Berthon International

What does it take to build a yacht capable of crossing the Pacific, riding out 100 knots at anchor, refuelling from 45-gallon drums on remote islands, and cruising among drifting ice and orca in Antarctica? In this episode of the Berthon Podcast, Sue Grant sits aboard FPB 78-2 Grey Wolf II with owner Peter Watson to talk through one of the most extraordinary private cruising programs of the last decade.Peter’s FPB story began with Little Grey Wolf, an FPB 64 he bought in New Zealand. Instead of shipping her home, he made the bold decision to drive her across the Pacific. “I looked at shipping the boat back,” he says, “and then thought, no, let’s drive it back.” The resulting three-month journey carried a crew of five, including a retired MOD naval architect and two apprentices, through Tahiti, the equatorial countercurrents, Panama, the Azores and on to the Channel Islands. It was on this voyage that Peter learned the practical truths that would shape his next FPB: carry the spares you may need, because help is thousands of miles away, and make sure everything on board is accessible.While the 64 was crossing oceans, Grey Wolf II was under construction in New Zealand. The design was a collaborative process between Peter, fellow FPB owner Pete Rossin, and Steve Dashew himself. “It was very much a group effort,” Peter explains. “Steve designed the hull, but we all worked together to refine how she should be equipped and laid out.” He even spent nine months in the yard during the build, ensuring the systems, access and fit-out met the standard needed for high-latitude cruising.Safety was at the core of the project. Peter insisted the yacht be built to MCA Category Zero. “I wanted the boat to be as safe as it possibly could be. The MCA standard is one of the best internationally,” he says. Grey Wolf II is the only FPB 78 coded to that level.Once completed, she took the long route home. New Zealand to Tahiti, then the Gambier Islands, where fuel was hand-pumped aboard from 45-gallon drums. Past Pitcairn and Christmas Island, then into Chile. From there she and FPB 78-3 Iron Lady II travelled south together and spent three unforgettable weeks in Antarctica. “The wildlife was extraordinary,” Peter says. “Orca, penguins, seals. By the end I was almost penguined out.”The conditions, of course, were real. Charts were unreliable, ice drifted unpredictably and anchoring required constant vigilance. “You might put the anchor down and be fine, then the wind shifts and suddenly the ice is coming at you. You have to decide whether you can push it off or lift the anchor and move.”Between Little Grey Wolf and Grey Wolf II, Peter estimates he has logged close to 100,000 FPB miles. The capability, he says, is what keeps drawing him back. “You do not go looking for bad weather,” he explains, “but you know the boat can handle it. We had 100 knots on the nose in Chile and everything held without a problem.”If you are interested in real world ocean crossing capability, practical design lessons, or what it means to run a family expedition yacht to some of the most remote places on earth, this conversation is not to be missed. Grey Wolf II is a remarkable platform, and Peter’s miles prove the point.Listen now and step aboard one of the most capable private cruising yachts afloatSend us a message

In this final Inside the Market of 2025, Sue Grant is joined by Berthon motorboat broker and lifelong yachtsman, Hugh Rayner, to unpack what is really happening across sail and power as we head into 2026.They start with a striking datapoint from the USA. For brokerage yachts over 500,000 dollars, 1,893 motorboats have sold in 2025, against just 149 sailboats including multihulls. As Sue says, it is a sobering statistic. Hugh sees it every day as experienced sailors quietly move to semi displacement and long range motor yachts. As he puts it, many are discovering that “straight line sailing is quite nice because you can sit inside, put the heating on and avoid a face full of salt water every fifteen minutes”.Multihulls are another clear growth story on both sides of the Atlantic, sail and power. Deck space, comfort and performance are drawing in new owners. At the same time, more mature and heavier designs must now be priced very keenly to compete with rapidly evolving new models and materials.New yacht sales remain challenging overall. Confidence, not capital, is the limiting factor. Yet truly new designs in the quality segment still cut through. From serious blue water sailing yachts to long range motorboats, the best of the new launches are selling off the drawing board in both Europe and the USA.Across the group, buyers are asking Berthon to act for them in growing numbers. They want accurate, unvarnished advice on values, VAT, build quality and where a yacht really sits in the market. As Hugh says, “you are not just buying a boat, you are buying what that owner has done with that boat”.Correctly priced, well marketed recent yachts with good pedigree, strong service history and sensible specification are still finding buyers readily. Berthon goes into the holiday period with more yachts under contract for early 2026 than we would normally expect.None of this hides the fact that 2025 has been a bruising, turbulent year and that 2026 is likely to be similar. Reading the market accurately and telling owners the truth about price and presentation is critical. Overpriced, badly marketed yachts will not sell, however cheap the commission deal.The episode closes with a look at the Berthon Fleet itself. The marketing team in all territories is busy, with an unusually high volume of new listings joining the fleet for the time of year. If you want a clear, honest view of where the market really sits at the end of 2025, this is the place to start.Send us a message

