McMichael brokers go through in-house training that continues throughout their career. All our brokers are required to be Certified Professional Yacht Brokers (CPYB), having passed an all inclusive test of their knowledge administered by the Yacht Brokers Association of America.
Howard grew up in the boat business. He apprenticed under Herb Ericson, a master ship’s carpenter from City Island and foreman of McMichael Yacht Yard in the early 1950′s.
He is a former Commodore of Larchmont Yacht Club and an avid sailor and boating enthusiast. “Giving something back to the sport of sailing” through race management and marine photography keeps him on the water in his Fortier 26 PUFF.
You will often find Howard aboard his daughter and son-in-law’s J44, HONAHLEE, cruising with several of his 7 grandchildren. Howard has been a member of the Coastal Zone Commission for the Town of Mamaroneck since the late 1980s and is working with many others to clean up our Sound.
Howard’s email address is howardm@mcmyacht.com
Joan is Vice President of McMichael Yacht Brokers. She became active in the family business in 1983 and put her years of boating knowledge to use. Under her management, McMichael expanded power boat sales and is now recognized as a leader in both new and brokerage power boats. She was one of the original members of the Yacht Brokers Association of America (YBAA) design team for their Certification Program, which is the gold standard for broker training and certification.
Joan exemplifies the long-standing McMichael philosophy of integrity, service, and professionalism when dealing with clients, other professionals and the many details of buying and selling a boat. She is a member of YBAA and a licensed Florida broker.
Joan’s email address is joank@mcmyacht.com
Rusty Stewart is the sales manager at McMichael Yacht Brokers. He is a Certified Professional Yacht Broker and a recent inductee into the Storm Trysail Club. His goal is to match clients with the right boat, whether for racing, cruising or a quick day sail. He always serves his clients with integrity and professionalism.
Rusty’s love of sailing began more than 40 years ago. Currently, if you are in Watch Hill RI, you are likely to see Rusty and his family enjoying a sail on their Alerion 20, Beshert. Besides pleasure sailing, Rusty also has an extensive racing resume, including many distinguished Newport-Bermuda races, and most of the L.I.S. racing venues.
Rusty is committed to providing outstanding service to his clients. Recently, he has been over-seeing the customization of 4 Alerion 38s, and the introduction of the first Summit 35 into Western Long Island Sound.
He is the proud recipient of J Boats’ “Award of Excellence” and “Broker of the Year” for being one of the top 3 J Boat salesmen worldwide, and he was also named “Top Alerion Express Salesman Nationwide”.
Rusty’s email address is Rustys@mcmyacht.com
Tom has a long boating history. He started sailing when he was 8, and from the age of 12 Tom spent many a summer sailing and enjoying his father’s charter business based in Tortola. His love of boats continued to grow with his cruising and racing experiences on Long Island Sound. Racing soon became a passion; his most recent accomplishments are an overall IRC win in the 2009 Vineyard Race and a IRC 40 division win in the 2010 Around Block Island Race on the J/122 Partnership. His background, from sailboards to Swans, gives him a depth of knowledge necessary for success as a yacht broker. Tom has been a broker with McMichael since 2002 and he is an YBAA Certified Professional Yacht Broker.
His goal is finding the right boat for each customer. Working with people and boats is what he enjoys and does best. Tom knows that the customer is number one and this is the credo he brings from his past career in the mail order/e-commerce industry.
Tom spends most of his free time racing in PHRF, IRC and One Design Fleets in and around Long Island Sound and occasionally on his J30, SPECIAL SAUCE, out of Black Rock Harbor. Tom and his family reside in Hartford, CT.
Tom’s email address is tomb@mcmyacht.com
Todd started sailing on his family’s cruising boat before his memory serves. His love of racing was cultivated through sailing Blue Jays and Lasers in Pequot Yacht Club’s junior program. Since then he has actively raced in the J105 fleet, J109 fleet, and helped form the J122 class. He also developed and helped launch the LIS IRC 35 class. Todd is an experienced distance sailor and was involved with winning the Vineyard race class and IRC overall aboard the J122 Partnership.
