An Olde Hatt Doing New Tricks

Dear Mrs. Boone (Jan):

Now that the summer has started to wane, I wanted to send you this very heartfelt note regarding our professional experience dealing with Bluewater and especially our broker, Scott MacDonald.

My husband got thru a very nasty cancer treatment in 2015 and while we were in the throes of the uncertainty of our outcome, we vowed that, should Jim’s treatment render him cancer-free, we would point ourselves towards taking our lives back and purchase a liveaboard to celebrate.

In January 2017 we were ready to start shopping. We gave ourselves a 5-week vacation to learn about liveaboards with the ultimate goal of purchasing a boat this spring. We made our way to the Chesapeake and ended up with two appts in Kent Narrows to look at boats. The first broker, upon hearing our budget, basically brushed us off and sent us packing. The second appt, with your Scott MacDonald, was a completely different experience. We essentially walked in as a cold call, gave Scott our purchasing parameters and he spent the next 5.5 hours showing us different boats in his region, helping us to define and refine our search. We never felt rushed or embarrassed that our budget was only $250k-$300k. Scott walked us thru the whole process and we ultimately decided on the 61′ “galley up” Hatteras MY.

Over the course of the next 5 months, we got on every 61 Hatteras on the eastern seaboard. Scott was on some of the excursions, some were our own and then Scott went to a couple in his area. We had two failed purchase and sales and never once, did Scott get agitated or frustrated with us or the process. Had the tables been turned, I would have probably slit my wrists. Painful does not even come close, but Scott handled the whole arduous process with professionalism, a great sense of very dry Scottish wit and a couple of Guinness with my husband to peel him off the ceiling.

We ultimately purchased a 54 galley up ED Hatteras right where we started, in Kent Narrows. Scott and the office had all of the paperwork ready for us when we came down, took us out for a primer in larger yacht handling and got us to New York Harbor where we then did our maiden voyage up the Hudson to our “summer home.”

To say that we are happy with the whole experience and Scott would be a gross understatement. We love our “Olde Hatt.” On the upper Hudson, she is a big girl and even though she is not new and swanky, she has a certain panache and the boat envy and accolades happen every time we pull into a new marina. Scott made sure that we did not end up with a problem child on our hands.

Bottom line: Bluewater Yachts has a great asset in Scott MacDonald. He never once tried to push us past our financial comfort zone nor stray us from our intent to purchase an older boat that was not part of your family of boat lines that you represent. The nightmares of others in our marina regarding unsavory brokers have been completely lost on us. Whoever hired Scott should continue to find like-minded and ethical souls for your increasing sales force. Scott represented you, your company and the industry as a whole with impeccable ethics and unwavering professionalism.

I thought you should know about our experience. It was important for me to write this letter as a tribute to Scott and to thank him for taking us under his wing and protecting us from those in your industry where honor, ethics and humility do not always show up for work every day. This letter is also a thank you to you for fostering a sales force where morales, professionalism and ethics are the benchmarks, not the exception.

We have bragged about Scott and Bluewater to anyone who will listen. Hopefully, in our travels, we can send some more business your way.

Kind Regards,

Maura Gannon and Jim Linnan
Proud Owners of “Olde Hatt”