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Concern For Missing Schooner Nina – Posted By Sarah
We have recently learned that the 85 year-old wooden Schooner Nina has gone missing at sea, after leaving New Zealand for Australia May 29. We are deeply concerned for all aboard. The photo above...
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FPB: Cruising Speed, Range Under Power, And The Real World
Those of you familiar with our work will know that we consider being able to maintain comparatively fast cruising speeds the most important factor in safe, comfortable ocean crossing. Get this right...
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Wicked Weld Testing: Using X-Ray Images To Verify Welds On The FPB 97
A standard part of every hull construction sequence is a series of X-Ray checks, the location of which is dictated by the owner’s surveyor. Circa have just completed this process on FPB 97-1 and we...
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Flying Toward The Future
We’ve had one of those rare life altering moments, a point in time after which you know nothing will be the same. Having started messing with multi-hulls in the really olden days as we did, you might...
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Calculating Fuel Burn and Range Under Power – A Semi Scientific Approach
Calculating drag, fuel burn, and range for yachts under power is a complex process, one which often turns out wrong in the real world. We are not sure what other folks do, but we use a combination of...
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Let There Be Light, Skegging, & Other Wicked Subjects
A prison ship? No, just a few bars on the hull window inserts to make sure this FPB 97 stays wickedly fair. The window frames are a combination of robust engineering and simple construction, so their...
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The Monsoons Are Here
The summer monsoon has arrived in Arizona and we are being treated to some of Mother Nature’s finest work. So while we have been wrapping up details on the FPB 78, the show going on outside our...
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Wicked FPB 97 Tops Out
This is a wickedly cool series of photos, one which has given us a decided buzz. Astute observers will no doubt notice that a large structure has been lifted into the air. This is like a reality TV...
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FPB 78 Allocating Fuel and Water Tanks
Allocating tankage volume between fuel and water involves many tradeoffs, the most important of which is keeping the boat on its lines in a variety of load situations. Our new Dream Machine, the FPB...
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Rocky Mountain High – Or, What To Do When You Really Want To Be Afloat
Your SetSail reporter is just back from a week in the mountains, learning about photography from two of the best, all in preparation for when FPB 78-1 goes in the water in 2015.With FPB owners sending...
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FPB Cruising Plans – Out There Doing It
Our thought has always been that the best indicator of success in the marine business is not units sold, or boat show pizzazz, but rather how your boats are being used. Are they sitting in marinas or...
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FPB 78 – Plating Thickness, Factors of Safety & Emotional Comfort
We hate to waste displacement on sloppy interior construction, poorly thought out systems, or excess structure up high, where it does nothing to help us. But from the deck edge down we want all the...
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The Big Picture – Posted by Todd
I was inspired by the view in Seattle yesterday morning, just before I left for Los Angeles to meet up with the rest of the SetSail crew for a fun, smog-filled weekend. I could just make out the...
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America’s Cup Challenger Finals – Clearing the Fog, Or: What To Watch
The 2013 America’s Cup challenger finals begin Saturday. Here are a couple of things to watch in what is sure to be the most exciting sailing any of us have ever witnessed. Number one, the Kiwis have...
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Progress On All Fronts In New Zealand – And Getting Comfortable in the Wicked...
Although the furniture represents a small part of the total weight of the boat, we want it to be as light as practical, as you see here with the carcass for the FPB 97 great room settee. The base...
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Crossing The North Pacific Hurricane Belt – The Tradeoffs
Crossing oceans often leads to compromise between weather, risk, comfort, and what might or mightn’t occur. An example of this was recently faced by the crew of FPB 64-3 Iron Lady. In this post we...
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America’s Cup – Finally – Unlike Anything You Have Ever Seen Before!
Tomorrow, Saturday September 7, marks the start of an amazing spectacle that you don’t want to miss. Whether on network TV or YouTube, we will be treated to heated competition between “yachts”...
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FPB 78 – The Dream Machine Refined
The FPB creative process goes through many phases, the last of which is fine-tuning details. With the release of the FPB 781-134 model for construction, we thought it might be time to show you how...
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The Most Spectacular America’s Cup…Ever
This is the most competitive, compelling, and fastest America’s Cup ever. And if you have not been watching you are missing the spectacle of a lifetime. The racing is closer than ever before, we are...
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Time To Invoke The Devil Devil Stick – Posted by Sarah
With the America’s Cup coming down to a final winner-take-all tomorrow, we are bringing out the big guns, er, stick… When I was a little kid and sailing around the world with my family, we had a...
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