Inside the Market returns for November 2025 with a straight talking look at what is really happening in the yacht world right now. In this episode, Berthon International’s Sue Grant is joined by Alan Baines, Managing Director of Berthon USA, to unpack refit trends, pricing reality, and why some yachts are quietly selling while others sit and gather dust.They begin in Palma, where Berthon’s refit and service operation is busier than ever, but the profile of work has shifted. The focus now is on seaworthiness, safety and essential maintenance, not teak decks and shiny cosmetics. Owners are spending to keep boats safe and moving, not to win beauty contests.Across the Atlantic, the US brokerage market is surprisingly active, helped by one key factor: realistic sellers. Alan explains that where owners accept genuine market value, yachts are changing hands. Where they cling to 2022 pricing, they simply do not. Overpriced yachts remain a major drag on the market, often the result of brokers over promising to secure the listing in the first place.That leads to one of the central themes of this episode. The market is more diverse and specialised than ever, and no broker can credibly be an expert in every segment. Choosing someone who truly understands your type of yacht may not support an over optimistic asking price, but it dramatically improves the chances of a sale within a sensible time frame.Price remains the main driver of deals. Extra equipment and long option lists rarely raise the headline number. They make a yacht easier to sell, not inherently worth more. In a cautious, cost conscious environment, buyers reward value, not gadget count.Presentation also matters. With a good choice of yachts on the market, buyers are deeply project averse. Cluttered interiors, obvious deferred maintenance and “fixer upper” listings are sticking. Clean, de personalised, well prepared yachts are the ones that get serious viewings and offers.Location is the final, often overlooked, factor. As winter bites and charter flights shut down, anything parked in a hard to reach corner of the Med or Caribbean becomes difficult to show. If a visit involves multiple connections and an overnight stay, most buyers will simply not go. Until flight schedules resume in spring, badly located yachts are at a real disadvantage.Across the conversation, Sue and Alan keep circling back to seven simple truths that define this market right now:1.Refit demand is strong, but focused on safety and seaworthiness.2.In the USA, deals are happening where sellers accept true market pricing.3.There are still too many overpriced yachts, often the result of over promising to win listings.4.Specialist brokers who know a segment deeply give owners the best chance of a timely sale.5.Yachts are selling on price. Extra kit helps them sell, but does not add real value.6.Poorly presented yachts are being left behind. Buyers do not want projects.7.With winter here, remote locations make yachts hard to show and harder to sell.If you want an honest view of where the market really sits at the end of 2025, this one is worth a listen.Send us a message

