Welcome or Cochise folks we're in the Bahamas in this video and we've got some
good surfing conditions that show you we thought we'd tie this together with
some healthy weather conditions other parts of the world and give you a visual
on why we do things the way we do in terms of hosh it
we're going to go a few miles down the coast and take ourselves through an
entrance with a strong ebbing current against an onshore flow that's gonna
stack the waves up this is not recommended for amateurs boats of don't
surf well to control more people that are unfamiliar with the territory as
we've been through this cut before we're not too concerned as long as the
missions look ok we'll get
after standing off the entrance for 10 minutes or so having a look at the wave
sets what's coming from offshore and how the seas are reacting at the entrance
we're going to go for it we're running at 2,000 rpm roughly 12 knots which
should get pretty close to matching the wave speed the second helm pump is on
giving us 11 degrees of rudder travel for a second or trim by the stern about
1/2 degree we're going to start first with a value then we'll show you the
stern
if you look forward you'll notice that there's a break on the left side and
there's a smooth spot just dead ahead of us now as the current is building up
here see to begin a little bit steeper running nicely
good control
and we're in calm water that was easy
okay we're gonna have a look now at that same couple minutes with a certain
camera key here is how does the stern react as a/c builds up behind it this
overtaking wave could spell disaster but because of our narrow Stern in low
volume in the swim step we continue to track steering beautifully with
fingertip control any more volume aft either some Beamer height would create
problems for us note the automatic dinghy fender deployment system okay
that's been bad enough for now let's pop it back on board
let's take a look now at the balanced turn video cameras synchronized together
this will give us a better feeling for how the two ends of the boat work in
these steep seas watch shall we start to accelerate down the lane the wave is
building up behind the stern but it's not lifting the stir so the bowel stays
right and their normal flotation plane
cochise's speed has matched almost perfectly to the way we're not going to
slow the video down to quarter speed so we can study what's happening a little
more detail keep an eye on the flotation plane of the bow as this wave builds up
on the stern that looks kind of scary but that's exactly what she's designed
to do and what you want to have happen these conditions this bowel stays at an
even floatation plane while the stir is immerse deeper immersion equals better
control more efficient props better turning speed from the rudders that
wasn't so bad was it
let's drop the hook for a few minutes to catch our breath taking afternoon nap
get up maybe have a little liquid refreshment and then let's look at
something even more interesting
we are aboard Cochise now in the southern hemisphere
okay towards Bay of Islands in New Zealand it's blowing 45 to 50 in the Gus
there's a reflected sea bouncing off the nearby shore stacking the waves up
making for great fondant steering conditions Cochise is averaging about 17
knots over the bottom with peak service to 22 knots nice long wave
although the sea state is completely different than what you saw before the
balance ends and find entry and exit allow precise steering control without
which we would have had to slow way down or turn around and heave - jogging
slowly into the waves there's one other factor at work in these conditions the
anchor platform forward and the rubbery are designed to act as planing surfaces
on occasion when we overrun the wave that we're riding driving the bow into
the back of the next sea forward these provide a bit of extra lift keeping our
before deck nice and dry we've been having lots of fun surfing down these
confused seas but you're probably wondering what happens when we turn
around and head into it so let's go back to the northern hemisphere this time on
a short trip between Beaufort North Carolina and Nantucket what follows is
one of the most interesting uphill wave systems we've ever encountered the
result of two opposing wave trains colliding creating standing waves on
occasion we've been running with a lovely southwesterly breeze up until
about eight hours ago when it suddenly switched to the Northeast and what we're
seeing now is the result every couple of minutes a larger than usual set of
standing waves appears we've slowed cochise down to three to four knots the
minimum speed we found necessary to maintain really good steering control
our second helm pump doubling rudder response speed is on the autopilot is
set at its most aggressive steering mode and for the last six hours it's been
hands off except for keeping a close eye on things this high view looking aft
gives you the best perspective on the overall sea State ok let's break this
down into some more detailed video will start with this
series the combination of very fine lines forward and high freeboard allow
us to penetrate into the wave a substantial distance before the bow
begins to lift of course the spirit has something to say about this as well
imagine what would happen with the next wave in this series if the fpb 78 had
more volume in the stern the freeze frames of the bow and the stern aren't
exactly the same timeframe for the conditions
Cochise is exceptionally dry on the foredeck but occasion she does clip off
the top of a wave and while this looks impressive there's not much mass here
and within a couple of seconds it's cleared the same design characteristics
which make Cochise such a wonderful boat in heavy weather like we've been
watching also make her much more comfortable in normal upwind these days
well turn a half to three meter seats on the shoulder in knots plus the bottom
half of the home in the bow section is extremely fine allowing the fpb 78 to
knife well into the normal tradewind seas before they have a chance to start
lifting by the time the wave crest has traveled far enough down the hole to
begin exerting the substantial upward force the hull is deep enough into the
wave that there's very little reaction the reserve buoyancy in the upper
portion of the hole required for heavy weather doesn't really come into contact
with the normal trade winds see there is very little reaction of the stern to the
wave crest as it passes under the back end of the boat
this major increase in our upwind comfort has totally changed the way we
and the other fpb 78 owners look at passage planning our decision to cross
the Pacific backwards from west to east Fiji to Panama against the trades and
against the current 7,000 nautical miles mostly uphill was easy
the only real excitement was in the Gulf of Panama with its usual display from
Mother Nature don't kick the turn zone our approach to the coast of Panama mark
the 10,000 nautical mile pass under cochise's keel in just five short months
since she was launched and there was sufficient fuel on board to continue on
to Fort Lauderdale without refueling should we so choose
the sweet spot for the fbb 78 ho were speed range and comfort calm come
together is ten and a quarter knots in the video that we're watching Cochise is
running at 11 knots somewhat faster than a sweet spot which you can tell it she's
still pretty slippery check out that bow wave and stern wave
so far we've talked about heavy weather capability in long range cruising at 10
knots what if we want to get somewhere in a hurry we're running here quickly
down the coast of Nova Scotia heading for me in a hurricane hole in Casey
tropical that's tracking up the East Coast becomes something we don't want to
deal with we're averaging about 14 knots bring little over 14 gallons an hour or
one gallon per nautical mile well that's a lot compared to our normal eight
tenths of a gallon in these conditions if we go a little bit slower but it's
nothing compared to the time we're gonna save and getting out of the way of the
weather and we do have transoceanic range at 12 knots okay this videos going
on long enough it's time to go cruising we'll see you out there
you