53 Azimut Fly

Source: Pete McDonald, Yachting Magazine

The first mansion we passed on the way to the ocean had Doric columns supporting a sun deck that overlooked a never-ending pool. Our captain called that “the starter mansion.” Each house on the row was more and more grand as we idled along, taking in the view from the flying bridge of the new Azimut 53.

The stretch of manatee zones in the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as the scheduled bridge openings, dictated that we would have an hour’s cruise at idle speed. This is not the best time to judge a boat’s performance, but it’s a great way to figure out its sense of place. In this gantlet of posh and even bold houses, most with backyard docks, the Azimut 53 Fly more than belonged.

Any folks sitting poolside or on a veranda along our route would have taken in a vessel with elegant European lines and a tapered profile accentuated with bold, curved windows and a raked windshield on the main deck. On the topsides they would have seen the large rectangular panel of windows that is distinctly Azimut, and that sheds light on an integral area below decks.