Broker’s Best

BY RANDY WOODS

Own a piece of Northwest maritime history with Deerleap, an 80-foot, wood-hulled Classic Fantail yacht that has plied West Coast waters for nearly a century.

This month’s Brokers Best listing is a true historic treat for all boaters. Built in 1929 by Vancouver, British Columbia’s Hoffar-Beeching Shipyards, Deerleap is an 80-foot, wood-hulled Classic Fantail yacht that has plied the waters of the West Coast for nearly a century and is still going strong at her current moorage in Port Orchard. For the last 40 years, the craft has had the same owner, who has painstakingly maintained the vessel and burnished its reputation for understated elegance. Still appearing like a vision straight out of the Roaring Twenties, the handsome yacht was originally built for Andrew McLimont, president of Winnipeg Power and Light. Deerleap was first powered by Hall-Scott gasoline engines and was built specifically for excursions from Mexico to Alaska, providing maximum views through its wide windows, wraparound teak decks, and roomy foredeck. Today, the layout is nearly identical to the original design, with a large observation salon and teak-lined formal dining room midships on the main deck, featuring a mahogany period table for up to eight people under a crystal chandelier. Signs of the yacht’s opulent heyday include silver service and serving pieces, cut-crystal decanters, and dinner china embossed with the ship’s name and logo. The compact galley is located forward, equipped with a period O’Keefe & Merritt four-burner propane stove and electric oven, a microwave, a trash compactor, and a full-sized LG refrigerator and freezer. To port, the window over the galley sink lets in plenty of natural light and stunning views. Two steps up from the galley, a spacious pilothouse is fitted with a fully modern suite of navigation electronics and bow-thruster controls to make mooring easier. A day head has been added just aft of the pilothouse. Aft of the main deck living area, French doors open to what is perhaps the vessel’s most notable feature: a spacious, covered aft deck surrounding a central teak dining table. A new Sunbrella fabric shade provides protection for the semi-circular seating area that lines the fantail.

Deerleap has had a colorful history since it was commissioned. For a few years, it was conscripted for military service during World

War II, when it was re-fitted with heavy-duty Vivian 120HP diesel engines. Later, it was purchased by mining engineer Campbell Church, serving in his fleet of chartered yachts. During this period of the 1950s and ‘60s, celebrities such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, and the Kennedys were among the notable luminaries on board. Since being auctioned off to the current owner in the 1980s, Deerleap has undergone extensive restoration efforts, including the grand circular stairway that provides access from the salon to the four staterooms. Forward to starboard is the full-beam owner’s suite, complete with en suite head and shower. Just aft of the owner’s room are two staterooms with crossed over/under bunks and a vanity and shaving sink. Aft of the stairway is a shared head and shower, and further aft, on centerline, is another full-beam stateroom, featuring raised twin bunks. Despite its age, Deerleap handles well under a competent skipper and line handler, the owner says. The engines have also been upgraded with twin Gardner 6LX 125HP engines, which replaced the old Detroit Diesel “Screamin’ Jimmies,” making it a demonstrably quieter cruiser. Besides the noise reduction, the newer engines make the vessel incredibly efficient for its size, burning four GPH at 1,200 RPMs to reach a cruising speed of 7.8 knots, giving it a 2,400-nautical-mile range. The stately vessel has won several awards at the Classic Yacht Association (CYA) Annual Wooden Boat Festival, but it does not sit idle like a museum piece. Every year, the boat cruises for 16 to 20 weeks up to the Broughton Islands of Northern B.C., and occasionally to Alaska. Describing the seaworthiness of Deerleap, the current owner says he once sailed the yacht off the Oregon coast “lying completely on his sides” during a fierce storm. “I never doubted her for a moment,” he added. This will be the first time in 40 years that Deerleap has been available on the market, so this is a must-see opportunity for those interested in Northwest maritime history. Through September 25, the vessel will be the in Broughton Islands, but it will also appear at the Victoria CYA Wooden Boat Festival, September 1-5, in Victoria, BC.

