Barche Magazine - Supercustom - Shadow 500
Light, fast and perfect when you take the waves on the bow. It is a seafaring boat and, thanks to BRABUS, looks, design and comfort haven’t been forgotten.
THE BOAT WAS DESIGNED IN FINLAND, AND IT WAS BUILT IN POLAND, while Brabus is a German brand that is well known in the car world, and the London branch handles sales. It could hardly be more European than that... And for the test, we had the French waters of the Côte d’Azur. Villefranche, to be exact.
The conditions were fairly tough. They would have been perfect for kite-surfing, but you can’t say the same for an open boat of around nine and a half metres, with two 250 hp outboards on the transom. Actually, it was better that way - with a flat sea and no wind, nearly everything works well. The waves were around 30 cm high and rose to 50 as soon as we moved away from the coast. That isn’t excessive, but they were steep. Enough to give trouble to a boat that isn’t that large, or that heavy. And then there was the wind that was blowing at between 15 and 20 knots.
Upon leaving the harbour we took the waves head on. The feeling was very positive. The V-shaped bow did its work quite exceptionally. It cuts through the waves and doesn’t jump. There was no bouncing, or falling into “holes”. Shadow 500 is very light and there was as much as 500 hp on the transom. The acceleration is notable, and so too was the speed. Without too much effort we did more than 50 knots and we did that with the waves head on. That is really exceptional.
Under way, it was perfect when handling steep waves on the bow. Perhaps because of a beam of less than three metres, it suffers a bit in terms of stability when it sails abeam. The ergonomics of the steering position is excellent, as is the visibility, whether standing or sitting.
