5 Of The Fastest Motorboats Ever Built, Ranked By Top Speed

, which already feels fast when you're skimming waves. But a handful of boats go well beyond that, hitting speeds that don't sound real unless you've experienced the exhilaration of cruising at those speeds on open water.

Ever since the early twentieth century, a growing number of individuals have shown interest in racing their boats to determine which ones can achieve the greatest speed.  and changed what people thought was possible. This started a thirst for competition, leading to a dramatic rise in water speed records over time.

To push their capabilities on the waves, modern motorboats borrow directly from aerospace tech. These are machines engineered with Turbojet (not to be confused with turbofan) engines and  that wouldn't be out of place in fighter jets are now standard in a motorboat. This gave them comparable performance to most modern aircraft. 

To put that into perspective, , and all the entries in this list leave that figure in the dust. A few of them have held world records, and all of them go much faster than any Coast Guard cutter could dream of chasing. If you're looking to spend seven figures on something that can go toe-to-toe with a jet on takeoff, this is where your money would go.

The Spirit of Australia is the fastest boat to ever touch water.

, the Spirit of Australia didn't use propellers.  That let Warby hit the kind of speeds that would normally need a runway. .

Despite multiple challengers over the years, the Spirit of Australia's record still stands.

 was ahead of its time in terms of materials and design.  made it a lethal combination of speed and balance.

and although Still, no conversation about water speed can skip this boat. It didn't just break the record once; it made a habit of it. Even modern boats, like Lamborghini's motor yacht, which tops out at around 60 knots (roughly 70 mph), struggle to come close to its blistering speeds. 

In drag boat racing, Problem Child is king. , this boat

,  This thing is built for pure, straight-line acceleration.

 Knox's team even partnered with Kalitta Motorsports for tech and parts crossover, helping the boat become the reigning champion of the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series.

Despite the boat . That sums up the spirit of the crew behind it: fearless and focused.

Mystic Powerboats has a reputation for making ridiculously fast catamarans, and the C5000-S might be their crown jewel. That's enough to launch the boat to cruising speeds around 150 mph with ease, but the top end? That's a blistering 250 mph. 

Despite the performance, the C5000 isn't stripped down. 

. Mystic also offers smaller variants like the  and , and is also the manufacturer of American Ethanol, another high-speed boat with 10,000 horsepower that has a record of cruising at 221 mph, but none of them match the raw output of the C5000-S. 

Most people think of Outerlimits as a luxury performance brand, but the SV-50 proves they're just as serious about speed as they are about style.

 Speed like that demands control, which is why the hull features a five-step bottom and staggered engine configuration to keep balance and trim tight at high velocity.

Inside, the SV50 feels like a sports car on water. It's the first in the lineup to feature a full interior overhaul with recessed speakers and added storage, all while keeping that signature wraparound windshield for wind protection. Garmin GPS units, digital throttles, and a clean dash layout round out the helm.