Hello Setsailors,

A brief heads up regarding FB 78-1 Cochise:

Cochise is headed towards Europe under new ownership. Although she was not for sale, when Sue Grant at Berthon International introduced us to her new owners it was obvious Cochise would be in good hands and used in a manner that takes advantage of her design.

Cochise treated us amazingly well, keeping us safe and comfortable over many thousands of miles. We wish her new owners the very best with their dream machine.

Join Steve Dashew aboard FPB 78-1 Cochise and find out how the Dashews solved one of the major weaknesses of modern integrated navigation systems.

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Linda and Steve Dashew’s four books now available as a free PDF download.

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… beautifully filmed, powerful video follows the journey of two FPB 78s as they cruise the remote and challenging Lemaire channel of Antarctica. Read the rest »

Join Linda and Steve Dashew aboard the FPB 78 – 1 Cochise on a 7500 mile/12,070 kilometer record setting voyage, Read the rest »

Although we have never been hit with lightning, it is one of the few things about which we worry when at sea, in particular with modern yachts. Hence this new vide0. Read the rest »

This is the third video in Steve Dashew’s series on his search for the perfect cruising yacht. Read the rest »

Having grown up in Southern California, with a sailing and surfing background, riding the waves  a natural part of being in or on the water. Our sailing and FPB designs have reflected this from the beginning. Recently we were surprised to learn that some of our owners are afraid of what is actually. one of the best things you can do with our yachts. Read the rest »

For a link to the video which show and tells it all Read the rest »

Following on the success of their Antarctic cruise in company, FPB78s Iron Lady ll and Grey Wolf ll are going to do another jaunt to the ice summer of 2020, this time to nearby Greenland. Several other FPBs are planning to join, so this is a semi-official call for all FPBers to give this opportunity serious consideration. Greenland is a relative easy destination to reach for our FPBs. Having made this life-changing cruise in 2008 we offer a few comments on the route we took.

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How do you create the best possible cruising yacht? Read on and we’ll share our formula. Read the rest »

I spent my first six decades on earth despising powerboats and those who operated them. In my early days of sailing dinghies, powerboats would always speed up to cross ahead of us leaving a huge wave to wreak havoc with us and our compatriots. My earliest recollection of the single finger salute was from such encounters. As cruisers, if there was a “stinkpot” around they inevitably would anchor close by and then run their genset 24 hours a day. And the lack of seamanship was stunning.  Read the rest »

We are standing at the forward end of the great room aboard FPB 78-1 Cochise. It is eerily quiet as we watch the steam gauge climb from 13 to 20 knots, linger for a moment, before peaking at 22. A fast-rising SE gale has kicked up a steep sea, now confused with a reflected crossing wave pattern as we rapidly close with the Southern entrance to New Zealand’s Bay of Islands. This 60 metric ton motor yacht is surfing under autopilot control. The seas are perfect for Cochise and she rides the better waves for several minutes at a time, at speed length ratios above 1.6. Cochise is the most recent iteration of the perfect yacht, at least for us. Aboard Cochise, and the rest of our yachts, the key design ingredient upon which all else rests is steering control. We are warm, dry, and very comfortable. 

It wasn’t always so. Read the rest »

It is late spring in the Bahamas, water temperature is 83/85F and air that or more. Humidity often is in the 80% range. We are making water, staying comfortable with air conditioning in the evening, generally leading a carbon neutral existence. Welcome to the new world of solar panel cruising.  What follows is a bit of data and several suggestions that might help on your own vessel.

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For those of you who want to experience cruising at its best, if you live in Europe or the East Coast of the US, in your back yards is some of the very best cruising on this planet. We speak of the Exhumas group in the southern Bahama Islands.

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It is finally done (and we mean it this time)! In the post that follows we will detail the logic that lead us to to this new paradigm for navigation stations, and the details that evolved.

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Iron Lady and Grey Wolf have been cruising together in Antarctica, what the few truly experienced high latitude sailors will tell you is the toughest place on earth. These waters are more difficult and dangerous than Svalbard; the Northwest Passage is a cakewalk compared to this. And summer 2019 has been even more challenging than the recent past. In Pete Rossin’s post below you will catch a small sense of what it is like when there are simply no good choices. The photo above looks tame enough but think about it in 65 knots of breeze with eight to ten foot seas, and a glacier at your back.

