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"We sail these historic wooden boats because we enjoy the unique individuals they attract, the rarefied atmosphere they generate, and because we are all hopeless romantics."
Our purpose is to provide a safe, reliable, and marvelous trip for our wide range of guests. To operate a vessel at sea requires a great diversity of talents and skills. In addition to maritime expertise, our crew members all come from rich and various life experiences. They are here to share their world with you, and to make our boat a comfortable home for your Pacific Northwest adventure.
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BILL BAILEY
CAPTAIN, ENGINEER, CHIEF SANDER, PRESIDENT
Beginning in 1964, at the impressionable age of 12, Bill spent afternoons with a master craftsman who was in the midst of a 5-year boat building project. His time in that shop ruined him! He was infected with saw dust, turpentine and metal polish. The only relief he has ever found is to own and operate traditional wooden boats.
At 19 he bought a 32' engineless mahogany sloop and sailed her in the San Diego area for several years. He was in the process of re-building her into an off-shore voyager when love intervened and he married his first (and only!) wife, Shannon. The arrival of their first child 10 months later resulted in the conversion of the boat into a washing machine, a dryer, and a car with seat belts.
In the
1980's Bill and Shannon moved to the Northwest and began a fishing
business. For 4-years Bill was on the water at least 200 days per
year, fishing for crab, salmon and dog fish. Their boat was a 1936
Bristol Bay sailboat that had been (crudely) converted to power. 2
months after they committed everything they had to this new venture,
the boat sank at the dock during a severe storm. Bill raised her himself,
got her running, and within a week was back fishing. The next spring
he hauled her home and completed a three-month re-build (much to the
neighbors' consternation and amazement!).
Bill also worked as a deck hand in Alaska on different commercial fishing boats. He was struck with the wild beauty of Alaska and vowed to someday return with his family.
The Bailey family moved to San Juan Island in 1989, where Bill hoped to return to commercial fishing. Economics and judicial actions spelled the end of fishing as a way of life, and Bill turned to construction as a vocation. During this time the Bailey's owned two classic cruising boats, the first, a 1946, 33' Monk design. The second was a 1947, 42' Bill Garden designed commercial troller. These boats were used to take family and friends on many wonderful voyages.
15 years and 50 homes, barns and offices later it is time to return to the sea to make our living.
Finally!
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STEVE MORRELL
CAPTAIN
Steve was born in San Antonio, Texas and raised on the sand dunes of
San Francisco. He received his college education at UC Santa
Barbara, earning a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Biology and a
Master's degree in Zoology. He also learned to sail.
He spent his first post-college decade (the 70's) studying foxes in
the San Joaquin Valley, seabirds in the Antarctic, and marine mammals
and seabirds on the Farallon Islands west of San Francisco. He also
bought a 30' sailboat in which he explored San Francisco Bay.
Nearly 30 years ago, ready for a major change and preparing to move
to New Zealand, Steve accepted an offer from a college friend to
spend the summer fishing for salmon in Alaska. Although he has since
returned to New Zealand several times, he was captivated by Alaska.
He spent eighteen summers fishing for salmon, mostly in Southeast
Alaska, and one year working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
on a flora and fauna survey of Saint Matthew Island in the Bering Sea.
Steve finds the natural beauty and power of Southeast Alaska both
nurturing and appropriately overwhelming. He considers every boat
trip a new adventure, and he loves sharing the adventures and
experiencing the wilderness with our guests.
Steve lives in Mt. Shasta, California with his sweetheart and their
two cats. He migrates north each summer. He has his USCG 100 ton
Master's license and is trained in First Aid and CPR.
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CARL JOHNSON
ENGINEER
After "vacationing" in the Catalyst engine room last year, Carl Johnson, had so much fun, that he agreed to be the full time engineer for the 2008 season. He gets two weeks off for bad behavior to travel around the countryside on his motorcycle with the love of his life, Nancy. With a mixed educational background that includes a degree in Business from George Fox University and a Biblical Studies diploma from Trinity Lutheran, Carl has spent most of his adult life in sales, marketing, mechanics, and the ministry. In his "spare" time he has worked on the many engines of all shapes and sizes that fit on cars, boats, and motorcycles. His combination of personality and abilities add to making life aboard the Catalyst well oiled.
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ERIC RASMUSSEN
ENGINEER
Eric lives on a tugboat with his wife, daughter and son. He takes off from his
"real job" as an engineer to work a few weeks of summer on the CATALYST.