Specs & Info

LOA 80’ Beam 17’1” Draft 8’10”

Tankage (Fuel/Fresh/Black) 1,500 gal. / 1,000 gal. / 20 gal.

Engines Twin Gardner 6LX 125HP Engines

Contact NW Yachtnet Tacoma, WA Steve Shull 253.549.2010 stevennwyachtnet@gmail.com yachtnet.com

WSNAPS FROM THE COUPLE’S SWEEPING LOVE STORY AND 18-MONTH For some couples, a third date can mean meeting up at a coffee shop, taking in a movie, or enjoying a meal together. For Paul Bultema and Heather Brewer, a Seattle-based couple that met online just before the pandemic struck, that third meet-up was a bit more out of the ordinary. Bultema asked Brewer to hop on a flight to Guatemala with just a pair of one-way tickets in hand. “I’ve always been an adventurous person, and I’ve lived in countries all over the world,” says Brewer. “And when Paul and I met, it was this instant connection as he had also traveled extensively, in fact to almost 100 countries. I texted him back and said ‘sure’….and we met at Sea-Tac airport the next day.”ADVENTURE TO BRING THEIR NORDHAVN HOME TO SEATTLE. It was March 2020, and the trip was a whirlwind as the pair traveled through seven Central American countries that all shortly closed to visitors behind them. But the five-day trip had only strengthened their new bond. Shortly after returning home to the stay-at-home order, they decided to try living—and working—from Bultema’s 31-foot Sea Ray to spend more time together, bringing Paul’s beloved Vizla, Mira, along as a member of the crew. The short-term experiment turned into a five-month sojourn in the San Juan Islands. “There was no enclosure, the space was tight, we had one plug, no shower, one hot spot, limited water, and a generator strapped on the back,” Brewer recalls, with a laugh. “But we figured it out. And we were as happy as could be.” As the pandemic persisted, the pair began to think bigger, as in the need for a larger vessel to accommodate their growing dream: to continue to work “reboatly”.

PAUL BULTEMA ON AN EXCURSION ASHORE WITH MIRA.

ISLAND TIME: THE TRAVEL SCHEDULE FROM THE 2020 SUMMER SPENT ABOARD THE SEA RAY IN THE SAN JUANS.

They checked in with their respective companies— Brewer works for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Bultema for Amazon Web Services—and received the go ahead. Then in late 2020, after months of combing listings, they found it: A 2007 Nordhavn 43 that suited them and their needs, perfectly. The only trouble was it was moored in Vero Beach, Florida, but in keeping with the couple’s go-for-it attitudes, they bought it sight unseen on December 4, 2020, and by Christmas had gotten themselves, and Mira, across the country to sign the papers. They started an Instagram account the next day, @workingreboatly, and began chronicling what would become an epic and enriching journey that would take them almost 18 months and over 10,000 nautical miles on the return trip home to Seattle. At the time, Bultema thought he had about seven months before returning to the office, so the pair spent a hurried six weeks prepping. The first step was to outfit the boat and make upgrades so the two could stay connected as they traveled. They hired a program manager to streamline the process, installed all new Furuno electronics, and an updated communications package that included cellular and satellite systems. The hotel they were staying in allowed them to ship provisions to its address and those goods were almost exclusively bought on, you guessed it, Amazon. Hoping to learn along the way, but also admitting their naivete at the helm, especially offshore, they hired a boat captain to shepherd them through the waters. On February 25, 2021, they cast off from Fort Lauderdale, leaving U.S. waters for the Bahamas, where they spent six weeks. Then they traversed through the three locks of the Panama Canal; swapped in a new captain, Jean-Claude (JC) Schubel; and, headed out to the La Perla Islands. They then cruised to Costa Rica, and on north to Chipas, Mexico, then spent seven months exploring the Sea of Cortez beginning in June 2021. “Between Covid restrictions, weather patterns, and all the other natural delays of traveling, we didn’t really have it all planned out, and the itinerary kept changing, but that was part of the magic in the end,” says Brewer. “It allowed us to really experience all the little stops we made, especially the unexpected ones. We just had to embrace the uncertainty.” There were certainly challenges along the way— poor connectivity, hurdles in passing customs (interestingly, Mira often required the most paperwork), and mechanical issues that included a middle-of-thenight fuel injector line leak—but the duo credits their pre-voyage agreement for the good days outweighing the bad. “During the trip, we had one golden rule: Communication had to be honest, open, and direct,” states Bultema. “It made all the difference between us, and with the captain.” They definitively agree on their best day. En route to Mexico, off the Gulf de Fonseca, Brewer interrupted Bultema on a work call, insisting he come topside. “She had never done that before, I knew it had to be something spectacular, so I dropped my call and ran outside.”

