Our approach to the marine business is a little different. We don't do a lot of projects. We have purposely kept our business model small, so we could devote more time to each boat. We tend to be obsessive about the details, and we expect the yards who are executing our designs to build what we draw and specify. This approach results in a better outcome for our clients - as the boat is going together, and when it is time to sell her at a later date.

Our yachts are engineered and specified to be efficient for the first and subsequent owners. This keeps our clients happy on two fronts. First, the boats are cost-efficient to build - and are less expensive to maintain. And second, when the time comes to sell the boat, the resale prices tend to be strong.

We firmly believe that in order to make the correct design and specification decisions, we have to spend time living with our boats.

This means crossing oceans and spending long periods in the normal cruising lifestyle. There are thousands of details on each project, almost all of which involve tradeoffs, and there is no substitute for keeping our real-world experience fresh in this process. So periodically we head offshore to remind ourselves what the cruising life is all about. These sea trials have added up to more than 200,000 miles of cruising.

If you've been watching the marine press, you've probably seen some articles about our latest project, our FPB series, or "Unsailboat" as we've taken to calling it. This is an ocean-crossing motor yacht based on the same premise as our sailing designs - safe, comfortable, and fast passages. The design brief is to treat us kindly as we cruise some of the more interesting, albeit inhospitable higher latitude destinations which we've avoided under sail.

If you would like to get a feel for cruising aboard the FPB prototype, Wind Horse, check out the articles by Steve and Linda Dashew under Sailors Logs.

To watch our designs in action, check out the Offshore Voyaging DVD set - five hours of global cruising adventures on three DVDs for just $24.95.