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SHANNON BAILEY
ADMINISTRATOR/TRIP CO-ORDINATOR/VICE PRESIDENT /OCCASIONAL KAYAK GUIDE, NATURALIST, DECKHAND AND/OR COOK
Shannon tends the home fires and the office on San Juan Island and rejoices in taking several trips aboard the CATALYST each season. At various times she crews as kayak guide, naturalist, deckhand and/or cook particularly in the San Juan Islands. She is a certified Alaska Naturalist along with a BA in Communication Studies and Political Science from UC Santa Barbara. She listed her occupation as sheep farmer until she and Bill purchased the CATALYST, and she took on the marketing and administrative duties of the business. Though there are still sheep on their farm, Shannon is pursuing her studies in photography, natural history and science rather than delivering lambs.
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SARAH DRUMMOND
NATURALIST, KAYAK GUIDE, DECKHAND
Sarah Drummond, by her own admission, "grew up" traveling with Cloud Ridge Naturalists. Her passion for drawing the natural world began at an early age, and she has kept illustrated field journals since she was twelve. Sarah graduated from Maine's College of the Atlantic, where her studies emphasized general ecology, island ecosystems, and art. Sarah was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship and has just completed a year of travel in Argentina, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, and Greenland, focusing on the important role of artists on exploratory expeditions. Re-visiting many of the places described by these intrepid naturalist artists, she has produced an extraordinary collection of watercolor paintings and field journals-recording with exquisite skill her own "voyage of discovery" in a changing world. Sarah spent last summer season working as a guide and naturalist in Glacier Bay.
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JAY ZARR
NATURALIST, KAYAK GUIDE, DECKHAND
For 30+ years, Jay has traveled through the wildness of the world as an experiential educator. His ventures include being a camp counselor, wrangler, Outward Bound Instructor; backpacking and climbing instructor, wilderness ranger, college professor, a senior instructor for the Wilderness Education Association and guiding sea kayaking trips in the San Juan and Gulf Islands as well as aboard the Catalyst in SE Alaska.
He is the founder of three outdoor education programs and was the author and director of the environmental education program for teachers called "Environment Now: A Stepping Stone". During his stint with the forest service he was involved in designing the 10th Mountain Aspen to Vail Ski and Mountain Bike trail and currently serves on the local Sierra Club and Nature Center boards.
Jay's travels have taken him on kayak trips down the Colorado and Green Rivers, exploring Peru and Ecuador on foot to mountain climbing in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest. Recently he has been involved with Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska helping them with their outdoor leadership degree.
When Jay's not exploring the natural world he is a consultant for High Impact Training specializing in leadership development and creating community. He has a Master degree in Experiential Education and Graduate work in Ecology. His enthusiasm for life is contagious and he is looking forward to exploring and discovering more of Southeast Alaska with the Pacific Catalyst family.
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JENNY HAHN
NATURALIST, KAYAK GUIDE
Since 1987, Jennifer ("Jenny") Hahn has guided natural history and
kayak trips in Washington, Canada, Alaska, and Baja, Mexico. A solo
kayak trip from Alaska to Bellingham, Washington is among her paddling
accomplishments. As an author, her first book: Spirited Waters:
Soloing South Through the Inside Passage (Mountaineers Books, Seattle,
2001) won the "Barbara Savage 'Miles from Nowhere' Memorial Award"
for an adventure narrative.
"What I love most about returning to
the Pacific Catalyst are the team-players I'm lucky enough to crew
beside. Everyone seems to glow with an enormous love for Alaska.
By enormous, I mean in Alaska measures: high as the rumbling Dawes
Glacier and bright as the free-tumbling, 5000-foot waterfalls singing
in Ford's Terror Fjord. The Pacific Catalyst crew's enthusiasm is
downright infectious too. It has the habit of growing in the guests
like a festival of Northern Lights--until the whole place glows.
Mix that with decadent and delicious cooking and, well, how much
luckier can I be? Only thing is, I have to kayak laps around the
Catalyst's hull to keep the 'love
handles' at bay!"
Jenny has a few of her own recipes to share with the guests too.
Whenever the opportunity presents itself, she supplements the cooks
feast with a side dish of wildharvest foods. "Feasting on flotsam"
is her passion and Five-star Cream of Kelp Chowder and Chocolate
Ocean Pudding (thickened with carageen-rich seaweed!) are her all-time
favorite intertidal delicacies.
