Go On A Boat With Friends

Aboard the potent Cigarette Nighthawk AMG Boat:
Speed, Sun, and The Sea

Photo: Mercedes-Benz

I have been on a Cigarette AMG Racing Boat three times in my life, which is three times more than the average person will ever experience — and the ride is still mind altering. The intoxicating mix of sun, speed and surf make these expensive boats potent products that sell for millions of dollars.

Power boat racing gained widespread visibility on TV shows in the 1980s, like “Miami Vice,” as Crocket and Tubbs skipped across the water in hot pursuit. There’s an outlaw quality to the history of Cigarette Racing and powerboat culture that dates back to prohibition. Cigarette Racing, which has nothing to do with the tobacco trade, became the most well known brand dating back to 1969. Beyond their recreational appeal, power boats became tools for the cocaine trade, because they could slip in under the radar. Cigarette founder, Don Aronow, was gunned down in a 1987 murder that remains unsolved to this day.

The AMG model that inspired the boat.

Entrepreneur Skip Braver resurrected the brand in the early aughts, and in the marine world, Cigarette has grown its cult like following. This is the thirteenth boat that Cigarette and Mercedes-AMG produced together, in a partnership that dates back to 2007.

My most recent ride was to commemorate the launch of the Cigarette 41’ Nighthawk AMG Black Series, unveiled in late June, a boat that is one of one, and already sold. It was a built as the sister vehicle to a wicked sports car called the AMG GT Black Series, and exudes a massive 720 horsepower. The boat sits low and light, which gives it the edge on it ridiculous performance attributes. The deck and hardtop design use the light weight metal carbon-fiber.

Gorden Wagener, Mercedes-Benz AG Chief Design Officer, weighed in heavily on the design particulars. On the water the festive boat earned constant thumbs up from other boaters. It has five super powerful outboard engines, and everything is operated through a series of technical Garmin screens, and minimal switches. I watched over the captain’s shoulder and drew comfort that he had plenty of information about the surrounding sea, and depth of the water below. There’s a delirious sense of perilous risk at these reckless high speeds. Yet the seats are cozy, and there’s nothing utilitarian about the boats gauzy orange finish for passengers.

Here’s how it feels to ride in that AMG Cigarette boat:

At 5 miles per hour, I am languid, island breezy, barely moving.

At 25 miles per hour, it feels like the boat is at an easy glide.

At 45 miles per hour, perched on the bow, I feel salty breeze, invigorated, and light.

At 70 miles hour, my eyes tear, my face feels as if I’m am billowing in the wind, and I’m clutching my hat.

At 90 miles per hour, I have some sort out of body experience.

As I grew more comfortable cruising along, I closed my eyes and let the sensation of the open sea strip away all my tension. I savored the good fortune of riding on such a sublime machine. When I returned to land, I found this line from a Lucille Clifton poem that captured all the emotions of the day.

blessing the boats

across the bay, perpetually in motion.

“may you kiss

the wind then turn from it

certain that it will

love your back”