The Fairey Sabre 19

The Queen is dead. Long live the King!”

That was the mantra in the U.K. last year, echoing similar declarations that have being going on for centuries: one generation passes the crown to the next, and there is immediately heated debate about the old queen versus the new king—never mind the behavior of the children and grandchildren. It happens with famous companies too, in boatbuilding as elsewhere, as a successful brand is handed down through descendants, for better or worse.

Few boatbuilding brands in the U.K. are as iconic as Fairey Marine. The company made its name from 1946 onward by building a line of sailboats, mostly designed by Uffa Fox, before branching out into powerboats, including distinctive craft such as the Huntress, the Huntsman, and the Swordsman. When the company finally stopped building pleasure boats in 1975, a succession of builders attempted to emulate its success by copying those popular designs.

The current holder of the crown is Mark Lewis, who has been restoring old Fairey motorboats for the past 24 years. In 2012, he became the proud owner of the Fairey Marine brand. It’s taken him a little while to develop a new boat in the line, and, unlike his predecessors, he hasn’t simply replicated an old design but tried to imagine what a new Fairey powerboat designed in the 21st century would look like. The outcome was the Sabre 19, which last year was turning heads at the Southampton Boat Show. A more intelligent and well-considered design for a finely crafted small speedboat would be hard to find.

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