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FPB 78-2 Grey Wolf and FPB 78-3 Iron Lady are currently having a fun summer buddy boating in Antarctica… Read the rest »

Grey Wolf and Iron Lady are enjoying the bustling Chilean metropolis of Puerto Williams. They are preparing for the FPB ARC: Antarctic Cruising Rally.

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Sue Grant at Berthon is running a series of posts written by the Berthon apprentices who are aboard FPB78-2 Grey Wolf II. They are both informative and entertaining, and cover their experiences right down to the bottom of South America, and eventually to the Antarctic where Grey Wolf II is at this moment. To read about these intrepid apprentices click here.

FPB 64-6 has just completed a winter crossing of the North Atlantic, which at one point featured hurricane strength compression storms in east and west regions. She did so in classic fashion, taking advantage of the weather when possible, but always with a bailout option if the forecasts turned negative. There are a number of lessons for us in this passage. Read the rest »

Stan and Valerie Creighton, proud owners of FPB 70-1 Buffalo Nickel II, have a brand new post published on their site about the trials, tribulations and triumphs of breaking in a new boat.  Read the rest »

With all the engineering tools at our disposal we still use gut instinct, based on years of experience, to size ground tackle systems. The wind speed graph above provides a glimpse at one end of the benefit spectrum. Grey Wolf II is cruising in Tierra del Fuego at the bottom of the world, and recently experienced wind gusts in excess of 100 knots, more than 116 mph, at anchor.

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There is nothing we enjoy more when cruising than meeting up with our designs and their owners. This past summer in Maine was great fun in this regard.  Read the rest »

With Simrad’s recent update, their forward-looking sonar has become a valuable tool, in particular when used in conjunction with their structure scan. The FLS is giving us an indication of the bottom coming up 350 feet ahead of us.

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There are a lot of Canon and Nikon shooters wondering if Sony has gotten competitive on focus tracking. The following series were shot in Pulpit Harbor, Maine while driving the dinghy and watching the depthfinder. Read the rest »

Before there were Travelifts, before there were marine railways, and even before drydocks, mariners concerned with performance used tidal grids for periodic maintenance. Read the rest »

We know readers have been eager for some FPB 70 news. With FPB 70-1 now splashed and undergoing sea trials, we thought we would share some photos with you.
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Painters, photographers and yacht designers have been drawn to Maine for centuries. Between the light and varied subject matter, it can be a visual nirvana.

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Many years ago, while researching ultimate storm tactics for our book Surviving the Storm (free download here), it became clear to us that, whether it was Fastnet 79, Queen’s Birthday Storm, or the 1998 Sydney Hobart Race, heading into the waves is often the best tactic in severe weather.

Because our yachts surf downwind under control making quick passages, and since in all but one of the serious storms we have experienced our natural course was downwind, we’ve rarely had the chance to experiment with truly dangerous seas on the bow. And while this most recent experience is far from what we would call a survival storm, the unusual sea state did give us a chance to test several FPB specific steering and throttle techniques, along with gathering a couple of ideas for improving electronics and night lighting layout.

The notes which follow, although aimed specifically at the FPB fleet, may offer some ideas to others who find themselves in difficult seas… Read the rest »

We are re-learning about cruising, slowing down, changing priorities. Read the rest »

Some of our cruising buddies, and most of our land-based friends and relatives, lead structured lives where they have a schedule and a plan. We prefer to go with the flow–letting happenstance dictate our options.  Read the rest »

At a point in our lives where we want to concentrate on enjoying ourselves aboard, we just finished a long and costly rework of FPB 78-1 Cochise’s Matrix deck. The original was cut up and carted off. And then we went through a steep learning curve involving dozens of changes. Having just completed a couple of passages and done some local cruising here in Maine, we are now in a position to pass initial judgement.

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We have been outspoken in our critique of Simrad’s Halo radar. We felt that its ability to pick targets out of sea clutter was poor, making it dangerous to rely on. We are pleased to report now that after adding Simrad’s Velocity Track software, our Halo is working very well. Read the rest »

We are anchored at Cape Lookout, North Carolina. It has been a very warm humid weekend, the type of weather that typically finds us in cooler climates. We’ve been waiting for the arrival of six new Sunpower 360 watt solar panels, the most efficient available, and very much in demand. Cory and Angela McMahon’s Triton Marine Team have just completed installation, and we are watching as the Outback Mate controller adds up the day’s power creation.

