Garlington Yacht is part of the crème de la crème of US sportfishing XL manufacturers. These incredible boats are used for one of the most specialised types of cruising, big game sportfishing, as part of heavily endowed tournaments.

The Garlington 61 Flybridge isn't the largest of these sportfishing boats, but it's probably one of the most beautiful, with its well-balanced, classic yet highly efficient lines.

18.60 metres long, 5.30 metres wide, 30 tonnes lightship and 2x1500 HP Man diesel, these figures don't give you a good idea of what the Garlington 61 is all about. To read them, one imagines a big, clumsy launch.

Garlington was born in the 1980s out of a partnership between a boat builder and a submarine designer. The former wanted a hull design that would allow high speeds in heavy seas.

The fruit of this collaboration culminates in this Garlington 61 Flybridge and its top speed of 45 knots! With a top speed like that, it's easy to get to the fishing grounds in tournaments where the winner can walk away with a cheque for a million dollars.

But speed doesn't come at the expense of equipment, and the equipment on this Garlington 61 is nothing short of astonishing.

Never mind the engines, which are fitted with Veem toroidal propellers (similar to the Sharrows on speedboats) and the two (!) 20 kW gensets, the most astonishing thing is yet to come:

6 tuna tubes built into the deck, oxygen tanks for storing live fish such as mackerel and bonito, a small live fish tank, a very large refrigerated live fish tank, a watermaker that feeds a 300kg/day icemaker, a Seakeeper 9 gyrostabiliser, air conditioning delivering 1,000. 000 BTU (30 kW), two radars, a locker in the owner's cabin for storing fishing gear, the list goes on and on, plus two ice-makers, one of which has clear ice cubes, dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, fuel pollution control station, seawater deck rinsing pumps and a desalinated freshwater pump, a dizzying array of equipment for a boat representative of the great US sportfishing world.

When will we see a version with a commitment to limiting emissions? Because if this type of boat has an identity and a design that make it iconic, this type of builder should look into the question of decarbonisation. A parallel hybrid configuration, or one with generators attached to the propulsion engines, would do away with the two gensets, which are unnecessary on a craft with such powerful diesel propulsion engines. Given that price is not an obstacle, we regret that this type of configuration is not on the programme any more than it is on the big French motorboats...