What really makes a motor yacht safe, comfortable and capable of crossing oceans, not just surviving them? Sue sits down with legendary designer and lifelong cruiser Steve Dashew to talk about FPB explorer yachts, and why not every metal boat in the anchorage is created equal.Now retired from full time yacht building, Steve and Linda have swapped FPB commissioning for land yachting in Arizona, photography, and a very serious Ford truck and camper project. But Steve is still studying hulls, watching the America’s Cup, advising quietly in the background and thinking deeply about what makes a truly capable long range cruiser.Drawing on hundreds of thousands of sea miles, including Greenland, the South Pacific and long upwind slogs that most of us try to avoid, Steve explains why their approach was always “cruisers first, designers second” and how that changed the shape of FPB.A core theme in this episode is the importance of consistently high average speed at sea. Many boats can post an impressive top speed in flat water, but very few can maintain meaningful pace through crossing sea states, head seas, or long downwind passages. Steve explains why average speed, not peak speed, is the fundamental pillar of safe passagemaking. A yacht that can reliably deliver consistently high average speeds unlocks shorter passage times, the ability to ride or outrun weather systems, and, most importantly, a calmer, more predictable experience for the crew. Comfort and safety are not separate ideas; they are linked directly to whether a boat can keep moving fast while keeping motion under control.In this conversation, we dig into:Steve explains how maintaining 10–11 knots in real ocean conditions lets you stay with favourable systems, avoid the worst of storms, and dramatically reduce fatigue on passage. As he says, “If you can keep your average up, the weather works for you. If you can’t, it works against you.”Why explorer style yachts have exploded in popularity, and why many look like FPBs but do not behave like them when the barometer falls.The idea of yacht design as a zero sum game, where every interior gain, hull tweak or fashion line has a direct impact on motion, steering control and safety.How to evaluate an explorer yacht if you are planning serious miles: why you should sea trial in ugly weather, insist on going out when the broker would rather stay alongside, and look closely at the people behind the design.The difference between a boat that “can take it” and a crew that actually wants to keep going. As Steve puts it, successful cruising is about being mentally and physically comfortable, not just structurally safe.The story behind FPB 83 WIND HORSE. Steve and Linda staked their own money and miles on a radical concept that many experts said would not work. Tank testing, CFD and ratios got them part of the way, but the real proof came after 15,000 to 20,000 miles at sea.Why steering control is everything offshore. FPBs are designed to surf safely at speed, why many owners are initially afraid to do so, and how average speed around 10 to 11 knots lets you work with weather systems instead of being punished by them.The trade off between interior volume and true seagoing ability.If you care about long range cruising, motion comfort, or are quietly shopping for an explorer yacht that can really cross oceans, this is a conversation worth your time. Steve is candid about risk, generous with hard won lessons and very clear on one thing: it is much safer, and far more fun, to go fast in control than to go slowly and suffer.Send us a message

Tom Cunliffe joins us for a proper cup of tea and a wide-ranging conversation about boats, books, and why real seamanship still matters. A merchant seaman turned delivery skipper, Yachtmaster Examiner, columnist and broadcaster, Tom has spent a lifetime at sea—from engine-less beginnings on the Norfolk Broads to long ocean passages on traditional gaff craft and a Colin Archer to South America, the Caribbean and back. He shares the formative moments that shaped his philosophy: sailing without an engine, learning to think like a sailor (not a motor-boater with sails), and why how you recover from a mistake tells you more than whether you make one.We talk navigation then and now. Tom argues that modern electronics are brilliant—but can diminish us if we forget the craft. He explains why raster charts and analogue plotting still earn a place on an iPad, and how his AngelNav approach lets you keep navigating if GPS goes dark. Starlink, he says, has changed cruising beyond recognition—useful, yes, but it dilutes the old solitude that bred self-reliance.Tom also lifts the lid on the writing life: columns on both sides of the Atlantic, the decision to leave certain magazines over copyright, and the long road from textbooks and history to fiction. That leads to his new novel, Hurricane Force—a 1970s Caribbean sailing thriller with rave reviews (Alexander McCall Smith calls him “the Dick Francis of yachting thrillers”). We explore why he set it pre-GPS, how real people and places inspire composite characters, and why plotting a thriller sometimes needs an old roll of wallpaper more than a fancy app.Stories abound: a teenage initiation on a 25-foot gaff sloop with no engine; beating for days into current off Venezuela; sharing an anchorage (and a mishap) with Don Street; ship-handling lessons from the merchant service that still apply to tying up a 45-footer with two people and no drama. Throughout, Tom keeps circling one idea: seamanship is joyful competence—clear thinking, tidy lines, and the confidence to make landfall by the stars if you must.If you love traditional craft, bluewater problem-solving, or just a well-told sea story, this one’s for you. We cover:• Learning under canvas: why starting engine-free rewires your seamanship• The philosophy behind analogue-first navigation on digital tools• The romance and reality of long passages then vs. now• How Hurricane Force was born, shelved, and reborn—plus hints at the sequel• Practical ship-handling tips yacht owners forget (and examiners notice)Pour a brew, settle in, and let one of yachting’s great raconteurs remind you why we go to sea in the first place, and why the best safety gear lives between your ears.Send us a message