Eric started his boating education at 6 years old when his family of 8 bought a 16’ Glaspar with a 75hp Evinrude outboard at Lake Havasu where he spent every summer until he graduated college. His Dad bought a newer, larger boat every few years and Eric grew into the role of maintenance man for the family boats.
Eric’s first “big’ purchase was a Hobie Cat to go racing and he eventually qualified for the Hobie 14 Nationals at Lake Tahoe. He continued to race with his wife for over 10 years and won his final race on a Hobie 17’. After raising 3 kids, Eric bought a “dream” boat of the era, a 24’ Campbell Cuddy cabin day cruiser with a 330hp Mercruiser I/O at Lake Havasu and started teaching his kids to water ski and fish.
After a 30 year career of successive promotions in manufacturing management with a Masters of Business Administration, Eric became Chief Executive Office for manufacturing companies acquired by Private Equity firms for turn-around and eventual sale. It was at the end of his career when he was introduced to the trawler Bible – “Voyaging Under Power”.
This kickstarted Eric’s desire to own a trawler, and he immediately viewed a N40, N43, N46, and N47. Eric chose N4029 and moved aboard in 2016 at Van Isle Marina and began his first big boat ownership adventure. He hired a Captain to teach him about the boat and certify him for insurance purposes and he was on his way.
Over the next 7 years he cruised from Vancouver Island to Skagway, Alaska, back to Anacortes, then down the Pacific Coast to join the CUBAR for 2017. Eric spent a year cruising the Sea of Cortez and coastal Mexico, then started the journey to the Panama Canal, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Florida and north to Maine to complete “The Big U”. By the time he got back to The Sea of Cortez in late 2020, he had traveled 25,000NM.
During that time, he did almost all of the maintenance and repairs along the way. Growing up working on boats, cars and motorcycles, and collecting tools the whole time had prepared him well for the challenges of working on the boat in exotics locations.
After regularly showing his Nordhavn 40 Sprezzatura to interested boaters in marinas and anchorages from Alaska to Maine, Eric met with Jeff Merrill to discuss joining him to assist buyers and sellers of trawlers and share his knowledge and experience of trawler features, cruising, live-aboard life and places to explore.
Eric entered a video into the Nordhavn Film Festival 4 years ago, here is the link to view!
https://youtu.be/I6unWhw8l8E?si=MtGyaa7UD4yOL3bk
Eric wrote an article about his 2 year journey conquering the Big U on his Nordhavn 40- it was published in the 2023 Nordhavn Magazine and is available below:
https://nordhavn.com/a-nordhavn-40-conquers-the-big-u/
Eric is a California Licensed Yacht Salesperson, a member of the California Yacht Brokers Association and the Offshore Cruising Club.
To contact Eric
Email: Eric@JMYS.com
Mobile Phone: +1 626.818.5053