Jenny holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies and B.A. in Writing,
Literature & Ecology. She has taught natural history from Alaska
to the Galapagos Islands. A former lecturer for the Washington Commission
for the Humanities on Natural History, she also spends part of the
off-season welding, sculpting with her potter-husband, and writing.
Jenny's second book, she tells us, has something to do with welding,
adventure travel and building a house!
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LIA STAMATIOU
NATURALIST, KAYAK GUIDE, DECKHAND
Lia Stamatiou is a Seattle native taking leave from her position as
Research Scientist with the Wetland Ecosystem Team at the University of
Washington to sail as naturalist. Her professional background focuses on
estuarine and shoreline ecology especially in the context of juvenile
salmonid use, and she has worked in areas throughout Puget Sound and the
Columbia River estuary.
She is one of those lucky people who loves their
job because, mostly she just waits for the tide to go out so she can play in
the mud. She also loves travelling, and chatting up the locals to learn
local history and new flora and fauna along the way. Most recently she
travelled to Newfoundland and toured 350 miles of the Northern Peninsula by
bicycle, picking up stories, jokes and bad habits along the way. A favorite
answer when asking a local about the name of one ubiquitous plant was
"well, mostly we just call them weeds".
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ELIJAH BAILEY
OCCASIONAL NATURALIST, KAYAK GUIDE, DECKHAND, AND MAINTENANCE CREW
Eli has been kayaking, surfing and sailing and generally mucking about in all manner of boats - including a stint helping his father fish commercially in the San Juans - since his childhood.
A year round resident of San Juan Island, Eli recently purchased his own home. He attended Western Washington University in Bellingham where he graduated with a degree in political science. He is a certified Alaska Naturalist with the University of Alaska SE and worked as a kayak guide and a naturalist for many years in between travels around the world. He has worked this winter preparing the Catalyst for the coming season, but will sit it out as guide, to pursue other career goals.
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MORGAN SCHNEIDLER
KAYAK GUIDE, NATURALIST, DECKHAND
Morgan is on hiatus this season pursuing other career goals.
Morgan grew up in the Pacific Northwest, exploring the marine environment on her family's property in the San Juan Islands, along the outer coast in Neah Bay, Washington, and with friends along Hood Canal. Mentored by her marine biologist uncle and master gardening grandmother who specialized in native plants, Morgan learned to love the mysteries of the natural world from an early age. Her love of Pacific Northwest natural history is contagious as she shares stories, poetry and art to express the grandeur of this place.
Morgan holds a B.A. in environmental education and nature writing with an emphasis on natural history studies from Western Washington University. She also holds a Master's of Marine Affairs from the University of Washington. Morgan has a captain's license and is a certified marine naturalist. Morgan has worked as a guide and naturalist for the past twelve years and has taught natural history in Washington, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Grand Canyon.
Morgan hails to the homeport of Seattle when not in Alaska. Her most recent accomplishments include climbing to the top of Haleakala Volcano on Maui, a 10,500 foot and over 34 mile uphill climb on her bicycle.
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ANNE CATHERINE ("AC OR ACE") KRUGER
CHEF
Anne Catherine has been playing with food since she was three years old and living aboard boats since she was six. She has been infected with the "wandering bug" and just can't seem to stay in one place. She loves the feeling of community aboard a ship and being the one responsible for keeping its passengers happy and full as it travels from port to port. She holds a BS in Physics from UNC and a Grand Diplome in Cuisine and Pastry from Le Cordon Bleu-Paris. In her time off she enjoys cycling, traveling, running, swimming and cooking for friends in Seattle and family in North Carolina. Her recent winter project has been cooking weekly communal dinners in Seattle. See
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ENSAN BRODSKY
CHEF
Ensan's enthusiasm for cooking was sparked by the
homecooking of village women on Crete when she was 16.
Her cooking sensibility has since been formed by her
travels, with a deep appreciation for local and
seasonal fare. As a student at Williams College, she
worked in a bakery and helped run a weekly vegetarian
lunch for 100 people. Since graduating, she has spent
most of her time in Japan, studying in a zen monastery
as well as doing hospice and birthing assistant work.
In southeast Alaska, she has cooked aboard several
charter boats and spends as much time as possible
exploring by kayak.
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