It was indeed special—in every direction, as far as the eye could see, they were surrounded by an enormous pod of spinner dolphins. “The water was just frothing with dolphins,” he recalls. “They say that there are 600,000 spinner dolphins in the world, and I think half of them were with us that day. We stopped the boat, threw out a line, and in 5,600 feet of water, we jumped in. The dolphins were encircling us, not one or two, but dozens of dolphins, and the noise was deafening.” To top it all off, as they were swimming, a blue whale surfaced on their starboard side. “It’s not even something I could have imagined to put on a bucket list,” says Brewer. “I mean we were scared, but we did it. We just jumped in. So much of this experience was learning to overcome fear.” The pair checked quite a few items off their pre-existing bucket lists, too. In addition to the day spent with the dolphins, the pair also swam with nurse and bull sharks and the famous wild pigs of the Exumas. They snorkeled and spent so much time scuba diving the depths that they earned their Advance Open Water certifications. They hiked through rain forests, visited cultural sites, and fished, with Brewer even spearing what Bultema half-jokingly called an “almost prehistoric-looking lobster.” And though traveling solo could sound isolating, the couple says it was anything but, both due to the friendly, welcoming, and helpful locals they met along the way—and within the larger community of Nordhavn owners. “From day one, the online community has been amazing,” says Brewer. “They had so many great suggestions. We could pose a question to them on issues that popped up, or for boating advice, and almost instantly they’d respond with ideas.” One such instance of aid occurred shortly after the pair left the Sea of Cortez in February of 2022 and began navigating north towards U.S. waters through the “Baja Bash.” This 950-mile run up the wild and desolate Pacific coastline is known for consistently strong winds, large swells, and nasty surface chop, and this stretch was where Brewer and Bultema ran into their biggest mechanical issue: that aforementioned middle-of-thenight fuel line leak. “It was 3 a.m.; there were 12-foot seas; it was not a good place to have to figure out a repair,” recalls Bultema. A couple of texts to other Nordhavn owners lent the pair ideas for a temporary solution (the answer turned out to be a combination of zip ties, tin foil, and silicon from an ice tray to stop the leak). Further discussion helped them track down the necessary part, a spare from a tractor if you can believe it, and the line was repaired all within 24 hours. “The kindness and graciousness of the strangers we met along the way still never ceases to amaze us,” the pair states.

MIRA PLAYS FETCH ON THE GROUNDS OF THE HERMITAGE, A HISTORICAL SITE ON CAT ISLAND THAT SITS ATOP THE HIGHEST PEAK IN THE BAHAMAS.

BREWER WELCOMES HER CREWMATES BACK ABOARD: “IN ALL THIS, I LEARNED MY HAPPY PLACE IS ON THE BOAT, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN, WITH OUR DOG AND THE ONE I LOVE.”

THE PAIR’S WORKING REBOATLY EXPERIMENT IS NOW A WAY OF LIFE AS THEY CONTINUE TO CRUISE WITH LAPTOPS—AND WANNABE LAP DOGS—IN TOW.