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We’ve been out testing Cochise, checking out the many modifications executed for us by Corey and Angela McMahon’s Triton Marine team. There is lots to bring you up to date on… Read the rest »

We have been having an internal dialogue about the ever-critical issue of anchoring systems, and the fact is that there is nothing like a real blow with a lee shore off your stern to focus your attention on the subject. It will come as no surprise that we like to sleep well at anchor, and by traditional definition this requires substantial holding power. It’s a given that it takes weight to achieve security at anchor, but beyond this simple postulate there are a plethora of choices. What our experience has led us to evolve into may surprise you.

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Fifteen years ago, when we were just starting to build the FPB Series prototype Wind Horse, we put together a video on the design cycle that lead to this new design. There was detailed information on her drag and motion analysis, including tank testing, as well as the historical foundation from which her design was developed. Read the rest »

This dim photo, taken with available light, turns everything we thought about navigation gear layout on its head. We are in the process of revising the Matrix Deck helm on Cochise, throwing out every design approach we have employed over the past 40 years in the process.

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FPB 97 Iceberg has been up in North Carolina, where Cory McMahon and his Triton Marine team have been fine-tuning the Wicked 97’s steering and stabilizer systems. Steve has been there as well working on FPB 78-1 Cochise, and joined in on the fun. Read the rest »

When we started cruising, in the olden days, most cruisers – ourselves included – sold their home to help pay for their new life afloat. This was before GPS, which meant considerable navigation risks, and insurance, if available, was way too expensive for most. Considering that in those days roughly one out of ten yachts crossing the tropical Pacific ended up permanently parked on a reef, you can see where the experience, even when successful, would color your outlook. Read the rest »

It’s a busy time down at Circa. FPB 70-1 is on the home stretch toward splashing. Systems, interior cabinetry, finishing welds, all happening at a rapid pace now. Read the rest »

The following article by Linda and Steve Dashew appeared in Voyages, Chronicles of the Cruising Club of America, and puts the FPB 78 into a historical context. We thought you might enjoy giving it a read. Read the rest »

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.”
~ William A. Foster

This is a difficult post for Linda and me to write. But events in the past few weeks together with the urging of many of our friends and clients (often one and the same) have forced the issue, starting with the William Foster quote above sent to us by one of our owners.

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There has been a lot of hype about the new Sony A7RIII body. Some folks are going so far as to say the tech leap is on a par with the Canon pro line upgrade ten years ago, which introduced their L-series lenses and the 1DX/5DII bodies (which we experienced). You can easily judge for yourself with one example, this first photo.

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The older you are the more critical it is to design for good night vision. We thought we had this subject nailed down. We were wrong.

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Cochise is on the hard at Triton Marine and we periodically check in on the vital signs from the phone, tablet, or desk computer. This ability is just one of the reasons we believe Maretron’s N2K view is a vital cruising tool. Read the rest »

The FPBs are designed with drying out in mind, and like all aspects of seamanship, we think testing the process in controlled circumstances before we actually need to use it makes sense. The following comments are based on a lifetime of avoiding experience with the subject at hand. But the old saying – it is not if you will run aground but when – is as true today as it was a couple of generations ago when we made our way without long range nav aids and few, if any, charts. Read the rest »

It is that time of year again. There is chaos in the parking lots, everybody seems to be fighting a cold, several major airports are snarled, and we are looking forward to seeing the family…..

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You are standing on a rigid coaming of the FPB 70-1’s Matrix deck, looking toward the bow. Inside and out, she is coming together.  Read the rest »

You are looking at step one of the new and improved SetSail. This upgrade includes a much faster website connection. Read the rest »

FPB 78-3 launched, and Steve Parsons is well into Builders sea trials…  Read the rest »

Howdy SetSailors,

SetSail is in the midst of re-vamping and switching servers, so as to speed up performance and generally anchor firmly in the harbor of modern-day internet technology. While this is happening, there is a delay on new content. The transition should be complete next week, with faster load times and lots of new posts.

