When we see new boats released and showcased they always look great and you can imagine what it would be like to actually be able to run one. Well, this past weekend at the Emerald Coast Poker Run I was privileged enough to get that opportunity.
Waiting for me in Destin, Florida was the 41 CIGARETTE with Mercury Racing QC4v 1100 HP engines in front of M6 drives. So did the reality reach the imagination? Hell yes! and then some….
First off this boat looks incredible. The paint scheme, interior, all of the details are over the top quality that you would expect from CIGARETTE and AMG. The boat was solid as a rock and fast. Just cruising in the mid 70 to low 80 MPH area was smooth and solid as we just gingerly and causally overtook many sport-boats, all the other center consoles we saw, and when conditions and other boat traffic allowed the sprint of acceleration into the 90’s was lightning fast as this boat accelerates like no other which of course we would expect given the power pushing it.
Given the really strong push of outboard powered Center Consoles in today’s market there are not very many stern drive powered boats and when you actually get the opportunity to run a boat like this it really makes me wonder why.
