For the past year, two-time WSL champion John John Florence has been living aboard a Gunboat 48 carbon catamaran, sailing the South Pacific with his wife, young son, and a quiver of 15 surfboards. Denison Yachting can put you on the same boat.
Turn off the engines 1,000 miles out at sea and it just goes quiet, and you're moving twice as fast. That's how two-time world surf champion John John Florence describes one of his favorite moments aboard his Gunboat 48, the 48-foot all-carbon catamaran he has called home for the past year while sailing the South Pacific with his wife, young son Darwin, and brothers.
In a candid video tour released through Huckberry, Florence walks viewers through every corner of the vessel: the master suite, the board garage packed with 15 surfboards, the solar array, and the nets where the family lounges over the water at anchor. It's one of the most intimate looks ever at what it's like to live full-time aboard a Gunboat.
"It's just such a special feeling to be able to sail across the ocean, get to this remote place, and you're just totally on your own." - — John John Florence
Florence has owned the Gunboat 48 for about seven years. Its all-carbon construction, including the mast, sails, rigging, and hull, keeps weight to an absolute minimum, allowing the boat to sail on wind power alone roughly 95% of the time. On long ocean crossings, the autopilot handles the helm while Florence and his crew rest, the boat surfing down waves through the night at speeds that leave conventional monohulls well behind.
Life aboard is intentionally simple. Two watermakers produce up to 15 gallons of fresh water per hour from the sea. A 1.7-kilowatt solar array keeps the batteries charged and powers Starlink for weather updates and family check-ins. The boat can go a full month without reprovisioning. "It kind of shrinks your world down into this right here," Florence says. "You just have to worry about your energy, water, and food."
For Florence, the Gunboat isn't just transport. It's a completely different relationship with surfing. Sailing to remote breaks no charter boat reaches, waking up each morning to check what the swell is doing around the corner of the island, surfing waves he's never seen before. His son Darwin took his first steps one month into the voyage and has been swimming in what Florence calls "swimming pool aquariums" ever since.
The specs below reflect what makes the Gunboat platform so extraordinary and so coveted among serious sailors and adventurers worldwide.
If Florence's year in the South Pacific has sparked something in you, Denison Yachting is where that conversation starts. As one of the few brokerages in the world specializing in Gunboat sales, Denison's team brings deep technical knowledge of these vessels, from carbon construction and daggerboard dynamics to offshore systems and refit history.
Whether you're an experienced bluewater sailor ready to move into something genuinely fast, or an adventurer drawn to the idea of simplifying life down to wind, water, and the next horizon, Denison's Gunboat specialists will help you find the right vessel and guide you through every step from survey to sea trial to delivery.
The world Florence is living in is out there. The boat that gets you there is a Gunboat.