Stealth

Stealth is one of the PJ 150s that Palmer Johnson launched in 2010, with the long, knife-edged profile Nuvolari Lenard gave the whole series and an interior by the same studio. Unlike most yachts of her length she rides on a planing aluminium hull, not a displacement one: she climbs onto the plane and eats up distance when the plan calls for it, and she draws only 1.8 metres.

That matters where she works. She spends the whole year in the Bahamas and adds the wider Caribbean in winter, and in those waters the shallow banks and cays that keep larger yachts outside are within her reach. A week can mix the quiet anchorages of the Exumas with a fast run back to Nassau for dinner ashore. Stabilisers work both under way and at anchor, so the speed does not come at the cost of comfort once she stops.

Her best spaces are outdoors. The top deck pairs a hot tub with an outdoor sitting area flanked by two screens; breakfast belongs on the aft deck; and meals can be served in three different places, indoors or out. Balconies fold down from the hull so that two people can eat just above the water. The owner's quarters take the front of the main deck, with plenty of glass on both sides, a bathroom each for the couple and a dressing room. A gym and a beach club round off the facilities.

Everyone else sleeps one level lower, in four cabins: two doubles and two twins, both twins with a pullman, which suits families with children or two couples travelling with kids. Seabobs, jet skis and a flyboard keep teenagers busy, and a separate tender for fishing and diving lets keen anglers or divers head off on their own.

Pick her if your group wants to move and see many islands in a few days. If you prefer the slow roll of a classic displacement yacht, or want to cruise the Mediterranean, she is not the one: her cruising is confined to the western Atlantic.