Bayliner 285

 

Issue: January 2003
Manufacturer: Bayliner

There's an old saying that goes "the best laid plans of mice and men go asunder" and another that states, "Trouble always comes in threes". Both are statements that plagued me over a three week period as I battled with the elements to complete this test. And at the time of writing the Modern Boating team had finally bagged this test, but the planned cover shoot to accompany it was still at the will of the gods. There's also another irrefutable fact in publishing; deadlines and Christmas breaks wait for no man.

We just couldn't believe it, the Sydney region, like most of Australia, was in the middle of the worst drought in more than 100 years. But it seemed that as soon as we mentioned the word chopper, over came the clouds. And while it didn't rain the bad light made the conditions lousy for photography.

The first planned day for the shoot was cancelled when four days before the event a huge band of dense cloud crossed the Western Australian coast and headed for Sydney destroying all chances of a shoot.

At least for the second attempt we got to the day before the shoot was scheduled before canning it, because of clouds.

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Now, here we were trying for our third attempt at a home run and according to the weather bureau we were on a sure thing ? but. During the night a high-pressure system off the east coast blew strong nor' easterly winds onshore over northern NSW. These picked up a small cold front out west, which caused cooler sou' westerly winds to blow across the Sydney Basin and you guessed it, with the southerlies came the clouds. But the bureau still insisted the clouds would lift by mid morning, so we went for it.

My instructions to the photographer and pilot were to lift off as soon as the clouds broke and we'd rendezvous in Broken Bay.

Ah, the best-laid plans of mice and men ? it didn't happen. The clouds never lifted, the photographer and pilot wasted more than half a day sitting around on their pats, while the rest of the team were feeding the ducks at the Berowra Waters Marina. May be next week?

But all was not lost. There was a bit of haze and low cloud about at Berowra, but the light was even, so on-water photography would be possible. At least we could put the test in the can if not the cover shot.

Over my years of testing boats I've come to realise that my first impression of a boat was normally fairly close to the mark. And my first impression was this new blue and white-hulled 285 Bayliner looked sensational. Not only had Bayliner done away with the bland white hulls of the 285's forerunners, gone too was the Ciera model nametag.

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