Highfield Sport 800

This 8-meter rib is for those who want a different kind of family pleasure craft.

By Kenny Wooton

I did as any prudent mariner would prior to taking the helm of a 26-foot, 7-inch RIB with a pair of 150-hp Mercury outboards bolted to the transom. I spun my cap around on my head to prevent what I expected would result in its expeditious loss overboard. Wise move, as it turned out. Seconds after shoving the throttles to the wall, I had a 50-knot breeze in my face and a pucker or two elsewhere. I’ve driven faster in boats, but the thrill of howling across flat water at high speed never gets old.

My little thrill ride took place on Lake Cadillac in northern Michigan in September, during the Highfield Boats North America dealer meeting and product demo event. The Highfield Sport 800 I drove was a brand-new 800 model and the first to arrive in the U.S. It proved itself a snarling center-console wolf in family-day-boat clothing.

The company had just opened a new headquarters and rigging facility in the lake’s namesake town, and after three years off due to Covid, decided it was time to reconnect with the companies that sell its products to the North American market. Among those on board for the event were Highfield Boats founder and CEO Julien Carussi, Christophe Lavigne, president of Highfield Boats North America, Michael Carroll, who handles marketing, and other members of the Highfield team.

Carussi explained that Highfield is out to change Americans’ perception of RIBS and broaden their appeal as front-line family pleasure boats, a notion that has taken hold in parts of Europe and elsewhere.

“Time was, people in the U.S. saw a RIB and thought tender,” Carussi said. “Our challenge is to get them to see them as boats.”

Lavigne knows that the Sport 800 would make a fine yacht tender, but he said, “There are a lot more American families than superyachts.” Like its slightly larger sibling, the Sport 900, the Sport 800 is available with twins, the preferred configuration of many American boaters, especially in the Southeast.

On my Lake Cadillac run, I observed a top speed of 46 knots. The hole shots were scary-fast and flat with the boat reaching plane in less than 5 seconds. The boat also did 30 knots on one engine, a nice option for economical cruising or a quick run home should mechanical issues arise.

Nearly all Highfield boats (the brand sells six lines ranging in length from 6 feet to 29 feet) have aluminum hulls. The tubes provide stability at rest and a dry ride. The 800 has a deep-V hull that is light and narrow and didn’t shrug as we crossed wakes on the lake. The boat could have shown a little more grip in turns at speed, but the technicians were still working to get the rigging right on the prototype. Maximum power will be twin 200-hp outboards or a single 350-hp engine.

Outfitting on the Sport 800 is hardly Seal Team-spartan. The model in Michigan had a comfortable sunpad on the foredeck, an under-bow anchor, a standard hardtop, secure bolsters at the helm, seating for five or six in the aft cockpit with rear seats that fold down to make another sunpad and an optional removable table. The soles employ attractive, non-slip EVA foam. Options are extensive including a head under the console. A joystick may be coming soon. Tubes are available in six different colors. (A caveat: The model’s 9-foot, 8-inch beam would require an over-width permit for trailering in most locales.)

Highfield currently has outboard partnerships with Mercury, Suzuki and Tohatsu, and is working toward establishing relationships with others including Yamaha, a favorite with many Americans. The company is also working with a number of electric propulsion companies to expand its offerings into that quickly warming market. In addition to the Sport 800, Highfield exhibited other new models at the 2023 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, including the electric-powered ZeroJet 330 (shown above). It’s the first production RIB with electric jet propulsion. The company says that boat has top speeds up to 22 knots and run times of up to 7.5 hours.

A month after the Cadillac dealer meeting, I had the pleasure of driving a Highfield Sport 760 equipped with a single Suzuki 250 on a windy, choppy day on the Ohio River, courtesy of Bourbon City Yacht Tenders owner Dustin Kidd. As with the Sport 800, the ride was exhilarating. The days of the RIB as a primary boat may be upon us.