Test driving the first Falcon Tenders hybrid limo Miss Wonderly

Katia Damborsky marvels at the seductive styling, silent comfort and impressive green credentials of Falcon Tenders’ debut limo

It’s an overcast and windy day in London. The River Thames looks dirty and dull. Tugs and Uber Boats produce billowy waves that bounce off the river banks and make the water choppy.

Conditions don’t appear ideal for a test drive, but Falcon Tenders’ Miss Wonderly is waiting for me at Luxury London Afloat, a boutique boating event at St Katharine Docks. The marina is packed with shiny white yachts vying for attention. Amid the hubbub, the low-profile 10.6 meter looks ready to discretely whisk a superspy back to M15. How can I resist?

Superyacht designer Michael Leach lent his expertise to Miss Wonderly’s lines. Passengers can board on either side of the helm (as well as aft), where there are sockets for a boarding pole to give them something to hold on to

Credit: Mark Lloyd

Falcon Tenders, her builder, is the brainchild of industry stalwart Mark Pascoe. It’s a new company, but Pascoe and his team have decades of experience in boatbuilding. This tender was developed over two years as a one-off, full-custom project, a showpiece for the fledging boatbuilder and a fancy ride for superyacht guests.

“We get immense pleasure from building boats,” says Pascoe, Falcon’s founder and CEO. “It’s the challenge that makes it special.”

Part of the challenge of this particular project — and its appeal — reside in its advanced self-charging, plug-in hybrid electric system. As important as this is, there is more to this challenge. Falcon took every step to make its first boat as sustainable as possible yet luxurious enough to be seen in the company of a 100-metre superyacht. The hull and superstructure are in composite (fibreglass and foam sandwich) with a plant-based epoxy resin, for example. “In this day and age, who …..