We’ve been telling the FPB team for quite awhile now that AVATAR attracts a large number of curious onlookers wherever we go. We have had dinghies sail in circles around us at anchor while snapping iPhone pictures, we’ve had heavy foot traffic on the dock when berthed in a marina, we’ve been paged over the radio with questions from the curious…and so on and so forth. I suggested that it would be a good marketing tactic to have a ready-made brochure to hand out to anyone interested in the FPB concept. I even created my own online version last year in honor of AVATAR‘s fifth birthday.
But now the FPB | Berthon | Circa team has created the official flyer; at the printers right this minute, they will be shipped to us from Great Britain in time to accompany us on our upcoming voyage to the US Virgin Islands and points south.
And while the team was at it, they also created a new updated FPB logo, quite modern and avant garde, to suit this forward-thinking range of yachts. The final approval for the new design was subject to the Sarah Dashew t-shirt test. I’ve been told it passed, and so I am pleased to share the new logo that incorporates Dashew Offshore (the design team), Berthon International (the marketing branch), and Circa Marine (the builders). This is a true international team hailing from the U.S.A., Great Britain, and New Zealand respectively!
We’re quite proud of the fact that AVATAR was #1 of the entire FPB range (not counting the prototype 83′ Wind Horse). The advantage of ‘guinea pig’ status was that we enjoyed an extra year or two of memorable cruising in the South Pacific that we would have missed while waiting for a later launch. Our boat has sailed nearly 40,000 miles now and cleared into 22 countries and still counting. Now the design range has expanded to incorporate a multitude of sizes suitable for a variety of circumstances. FPB64 #11 is getting close to launch, as is the very first FPB78. Iceberg, an FPB97, launched last year, and next in the builder’s shed is the newest design, the FPB70.
So best of luck to AVATAR’s younger and larger sisters. We’re off to the Caribbean next week – more blogs to come!
