Don Tate of Maryland, with Pekka Koskenkyla formerly of Nautor Swan in Finland, came to Farr Yacht Design early in 1986 with a line of production-built luxury cruising yachts in mind. Emerging as the front-runner of this line was an 80 footer for Don Tate.

The "concept" was for a super comfortable world cruiser capable of being handled by as few as two people on shorter journeys due to extensive use of electronics and hydraulics.

Farr Yacht Design undertook to create the lines of a yacht that met with the perceptions set forth by Tate and Koskenkyla. Additional responsibilities included the engineering of the hull and deck construction, keel, rudder and the sail plan.

For production capabilities a female mould was used in laying up the single skin GRP hull which is formed primarily of unidirectional E-glass laminates over top hat frames and bulkheads with PVC foam core in the sides.

The winged keel maintains a high level of performance providing the up wind stability and low leeway angles of a deep keel with the benefit of shallow draft in cruising excursions. The rudder is simple and efficient with a partial skeg.