A boat's license to thrill

A variety of Sunseekers at the 2016 Hong Kong International Boat Show and the 2012 Hainan Boat Show in Sanya. [Photo/GORDON HUI SUNSEEKER ASIA]

After picking out your model comes the fun bit－selecting the luxury fixtures and fittings. Sunseekers are built at the factory in Poole, Dorset, England, which has a workforce of 2,300. Delivery for most models takes around a year. Once built, your new Sunseeker is transported to Hong Kong on a container ship, dropped into the sea on arrival and then towed to a berth in the marina. Once it's licensed, you're ready to go.

In his position at Sunseeker, Hui has rubbed shoulders with many rich and famous personalities over the years. For one, he hosted lunch for Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond at the Aberdeen Boat Club when they staged Top Gear Live in Hong Kong in 2009. The show opened with a spectacular video of two Sunseekers racing through Hong Kong waters and actor Michael Wong leaping into an Aston Martin as he continued the chase through the city's streets.

Hui has developed a close relationship with Aston Martin in Hong Kong; the quintessentially British sports cars have featured alongside Sunseeker yachts at various events around the city. Why are Sunseekers such a good fit for the James Bond movies? "First of all, it's a cool, pioneering British brand－the Sunseeker is a sexy, sleek machine that's the equivalent of the Aston Martin," says Hui. "Its Deep V hull design lends itself to the kind of high-performance maneuvering and sharp turns that the Bond people need－and that other boats can't do."

For most people, owning a luxury yacht or being James Bond for a day are the stuff of dreams. But if dreaming is not enough, there's one way to get a slight taste of that glamorous world. Shaken Not Stirred, the Sunseeker Superhawk 34 that featured in the opening sequence of The World is Not Enough, didn't actually explode in front of the O2 Arena as seen in the film. It's available for hire on the river Thames for a relatively modest ￡3,800 a day－with champagne on the menu, if you desire that extra 007 touch.