Then on to selling the lovely and well-found offshore cruisers built by Pacific Seacraft in Southern California. Then a three and half year stint of focused brokerage sales at a Seattle Yacht Brokerage House. This venue offered new opportunities to assist clients with purchasing boats from all over the country, so significant travel and long-distance transactions ensued, and Mark’s first opportunity to begin attending the big Annapolis Sailboat Show on a regular basis.

In the late ’90’s, Mark started selling the capable and beautiful line of pilothouse motor yachts designed by Bill Crealock called Offshore Yachts. Mark’s role was to help develop a sailboat side to the business, which included a successful Tartan Yachts dealership, as well as a dealership with Cabo Rico Yachts. Both product lines attracted a lot of attention at Seattle boat shows, and helped provide Mark with five good years of mixed new and used boat sales, including a number of the substantial Offshore Yachts motor cruisers.

Mark was offered a position in ‘2002 with Discovery Yachts, a company founded by one of his former clients, Michael Locatell. Following a very successful dealership for SAGA Yachts, Discovery was just becoming established as a dealer for several of the very high-end cruising sailboat lines from Sweden. Discovery Yachts is now the North American importer for Malo Yachts, Regina Pilot House Yachts and Farr Pilot House Yachts of Sweden; and an agent for the Passport Yachts Custom and Vista series.

Mark has enjoyed boating trips on the coast of Washington, in the San Juan Islands, test sails in Long Island, the Chesapeake, South Carolina/Intracoastal, Florida/Keys, Mexico, San Diego, Los Angeles area and San Francisco Bay, and, in the summer of 2008, a two-week offshore sail training experience aboard the Hallberg-Rassy 46 “Mahina Tiare” from Scotland to Sweden. His career has always been focused on assisting folks with bigger dreams requiring more substantial cruising boats. His association with a variety of very high quality product lines, as well as a broad range of brokerage cruising designs, has made Mark very effective as both a buyer’s broker and as a listing broker.

Professionally, when the nationwide program for Certified Professional Yacht Brokers was established a few years ago as an effort to raise the level of professionalism in the industry, Mark was one of the very first to apply for, test and gain the CPYB designation. Personal and professional integrity, along with a lot of experience helping folks not only to buy and sell boats, but to realize their dreams and aspirations for adventure and recreation, have kept many of Mark’s clients returning as repeat customers, and new customers are always in for a positive and rewarding experience.

E-mail Mark at gilbertenterprises@msn.com

Eric Quense was born at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, and can quite literally claim a lifelong connection to, and obsession with sailing and the sea.

From a homemade fiberglass boat that he helped his father build in the back yard, Penguins and Lightning’s as a kid, to Husky Freshman Crew and cutting class for “hang time” in the UW Yacht Club sail loft, he always found ways to get cold and wet while having serious fun doing it.

Eric was fortunate to go to Palau as a Peace Corps Volunteer and was fortunate in transforming that into an opportunity to cruise throughout Micronesia, his first real ocean experience.

Since then he has sailed extensively on many beautiful, wooden sailboats, beginning long ago on his 32’ auxiliary cutter.

Eric recently retired from a long professional career as an architect, most recently with Martens/Chan, a consulting structural engineering firm.

Eric purchased his current yacht, a Hans Christian 33T, from Discovery Yachts and from then on, a great friendship was born! Discovery Yachts were quick to take advantage of his retirement, and wealth of knowledge, inviting him to take a desk in their Lake Union office.

E-mail Eric at ericquense@att.net

Julie Hindmarch joined the Discovery Yachts team, as Office Manager, after moving to Seattle, from the yachting hub of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she was the Administrative and Advertising person for Luke Brown Yachts, for almost 8 years.

Julie now lives in West Seattle with her husband, a yacht engineer, and her dog, Storm.

Julie grew up a land lubber in the U.K, where she studied photography, but after she left in her early 20's, to work on a yacht in the States, there was no looking back. Her love for the water, sailing and the ocean, developed and grew stronger.

Julie loves the sailing community of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, the great people and the beautiful scenery. She looks forward to sailing the San Juan Islands in the near future.

E-mail Julie at julie.hindmarchdy@hotmail.com