Falcon One: "Back to the Future"

Falcon One
Back to the Future

by Carl Camper​

“Falcon 1” was 83 feet in length and built by Dan Johnston, a legendary name in very remote circles. Dan was the man behind the Navy’s Mark V program and his development career paralleled my own, as we were both involved in military research & development throughout the 80’s.

Falcon One was originally built as a proof of concept platform to showcase a corrugated aluminum manufacturing process in conjunction with a special adhesive developed by 3M. This adhesive allowed the stringers and bulkheads to “float” on the hull’s skin, dampening vibration and insulating noise. Falcon Marine built the hull & superstructure in the 1980’s, but it was not finished until 1996.

Turbines with surface and/or jet drives were the original protocol and Dan planned to use the boat to gain publicity for the materials manufacturing process by going after the Blue Riband trophy. Bernie Little got involved in the project a little later, as he was going to arrange for other people’s money to fund the pursuit of the Blue Riband trophy under the name "Global One".

Fast forward nearly 10 years (nobody seems to know where the shell was laying during this time), a buyer comes along looking to build a high performance yacht very cheaply and finds this boat. He hires Juan Carlos Espinosa to finish out the interior. A pair of 16V92’s were dropped-in and connected to a pair of Rossi Surface Drives, which was fairly lame compared to the original protocol. The guy that had the boat finished-out ran into some money problems and sold the boat to Chris & Angie Merrill about two years ago. The boat is currently docked at the Marriott in Stuart.

Falcon 1 was the successor to a smaller and faster proof of concept vehicle: the Falcon 35, which was completed in the mid-1980’s. This boat was way ahead of its time, utilizing revolutionary technologies such as active canards for pitch stabilization. It was THIS boat that helped Dan gain military recognition and subsequent development contracts. The Navy quickly took notice, as the original Falcon 35 was a 135 mph boat! It was built at a time when the world's fastest offshore deep-v's could barely crack 100 mph. Remember Steve Stepp's claim to fame in 1984-1986... the world's fastest deep-v at 101 mph with the 30' Velocity? Nobody knew about the Falcon because the Navy hushed it.

Falcon One (the subject here) would have been just as impressive. This boat is VERY, VERY light. It had to be, because it was essentially a floating fuel can. The honeycomb aluminum that makes up its outer skin weighs next to nothing, but it's extremely stiff. If the Falcon had been completed with triple turbine power, I have NO DOUBT this boat would have approached (or exceeded) 100 mph. At current... she cruises at 34 knots and tops-out at 40 knots. Still pretty impressive for 83 feet and stock 16V92's!

Dan was one of the real geniuses in Naval Development. While he was developing the Mark V program, I was heading up a parallel program developing high speed, tactical assault vessels. A big thanks to JC Espinosa who put me in touch with him. We spoke at length a few weeks ago and I later arranged get onboard the Falcon and take the pictures that follow.

Falcon Forward Quarter...

Falcon Aft Quarter...

Falcon Forward Deck Sun-Chases and Dingy Davit...

Looking forward from the Flybridge. The far-forward hatch, directly behind the windlass, is the access hatch to the crew quarters.

Flybridge Helm...

Flybridge Seating...

Radar Arch...

Aft Deck...

Tender to the Falcon...

Main Aft Salon, entered from aft deck. Picture taken from Command Center.

The Falcon Command Center; to starboard...

Command Center to Port. The seats are built on gas shocks to reduce impact to the occupants at high speed. They are also fully adjustable with an electronic touchpad located on each armrest. For the most part, the control systems are original, but the bridge was spruced up to match the new Espinosa interior.

Moving down to the main accomodations deck, this is the port side of the salon...

Salon looking aft...

Immediately starboard is the galley...

Galley looking aft...

Moving forward, this is the dayhead...

The master is located forward, but it's not a v-berth, because the forward section of the bow is used as the crew qyuaters via a seperate entrance hatch on the exterior forward deck...

Master Bath...

Moving aft, past the salon and galley, the engine room is located a half-level down and heavily insulated...