By Jeff Merrill

A great boat listed for sale at a fair price is a fantastic set up that every yacht broker covets.  Shortly after posting the photos and listing specifications for Nordhavn 47 Sea Eagle on Nordhavn.com/brokerage, I was contacted by Scott Boyd who wanted to make arrangements to fly down to Sausalito, CA from his home in Washington to view Sea Eagle.  We set a date, I flew up to join Scott and his wife Janet, and we were greeted by the owners of Sea Eagle, Frank and Marlies Dinsmorewho, after nine years of fun filled cruising including trips to Alaska and Mexico, decided it was time to focus on some land and air (Frank is a pilot) adventures with their free time.

The Boyd’s had been actively looking for a full displacement trawler and narrowed their ultimate selection to only two brands, Krogen and Nordhavn.

We met on board and Marlies had pastries and coffee ready.  Sea Eagleradiated warmth and comfort, a very inviting welcome and a true reflection of her owners.  The Boyd’s were instantly impressed and while the ladies talked about the huge plusses of living aboard a Nordhavn, the men focused on navigation and machinery.  The meticulously thought out details of this self sufficient boat made the desire to own her unanimous.

Shortly after our visit an offer was tendered and accepted and three weeks later we all gathered again in Sausalito for the trial run and survey.  Matt Harris, an excellent surveyor whom I’ve worked with before on several previous Nordhavn purchases, was flown down from WA for the inspection.

We did a short trip to KKMI in Richmond, including a haul out and Sea Eagle passed with “flying” colors.

14,000 miles of trouble free cruising – the boat rarely sat still and was almost exclusively operated by Frank and Marlies, just the two of them.  I should mention that Frank, in addition to flying, is an incredibly accomplished sailor and won the San Francisco to Kauai single handed Trans Pac sailboat race a few years ago.  During our time together we heard stories about this “perfect couples cruising boat” as they recounted their four months of cruising in Mexico, with scuba diving off the boat in warm beautiful waters, Marlies’ personal preference; two trips from Sausalito, CA to Glacier Bay AK, cruising for four months each trip, visiting each and every B.C.  Inlet, as well as many remote waterways of AK.  The Dinsmore’s loved getting away and the solitude and ease of handling Sea Eagle, and she served as their weekend home on the water, rarely at the dock, mostly anchoring inland or off the coast of California.

The Boyd’s appreciation for all of the finer points made it quite clear that Sea Eagle was going to a great new home and that she will continue an active travel itinerary after being relocated to Washington (underway in June).

I flew back up to Sausalito a couple of weeks ago to meet with Scott and Janet for trawler training and to review systems and equipment orientation.  Scott and Janet have easily transitioned from buyers to owners and they intend to scope out an aggressive cruise to conduct wreck diving out in the remote Aleutian Islands – an area not often visited and one that does require the proper type of boat to do safely.

Scott Boyd and his friend, Jeff Carr, have published a very intriguing book called, “Northwest Wreck Dives” – ISBN 978-0-9821510-1-3 © 2008, which I have now read and found very interesting. I used to do a bit of scuba diving, but never in dry suits and never on wrecks or in such cold water!

According to Scott there are a number of “virgin” wrecks on the Aleutian chain, so who knows, maybe a future publication will be forthcoming?  In the meantime, the Boyd’s will be documenting their adventures on their blog, www.nordheaven.com(great domain name!) and Sea Eagle is soon to be winging her way north to her new nest.

A final visit with just the two couples in May for a day of orientation cemented a budding friendship and a passing of the baton.

Wishing happy cruising to Scott and Janet and sending another round of thanks to Frank andMarlies for building such a fantastic Nordhavn!