iPhone when it hit the market? These are mere trifles when you
consider the world of yachting. Boats are unquestionably the ultimate
thingamabobs. They truly are the big boy toys.
Our cover feature on Allure Shadow does not depict the
"white" yacht that typically graces our pages—no sleek lines, no spit and
polish, not a hint of varnish. What we have on our cover this month is the
definitive toy for the toys—the "shadow" boat.
As the word suggests, a shadow boat follows your other boat
around and carries all the stuff that doesn’t fit in the lazarette, in the
garage or on the boat deck. It is conceived and fitted out to schlep all the
goodies you don’t want to leave home without: the fishing boats, the Lasers, the
Jet Skis, the helicopters, the motorcycles, the bicycles, the compressors, the
submarines, the jeeps and the extra fuel to get you to the Arctic Circle.
Not only is a shadow boat a supply boat, but it also offers all
the creature comforts in spades. This vessel can house your bodyguard, your
personal trainer, your massage therapist and your nanny. Heck, it can even house
the kids. If you keep the little ones on the shadow boat, peanut butter and
jelly won’t get smooshed into the custom carpet in your yacht’s main salon.
The kids will be happy on Allure Shadow, too. There’s a
swimming pool and enough space to in-line skate, skateboard and toss a football.
Guys who feel a bit suffocated by brocade window treatments and tufted white
silk sofas can head over to Allure to play poker, pinball, watch sports
on the big screen and smoke cigars to their hearts’ content. No need to hold
back on the red wine either. Spillage is not a catastrophe; just spray and wipe.
You might consider leaving your white boat stern-to in
Saint-Tropez and take this one the distance. Allure Shadow carries nearly
100,000 gallons of fuel and can go 10,000 nautical miles at 10 knots.
So if the temptation is there, no need to hold back. Let your whims be your
guide. Be spontaneous, buy whatever, wherever. A shadow boat is the garage that
never needs cleaning out. It is a vessel that merges function with form. Who
knows what lurks in the heart—or the garage—of a yachtsman? The shadow
knows….
 Seagoing Sherpa
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