The adventurous set would find Palma, the beach resort capital of Mallorca, mind-numbingly boring. Spread out along a touristy, white-sand bay, the island’s commercial heart has long been a destination for the more conservative European holiday crowd. No doubt you’ve run into them on your travels: Lotus-eaters in striped speedos and revealing bikinis who have no qualms with the time-honored tradition of getting sufficiently lubricated and roasting like a 10-hour rotisserie. Which was amusing, since Axopar, the Finnish manufacturer of sleek, angular and all-around expeditious vessels, had invited a contingent of international press and VIPs to this laidback Spanish island in the Mediterranean for the world premiere of the Axopar 45 XC—not so much a boat as it was a high-speed adventure generating machine, if the branding was to be believed. How does one stir up adventure in paradise? The irony seemed lost on everyone but me.
The Palma International Boat Show was running concurrently with the world premiere of the 45, though you wouldn’t know it from the way this secluded event was set up. Axopar had
