Absolute 70 FLY

The 70 FLY — The Absolute Wonder — is the flagship of Absolute's Flybridge range. Length overall is 70' 8" on a 17' 8" beam. Fuel is 951 US gallons and fresh water 240 US gallons, water heater volume included. She is certified CE category B and rated for sixteen people.

Two design decisions define the boat. The first is the six-panel sliding door on the port side, which turns the indoor dining area into an open-sided space rather than a room with a big window. The second is a flybridge free of steps, laid out with modular furniture and a large open-air dining area, which changes what the upper deck is for — a place people stay, rather than a place the helmsman sits alone.

Aft, a sliding platform gives direct access to the water and doubles as the boat's entertainment and swim area. Forward, the bow sundeck converts.

Power is twin Volvo Penta D13-IPS1350 pods rated 735 kW each. IPS brings joystick control with it, which is the mechanism by which a 70-footer stays realistically owner-driven — and the reason the six-panel door and the terrace cockpit are worth having, because you can put the boat alongside without a crew standing by.

Tankage is 951 US gallons of fuel and 240 US gallons of fresh water. Water is the tighter constraint of the two for a boat carrying sixteen people, so factor the watermaker question early rather than at the options meeting.

At sea trial, log observed burn at your intended cruise rpm in writing and build your own leg planning off the 951 gallons. Do it with the boat loaded the way you will actually cruise it — tender aboard, tanks part-full, guests on the fly.

Four cabins, and each one has its own en-suite head. The master is forward with a king-size berth; the VIP is aft; the guest cabin carries an electrically sliding bed that converts the arrangement without the usual furniture wrestling. The crew cabin has separate access and a private bathroom of its own, so service does not route through guest space.

The six-panel port-side sliding door is the feature to walk aboard and operate yourself. When it is open the indoor dining area becomes an almost open-air space; when it is shut the salon is a normal, quiet, air-conditioned room. Very few boats at this size offer the same span of opening.

The flybridge is free of steps and fitted with modular furniture and a large open-air dining area — an upper deck arranged as a terrace rather than as a helm with seating attached. The cockpit terrace below uses the same modular approach, so the furniture layout follows how you are using the boat that week.

The aft sliding platform handles beach-club duty: direct sea access, soft lighting, and dedicated relaxation space. The bow sundeck converts for the same reason.

At 70' 8" the 70 FLY sits at the top of Absolute's Flybridge range and squares up to three boats a buyer will already have on the list.

The Azimut Fly 72 is the closest Italian rival on size and market position, and the comparison usually comes down to exterior styling and how each yard uses the flybridge. The Princess Y72 is the British cross-shop, a larger boat by the tape and a more traditional one in layout. The Ferretti 720 rounds out the Italian shortlist with a heavier, more formal interior treatment.

The 70 FLY's argument against all three is how the main deck opens. Walk aboard and operate the six-panel door yourself, then stand on a step-free flybridge, and the boat makes its own case.

This is the 70-footer for the owner whose boat is a place people gather. Four en-suite cabins, a crew cabin behind its own door, a salon that opens down one side, and a flybridge you can cross carrying two drinks without looking down.

It fits an owner-operator who entertains at anchor more than he runs long passages. Sixteen people aboard, CE category B, pods and a joystick — the profile of a boat that is used hard on weekends and handed to a captain for the delivery trips.

If you want the Navetta take on this size, look at the Navetta 70 in the same visit. It is a shade shorter, notably wider on the beam, and takes a different position on how the main deck relates to the cockpit. The two boats are not variations on each other, and a single afternoon aboard both settles it.