Todd enjoys using his extensive knowledge of boating to find his clients the boat that best suits their needs. He is dedicated to providing the best possible service to all his customers. Todd can often be found racing with clients and helping them build their racing programs. Through the years, he has custom built many J/Boats, Alerions, and MJM power boats for clients, many of whom he now considers personal friends.
In his spare time Todd enjoys racing and cruising his Olson 34 JOYRIDE with family and friends. During the winter season you may spot the Williams family on the slopes at Okemo where they have a ski house.
You may contact Todd at toddw@mcmyacht.com or 203-610-1215.
Michael is a licensed captain and active racer who began his sailing career in Boston on the Charles River. He has a proven track record of working tirelessly for his clients, and enjoys working directly with buyers to identify the best possible “next boat” from the many options available. Michael routinely races with his clients, and recently competed in the J/80 class at the 2012 Quantum Key West Race Week. He is regular crew on the J/130 Dragonfly, winners of the IRC 45 division in the 2011 Block Island Race and entered in the 2012 Newport Bermuda Race.
Prior to joining McMichael in 2007, he captained the 80′ schooner Adirondack II in Newport, RI and was an instructor at Offshore Sailing. In his free time, he enjoys cruising his C&C 33 Exit Strategy.
Michael’s email address is michaelb@mcmyacht.com and he can be reached at (718)764-7215.
John Fallon caught the sailing bug at age 6, racing a 1954 wooden Sunfish. A graduate of the Devon Yacht Club junior program, he was awarded the Eastern Long Island Yachting Association Junior Sailor of the Year. During his college years, John competed on the Hobart & William Smith sailing team. Fallon has crewed on some of Long Island Sound’s most competitive yachts and served as a member of the American Yacht Club Race Committee. John’s email address is johnf@mcmyacht.com
Growing up in Manhattan and Long Island, Myles developed his love for all things ocean at a very early age. He spent many summers deep sea fishing on his grandmothers 45′ Hatteras. When not fishing he could be found bobbing around on a sunfish in Reynolds Channel as a sail camp “minion” and later as a sail camp instructor. During his college years, Myles worked on sport fishing boats in NY, FL, St. Thomas and Venezuela.
For the past 10 years he has been racing and sailing with friends off the south shore of Long Island and he looks forward to participating in a Newport to Bermuda race.
Myles works out of our Newport office located in the Newport Shipyard. He resides in Barrington, RI with his family and enjoys cruising the coast on his Catalina 34.
Rick grew up on Long Island spending many years sailing on the Sound in everything from J- 22′s to J-35′s, Custom C&C 41′s and many other boats competing in all the major Northeast events. This experience and passion for sailing led him on a path to sail in the 1987 America’s Cup in Perth, Australia with both the Courageous and USA Syndicates. He has sailed in many major international regattas including the Swan World Champs in Sardinia, the World 6 Meter champs in Portofino, Italy, and several Newport Bermuda races.
Rick combines his extensive sailing background with both the marine and sports industry, having worked as a regional sales manager at SunfishLaser and Vanguard Sailboats, and prior to that as a regional sales representative with sporting goods giant Nike. He believes that building relationships and understanding the clients needs are essential in helping customers have a great experience with their boats. He works out of the Newport office at the Newport shipyard.
Rick resides in Portsmouth, RI with his family, having fallen in love with the Newport area during his many sailing events there. He is also the director of the Portsmouth High School Sailing Team, and along with his wife, enjoys chasing their youngest son around the youth Laser circuit. He is a member of Sail Newport and can be seen racing many weeknights and weekends in all the local events in a variety of boats.
You may contact Rick at rickf@mcmyacht.com or (401) 743-6318
Chris started his career at McMichael in 1991 at our Yard #1 on Post Road. He began managing the Rushmore yard the next year, just in time for the Nor’easter of December 1992.
Chris grew up boating on Long Island Sound and Nantucket Sound, in both sail and power boats. Today he is a highly respected resource, known especially for his expertise with high performance Downeast yachts, including MJM Yachts and Shelter Island Runabouts.