On March 19th of this year, the crew aboard the Nordhavn 43 crossed the border and spent the spring traversing up the California coast before returning home to Seattle in time for a summer exploration of beloved haunts like the San Juan Islands, where the pair’s working reboatly experiment all began. “The trip made me appreciate Seattle, the Northwest, and home, all that much more,” adds Bultema. “The quality of the boating here really is second to none.” Buoyed by that love of boating, and the one they’ve found in each other, the pair say that their initial leap of faith has become a way of life. Both continue to work remotely and Bultema recently gave up his condo to become a liveaboard. The two have also added another crew member for their next adventure: A brand-new Vizla puppy named Hala to keep full sister Mira company on wherever the next journey takes them. “In all this, I learned my happy place is on the boat, in the middle of the ocean, with our dog and the one I love,” says Brewer. “It’s most magical experience and one I will be forever grateful for.” Brewer’s concluding statement is quite apropos. Though eventually they’d like to upgrade to a larger vessel, perhaps a Nordhavn 55, the couple’s next journey will be again be on the 43 that has taken them almost 11,000 nautical miles together and whose name is none other than Gratitude.

>> Follow the pair’s continuing journey on their Instagram, @workingreboatly, and the dogs’ perspectives on their page, @vizsladivas.

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FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL WYETH/PWPICTURES.COM

/THE VOLVO OCEAN 70 OCEAN BREEZE IN ACTION IN ANTIGUA.

It was way back in 2019 that I first heard the siren call of the Caribbean, as myself and my fellow Smoke racing program members began bandying about the idea of racing a charter boat in this most tropical, yet taxing, of settings. To a Northwest-based sailing team, it was immediately an intriguing proposition, and one that soon took shape in the charter of a Volvo Ocean 70 for none other than Antigua Sailing Week. Steve Travis, owner of Seattle-based TP52 sailboat Smoke, has always made a point to take his racing program on the road. Over the years, previous trips have included races in Cowes in England, Sardinia in Italy, Cork in Ireland, and St. Barth’s in the Caribbean. But nothing quite as ambitious as a wave crushing offshore machine like the Volvo Ocean 70 had come along—and the thought of racing her was thrilling. /THE SAILING WEEK CREW. LEFT TO RIGHT, BACK ROW: BILL HESTON, SAM HANSEN, KEITH WHITTEMORE, JOE RUSSELL, (So much so, in fact, that when Travis asked what I thought of the STEVE TRAVIS, SAM MASTERMAN, DOUG entire idea, I believe my response was a resounding “#$@^ YEAH!”) HANSEN (AUTHOR), LOOMIS HESTON, JOSH MAY, BRYAN RHODES, KEVIN The number of crew started inching upwards, as we pulled from CALLAHAN, JOE WILLIAMS, JOHANNNES SCHWARZ, AND TABEA HERBST. FRONT our normal racing team and added in some longtime friends from ROW: FREDERIC LAFITTE, JENNIFER TRAVIS, the Northwest sailing community. Flights were booked, vacation KAITLIN AMEDIO, CHRISTINA TRAVIS, SHELAGH HANSEN, LUCY JOEL, BRYAN scheduled, and things were all looking good for us to have an amazing RHODES AND JANET LAFFITTE. NOT PICTURED: CHARLIE FOOTH. (PHOTO time at the 2020 Antigua Sailing Week. Unfortunately, as the world BY TED MARTIN) made its way into March 2020, our crew and the entire planet realized that no one was going anywhere for quite a long time. The race was cancelled, the dream sat on the sidelines.

