UK-based English Harbour Yachts has recently won the coveted award for the best ‘Wheelhouse and Cockpit Cruiser’ with its new EH29 Offshore model at the internationally-attended Motor Boat Awards ceremony in London.
Organised and judged by Motor Boat & Yachting magazine and ybw.com, the Awards acknowledge the very best in motorboat design from the past year, and each category is keenly contested with entrants from all over the world. However, English Harbour Yacht’s latest – and so far largest – model, which was launched at the 2015 Southampton Boat Show in September, clearly left an impression.
The judging panel, made up of a team of experienced marine journalists, was impressed by the boat’s light and airy interior, its positive handling, and by the sheer quality of the build. The panel also commented on the neat design touches that made the EH29 such a pleasure to use, particularly the amount of headroom – exceeding 6ft (2m) throughout the main cabin – which is unusual on a boat of this size. The judges also remarked on the attention to detail with many practical features such as a covered fuel filler with its own built-in spill catcher.
The EH29 Offshore has been a major development for the company, which was formed in 2012 by two former directors of Fairline, Adam Greenwood and Alan Bowers. Their mission was to produce small and mid-sized motorboats that had a very high build quality, for which there was clearly a gap in the market. Their smallest model, the EH16, had already received a ‘Highly Commended’ at the 2013 Awards, so both directors were delighted with the outright win in this particularly competitive category.
“This Award means a great deal to us,” Greenwood said. “We have put a tremendous amount of thought into the English Harbour 29 Offshore, largely based on our cumulative experience at Fairline, yet also from many years of customer feedback. We have collaborated with one of the UK’s most celebrated designers, Andrew Wostenholme, to create a well-mannered and highly practical motorboat that has a real feel of quality throughout every aspect of the build.”
The EH29 Offshore is available with a number of engine options, and can achieve a top speed of around 24 knots with a Volvo D3 Aquamatic inboard diesel. Such is the demand for the English Harbour range, that there are plans afoot to launch a new 30ft Open Offshore model later this year. In the meantime, they have both the EH16 and EH29 Offshore on show at Boot Düsseldorf, 4B42, and are focusing strongly upon expanding their European dealer network.