Patti grew up crewing for her father Hank in frostbite sailing from the docks at McMichael Rushmore and at Larchmont YC. In 2004 Patti became office manager and is responsible for customer satisfaction, scheduling, billing and ordering parts.
Helmut joined his older brother Richard at McMichael Yacht Yard in 1980. His technical and analytical background is perfectly suited for managing a workforce that repairs and services offshore racing and cruising sailboats. Commissioning new JBoats, Alerion Express, Summit, Santa Cruz, True North and MJMs sold by McMichael brokers is only part of the job. The other 300 customers own various types of boats, some dating back to the 1980s when McMichael was C&C Yachts’ and Pearson Yachts’ largest dealer.
His broad knowledge of past models is essential to their proper maintenance and repair. The yard department heads in charge of sailboat rigging, mechanical (Yanmar and Volvo service, parts, repowering and warranty), fiberglass structural repair, painting (Awlgrip and gelcoat), and electronics installation and repair report to Helmut. A hands-on manager, Helmut is usually found working with the crew on one of the many projects. At the end of the day, “customer satisfaction” is his goal.
Grant joined the McMichael team in 2005 after 30 years of experience racing, delivering and managing yachts large and small. At McMichael Grant corresponds with the owners, setting launch dates, writing estimates and offering advice. He acts as gatekeeper (freeing Helmut and the department heads), using his extensive knowledge of boats to advise our customers on what will work well and what will work even better.
His past experience includes managing five 12 Meter Americas Cup race boats in St Maarten and manager of Bobby’s Marina in St Maarten. Grant proposed the business plan and started the IAC Challenge LTD in Nassau, Bahamas in 1999. The company purchased the International America’s Cup Class yachts NZL10 and 12 and the tender Ranger. Grant served as President and Director of Operations of the race charter business until the sale of the company in 2002.
Guus joined McMichael in 2008 and is now Assistant Yard Manager. Born and raised in Amsterdam, he sailed a small “pirate” dinghy as a 9 year old and graduated to a wooden 470. As a teen he attended a maritime secondary school and earned a certificate. While working for Shell Oil Tankers as an assistant engineer, he continued studying maritime engineering, expanding his certification to operate fully as ship engineer worldwide. During shore leaves, he captained traditional sailing clippers on the North Sea and inland waters.
Guus returned to The Netherlands and began his 20 years as ship engineer for the Royal Dutch Navy working on a wide range of boats: from row boats to submarines, frigates to the Queen’s personal yacht. In 2003 Guus started his career in the U.S. working as head mechanic/shipwright for Brewer Yacht Haven and marine manager at Indian Harbor YC in CT. He now makes his home in CT with his wife, Jennifer, and 2 demanding cats. You can still find him on his sailboat HOI! (Dutch for Hi) or restoring a 24′ Tripp power boat.
Karen is the cheerful voice on the phone when you call the yard. She works closely with Grant to prepare invoices and assists in providing customer service. She has been with McMichael for 8 years, having previously worked at Derecktor Shipyard.
Mary Lou joined the McMichael team in 2001 as Purchasing Agent. She grew up sailing on Long Island Sound aboard her Aunt’s wooden sailboat and now enjoys sailing with her husband on their 30′ sloop.
Our receptionist and listing secretary, Linda came to McMichael 44 years ago while still in high school. Her husband Martin (whose father Toby was boat captain at Larchmont YC for 35 years) is a marine contractor.
Our Sales Coordinator, Tish has been handling contracts and boat orders for over 30 years. She oversees the paperwork for all brokerage, new boat and trade transactions and insures the accuracy of our records for future reference. She handles requests for archived documents from our files dating back to the 1970s. Very few brokerage companies maintain detailed accurate records dating back that far.
Mary Ann is the newest addition to the McMichael team and helps to coordinate sales activities. She is a member of Larchmont Yacht Club and was formerly the COO at McCauley Diving Services.