“At the end of the week, we all looked at each other; bruised, tired, but not broken and far from beaten, having finished up the But after nearly two years of uncertainty and more hand sanitizer than anyone has time to measure, things began to shift. By late 2021, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and somehow the cards began to fall back into place for Antigua Sailing Week to return to the calendar and run from April 30 to May 6 in 2022. With a fair bit of skepticism if whether it would happen at all, the crew rebooked flights, packed bags, and before we knew it, we were on a flight headed south for the first time in a long time. The island of Antigua, known as Wadadli to the native Caribbean people, is situated in the northeastern Caribbean and is a long-standing centerpiece in the world sailing community. A strong British influence final race nearly three minutes ahead of our Lithuanian rivals on the water.”/on the island combined with the historic Royal Navy shipyard in English Harbor made the island a haven for sailors seeking a place to refit and repair during the early trips to the Americas. This culture of seamanship and craftsman has continued, resulting in the island being the winter home to many of the world’s most iconic sailing yachts. Being such a hub of sailing in the Caribbean, it’s little wonder then that 2022 marked the 53rd running of the Antigua Sailing Week. For over half a century, the premier racing event has attracted top-level competitive racing programs and regatta sailors; more than a hundred yachts ranging from 24 feet to well over one hundred feet long participate in the Caribbean winter regatta. The fleets include a wide range of competitors with participants in everything from bare boat charter fleets—where crews draw their boat number out of a hat at the beginning of the regattas and stay on the boats—to full grand prix programs with dialed-in boats and crisp carbon fiber sails. There is something for everyone. From the race management side of things, keeping this circus going and working smoothly takes a herculean level of logistics and support, both on and off the water.

AT LEFT, AUTHOR DOUG HANSEN WITH FIRST MATE TABEA HERBST AND BOAT OWNER AND SKIPPER JOHANNNES SCHWARZ, WHO HELPED THE SEATTLE-BASED CREW CHARGE THROUGH THE COURSES DURING THE WEEK. /

The sailing instructions included nearly 50 different course options utilizing 17 preset marks spread between two separate racing areas along the southern shores of the island. The whole regatta was separated into two fleets of boats, with the larger, faster boats grouped together and the bare boat charter fleets comprising the other group, that alternated between the two arenas. Every day wrapped up with music and awards at the Antigua Yacht Club, and the festivities carried on well into the evening for some. Four hard days of racing were divided by a lay day mid-week to give crews the opportunity to rest up, reset, and repair the boats and themselves. Given that many people travel very long distances to attend the regatta, the long week format gave the whole thing an endurance-like feel, and being able to continue to improve throughout the week was critical. Our boat for the week, Ocean Breeze, is legendary in her own right. Originally built as Telafonica Blue, she competed in the 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race and then went around the world again in the 2011-2012 race under the name Sanya. She is an absolute monster of a wind-powered machine; to simply call her a “sailboat” is doing a disservice. The mast measures in over one hundred feet off the water and downwind, the sail plan works out to be an astounding 7,260 square feet. This is paired with the canting keel mechanism that pivots the 10,000-pound bulb forty degrees to windward, bringing the righting moment to an eyewatering level. All of this together with hydraulic adjustments, running backstays, and an interlinking winch system makes a TP52 look as simple as a Laser, Ocean Breeze is truly a wonder of engineering to sail. While the boat itself was impressive, it was the job of the owner and boat captain Johannnes Schwarz, along with his first mate Tabea Herbst, to teach us how to get the thing around the racecourse. That was somewhat of a monumental task with only two days of practice. Things shook out to Schwarz working with the afterguard and coaching the trimmers through the maneuvers. Herbst was responsible for running the pit and managing all the hoisting and dropping of the sails. This is no easy task considering everything is on locking halyards supporting top-down furling spinnakers— with 3-to-1-ratio tack line all coordinating around the six grinders turning the correct winch in the right gear at the right time with some of those winches turning the opposite direction. The coordination and orchestration of the maneuvers was astronomically intense both physically and mentally and absolutely pushed our team to a new level when it came to communication and timing.

IN TRUE SAILING WEEK FASHION, TEAMS ALSO ENJOYED LAID-BACK, LAY DAY FUN ON THE ISLAND.

64 /

CHASING DOWN A COMPETITOR ON THE COURSE.

