What a day for a test on a glamorous weekender like the new Atlantis Verve 36. It was 3rd December 2009. And in Savona, on the North east coast of Italy, that meant miserable, damp, gloomy weather, with the temperature hovering just a few degrees above freezing. However alluring, those bikini-clad girls never look the same when they're wearing thermal vests and full oilskins.

So no smiles as we headed out of the commercial port. And then a wonderful thing happened. No, the sun didn't spring into action, the boat did. If any sportsboat could bring a smile to your face on a grey day, this is it. Forty knots in the perishing cold ought to be enough to dampen anybody's enthusiasm, instead it's wonderful handling and strong performance had Lester and I grinning like idiots. Only a looming flight and the threat of hypothermia bought us back into the port in Savona.

Hurtling around in the Verve 36 is like driving a great sports car with a rigid chassis - there's a finely chiselled feel to the handling. But unlike some sports cars, the boat's ‘suspension' is very compliant, thanks to the Verve's superb deep-Vee hull, which sliced through the chop with great ease. That's quite an achievement considering how beamy the boat is.

But what of the accommodation, and niceties such as engineering and engineroom access? And just how practical is that strange looking semi-hardtop thingy? For the low down on these issues and all the other crucial aspects, catch up with our full six page Verve 36 boat test report in the April 2010 issue, on the stands on the 4th March.