Throughout the balance of modern yacht building, the term “fast trawler” was hardly more than a joke. Nowadays, a “true” trawler describes a full-displacement yacht designed for long-range cruising—descended from the big, lumbering fish boats that drag a net, or a trawl, through the water. Were you to come across any recreational trawler tied up in a marina today, fast or otherwise, you might struggle to see the resemblance to those workhorse forbearers.
That is especially the case with the modern line of cruisers from Grand Banks, such as the 54 which we tested during an overcast spring morning during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, met with a temperature gun to the forehead, understandably. The owner had just completed a 1300NM passage and was healthy as an ox with no intention of being infected. What does long-range cruising look like amid a pandemic? “It’s a natural way to keep physical distance from people,” the owner said.
It didn’t take long to see how well the 54 performs, especially the way it handles, thanks to a set of Humphree interceptors and stabilizing fins. For a yacht in this size range, you wouldn’t normally consider performance to be such a big sell. But throughout the entire RPM range, even close to its top end of 31 knots, the 54 felt like it was damn near riding on rails. This is a fun yacht to drive. With its 900-gallon fuel tank, and staring down a long weekend, the sky is the limit on where you can go.