Everything on the boat had to be done as a process, with one step needing to be completed before the next one started. While this is not a major issue when you are scheduling your sail changes on a calendar during an around the world race, in short course buoy racing it added a level of unimaginable complexity. For example, in order to tack the boat, the call would go out 30 seconds before the tack to drop the weather dagger board into the water, which involved releasing the halyard that holds it up, followed by the bow team seating the board into the cassette. As that was happening, the new leeward runner was being brought on and pre-loaded, next as the boat begins to turn, the keel is swung through the tack to the new high side as the sails pass over. Once completed, the weather dagger board is hoisted out of the water using the pedestal-driven weather primary winch, and finally, the traveler is brought to weather on the same winch. After all of that, it is probably time to tack again. All the while, we were dodging and weaving, short tacking the beach to get out of the current, and avoiding the traffic of the smaller fleets that we were constantly working our way through, and that was just the upwind. It was not until halfway through the regatta that we began to really feel like we could measure up against our competition, the Volvo 65 Ambersail, crewed by a great group of sailors from Lithuania. They were a very well sailed program with a lot of experience on the boat and were a real challenge to keep pace with, especially in the early days of the regatta. Although the boats were slightly different in performance and design, we quickly learned that if we wanted to beat them on the water, we needed to be flawless in our maneuvers and clean in our tactics and strategy. Thankfully, our team learned quickly and by the end of the regatta we found ourselves battling at the front with them, only missing the class win for the week by two points after four intense days of racing. At the end of the week, we all looked at each other; bruised, tired, but not broken and far from beaten, having finished up the final race nearly three minutes ahead of our Lithuanian rivals on the water. We felt fantastic about how far we had come and how hard we pushed to get there. I can’t even begin to touch on all the people who worked to make this incredible event possible, and the amazing team that I was lucky enough to sail with at Antigua Sailing Week. There is no way I would be able to tell all the stories and share all the memories we made in the space here, and it is hard to believe that so much came out of one single week of sailing. And in the end that is what the sport is about: Trophies come and go, boats come and go, but the friendships and memories that we build along the way is really the whole reason for doing it.

>> The 54th edition of Antigua Sailing Week will take place April 29-May 5, 2023. For full regatta details, visit: sailingweek.com.

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1974 REDUCED SWIFTSHIPS 103 DINNER/CRUISE

1987 REDUCED BAYLINER 4550 PILOTHOUSE

2020 HELMSMAN TRAWLERS 38E

2012 RANGER TUGS 27 NW EDITION 1984 HATTERAS 61 COCKPIT MOTORYACHT

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46' West Indies................................................Inquire 44' Gozzard '01..........................................$289,900 42' Ponderosa 42 '84.......................................$79,000

41' Beneteau 41.1 '17.......................................Inquire 41' Hunter 41DS '05....................................$149,900 38' Sabre 38 MKII '90....................................$99,950

35' Niagara 35 '81..........................................$49,900 34' Tollycraft 34 '79.....................................$79,000 31' Beneteau 31 '10.......................................Inquire 54' Ocean Alexander ...............................Arriving 51' Beneteau 51.1 ‘22 .....................Arriving Sold 49' Hunter '09 ..............................................Sold 47' Beneteau 473 '02 ......................Sale Pending 46' Beneteau Oceanis 46.1..............Arriving Sold 45' Beneteau Oceanis 45 '17......................SOLD 41' Beneteau 41.1 '19 ................................SOLD 40' Beneteau Oceanis 40.1 '22...2 - Arriving Sold 38' Beneteau 38.1 '22 ................2 - Arriving Sold 38' Beneteau 38 '14 ................................Arriving 36' Beneteau 36 CC '98..............................SOLD 35' O'Day 35 '86 ....................................$29,000 34' Beneteau Swift Trawler 34 '14 .............SOLD 34' Beneteau Oceanis 34.1 '22........Arriving Sold 34' Beneteau Oceanis 350 '90................$39,900 33' Hunter 33 '05 ............................Sale Pending 30' Beneteau Oceanis 30.1 '22........Arriving Sold 19' Christ Craft Racing Runabout '50 ....$44,900