Given our morbid fascination with sea states other than benign, the following note from Bruce Farrand at Circa regarding an offshore testing day last week may shed light on what we covet in capability.

Quick rundown on our most recent sea trial on Tiger on  5^th of June:  It was a good day to get plenty of water on to Tiger’s deck. Forecast for the day was GALE FORCE WARNING IN FORCE, North to NorthWest winds, 40 knots, easing to 25 knots in the evening, sea becoming very rough for a time. Northerly swell of 4 meters.

We headed out to Whangarei Heads into the sea 20 degrees off port quarter, and ran in this direction for 30 minutes. We all felt that it was very easy going, could easily use the galley. When heading into the sea we had the occasional green water over the bow. Found a break in the sea and turned her around and ran directly off. Tiger was tracking very nicely with no tendency to veer off or broach. On a nice wave we pressed the throttle hard down and ended up with a maximum speed of 22.5 knots.

Ran for thirty minutes in this direction before heading back in. Estimated that the sea was on average 3 meters plus with wind gusting to 50 knots plus.

Kind regards,

Bruce Farrand

General Manager

Would you normally go out in these conditions? Of course not. But we want the boats tested in them when possible, and take confidence in the fact that there is no hesitation on the part of the builder to put a new, yet-to-be-delivered yacht, through this.

The ability to maintain high average cruising speeds goes a long way towards mitigating weather risks. But weather catches up with you eventually – it  is the law of averages – so we and our clients want to go to sea without worrying about getting caught out. This leads to going more often and to more adventurous destinations, rather than sitting around in marinas. It is why we do things the way we do.

We are looking forward to the reports that will be coming in when FPB64-5, Tiger, is under her owner’s command in the near future.