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Bruce

I was born and raised in Puyallup, Washington and have spent the majority of my life working in banking in Tacoma, 10 miles west. I started sailing in the early 80’s. I had a small 24’ sailboat that I sailed in southern Puget Sound for a few years. I went up to 30’, Ragnarok, in 1990 and started some club racing in the Tacoma area.  My good friend Bryan purchased a 42’ cutter rigged ketch, in which we circumnavigated Vancouver Island twice. When he was going to put Fjaera up for sale in 1997 I bought her and sailed her for ten years. Linda and I made multiple trips to British Columbia. We moored Fjaera in Bellingham for six years so we could sail in the San Juan Islands on the weekends. When my friend, Dave, bought a trimaran, Coral Reefer a F-31, I was hooked on multihulls. We also chartered twice in Belize to help with the decision process as to what size of catamaran we would like for our retirement boat. We decided on a Manta MkIV from Manta Catamarans in Sarasota, Florida. Construction was started in November 2007 and completed March 2008. We decided to name her, Helios, who was the Greek God that pulled the Sun across the sky with his chariot, a two wheeled vehicle & two hulled boat. In 2008, I completed the exam an became a U.S.C.G. licensed Captain and recently renewed my license and increased it to 50 ton. I retired from banking in 2008 and served on the Board of Directors for Citizens for a Healthy Bay  for 12 years before retiring from it also, and finished serving my third and final year on the Board of Trustees of the Tacoma Yacht Club  June of 2015. In June 2018, Linda retired which meant we could spend the summer cruising. We purchased a home in Maricopa, AZ in December 2018 and use Helios as our summer home for four months of the year.

Linda

I was born and raised in Hoquiam, Washington, which is on the Washington coast. I came to Tacoma in the early 80’s in my banking career. I was active in the outdoors hiking and cross country skiing. My son, Brian, and his family live Kent. I met Bruce in 1997 and he convinced me to try sailing, but suggested I take lessons from TWSA, (Tacoma Women’s Sailing Association). My friend Jan and I did that and it was a great way to learn, being on an all women boat. I am not a racer and enjoy the cruising aspect of sailing. I enjoy the relaxation of being out on the boat even if only for a weekend. I look forward to having the time to cruise with an open time line after I retire.

Helios history

We picked up Helios in April 2008 and sailed her from Sarasota Florida to Ft. Lauderdale. She was shipped on YachtPath International to Nanaimo, British Columbia and then we brought to her home at Breakwater Marina  in Tacoma, Washington. The sailing trip was great fun and is covered in  more depth on another page. We completed a three week trip into British Columbia to return to the Desolation Sound—Discovery Islands area, in late June and early July 2009.  Helios was a ten minute drive from our house, which makes it easy for after work sailing when there is daylight. We belong to the Tacoma Yacht Club and use their outstations for weekend trips, along with the fact that there are six State of Washington Marine Parks less than 20 miles from Breakwater Marina.  The weekend trips along with the longer summer trips  provided us with some time on Helios in varying conditions. Linda has retired and we purchased a home in Maricopa, Arizona We have backed off on cruising outside the PNW. We have over 20,000 miles on Helios.

Summer 2023 Sailing Plans

We sold Helios to Diane and Charlotte who live in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas in December. They are going to move Helios to British Columbia for a couple of years, then sail her to Marsh Harbour via the Panama Canal. We are going to charter on the Rideau Canal in Ontario, Canada with our friends Gary and Holly Anderson, who are boaters on the Mississippi River from Minnesota. The Rideau Canal is the oldest in North America and runs from Ottawa to Kingston on Lake Erie.