For some reason this summer, numerous friends asked us if we’d visit Washington, DC with Cochise. Go 170 miles out of our way to see a city that epitomizes waste and inefficiency? Then we thought, why not. We have lots of friends in the area, it would give us a chance to visit some of the buildings that were constructed with our concrete forming equipment (a very long time ago), and we could catch a few museums. And if we were really lucky, maybe the leaves would turn and we could finally snap a photo that has eluded us over many years. To see how this all turned out (and there is even a free lunch!), read on.

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The recent storm that did so much damage along the east coast of the U.S. made for an interesting evening at anchor aboard FPB 78-1 Cochise. With sustained gusts above 75 knots/88mph… Read the rest »

We are supposed to be in downtown Annapolis, on the dock for a few days, doing chores and having a few technicians visit. But then we were uncomfortable after a phone dialogue with the marina dock master – he was a shade too casual about handling our lines in a very tight space with a building breeze – and we decided to anchor.

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We are beginning to get into the cruising mindset, at least as far as this concept applies to the two of us. This typically means sitting more and moving less. But Cochise makes this hard.

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The Nespresso coffee machine hisses in the background as Linda makes a change-of-watch latte. The faint glow under the eastern clouds heralds another beautiful morning at sea. Read the rest »

September 22: Red sky at night, sailor’s delight…That is probably as accurate a forecast tool right now as the supercomputers crunching away. Between Jose and Maria, the present risk factors are high.

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We have been critical of the Simrad radar and chart plotting systems. But there is good news as well. The AP 70/80 autopilots are excellent, easy to program and very smart. But that was expected.  Read the rest »

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Having barely completed sea trials a year ago in New Zealand, FPB 78-1 Cochise has just surpassed the 14,000NM mark.

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From the glorious J-class sloops, we move on to the even more compelling fishing schooners, such as Columbia (above). This Sterling Burgess design (he is the creator of Ranger, the fastest of the Js) represents a combination of speed, beauty, and purpose matched in our minds only by Donald McKay’s extreme clippers.

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It is blowing a steady 20, gusting higher. There is a sea state commensurate with the breeze, and the boats within the Newport anchorage are tugging at their moorings. The yachts offshore, following the J class racers, are plunging through the waves trying to keep up on the wind. And on the race committee boat…

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A spectacle for sure, watching these Js being handled like dinghies is a real treat.

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Extensive N2K data systems, like we use in the FPBs, are costly, and take a substantial programming effort on our part. Yes, they provide a lot of information (and you need to guard against info overload), but is the cost and complexity worth it?

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We are now in full-time cruising mode…

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We have recently been sent some final interior renderings for the FPB 70s. As owners of FPB 64-7 who are awaiting 70-1, we can offer a few comparisons between the two designs. Read the rest »

FPB 97-1 Iceberg running before a stiff breeze during sea trials.

The post that follows this introduction is a chapter excerpted from the FPB 70 and 78 Owner’s Manual. Everyone who goes to sea thinks and/or worries (or should) about heavy weather, and how their vessel will handle different conditions. It doesn’t matter whether you’re on a 25,000 ton container ship, a moderate-sized sailing yacht, or one of our FPBs. We think it is better to discuss these issues openly, rather than ignore them and hope you never get caught. Read the rest »

The July 2017 issue of Boat International magazine features a nine page article on FPB 78-1 Cochise… Read the rest »

FPB 78-2 Matrix deck helm

The current America’s Cup spectacle has us entranced: unbelievable speed, maneuverability, and difficult sailing, the likes of which has never been seen before. The design and engineering required to achieve this level of performance is nothing short of astonishing.

The time to study what’s happening in Bermuda in detail is the result of this correspondent’s photography accident (night sky shooting on a dark dock), which resulted in a shattered kneecap and a forced hiatus from summer cruising… Read the rest »

The FPB 78 Dream Machine page is recently updated, and features multiple detailed interior and exterior photos of both FPB 78-1 and 78-2.  Read the rest »

Proud owners of FPB 70-1, Stan and Val Creighton, have kindly agreed to periodically share their thoughts with us during the FPB 70 build process. Read on to find out what it’s like to be expecting… Read the rest »

The June issue of Motorboat & Yachting features FPB owner Peter Watson sharing his reasoning behind “Why FPB”…  Read the rest »

Berthon now has a fortnightly update on their website for all things FPB construction… Read the rest »