If you like fast cars and exciting rides, there’s a good chance you’d appreciate a sports cruiser, too. Most of this genre is low-slung, detailed with colorful graphics, and can blast across the bay at high speeds. You want to feel the wind blowing through your hair while you blow the doors off your slip-neighbor? Then a sports cruiser is for you.

While sports cruisers may have a range of powerplants including outboards, stern drives, or in some cases the rarer surface drives, most are express-style boats with an open cockpit, an enclosed bow or cabin forward, and no bridge. The helm may be open, enclosed, or partially enclosed and shaded by a hard-top. Their cockpits are usually equipped with plenty of seating, so you can take out the entire family or a group of friends for thrill-rides and fun in the sun. Most also have designs and accouterments that allow for swimming and/or watersports, like extended swim platforms, telescopic swim ladders, and tow-points. Tanning pads and loungers are also features commonly found on sports cruisers.

Larger sports cruisers also have the accommodations needed for day cruising and overnighting. While they aren’t usually equipped for long-distance cruising, their cabins do tend to have features like a berth or two, an enclosed head compartment, and freshwater showers either in the head, at the swim platform, or in both locations. One interesting development that’s become more and more common recently is the inclusion of outdoor galleys, or “summer kitchens.” These have features like outdoor grills, sinks, cutting boards, and refrigerators, which make food prep a snap and keep the cabin free of the heat and smells that go along with cooking a meal. Oh, and let’s not forget about the fact that most serious sports cruisers also have sound systems that can rock the boat, come party time.