The Northwest Maritime Center (NWMC) has received a generous donation from John Shelton, a part-time resident of both Friday Harbor, Washington, and Patagonia, Arizona. Shelton donated a 62-foot Nordhavn motor yacht, valued at about $1.6 million, to NWMC in September 2015. Shelton also gave NWMC a 26-foot diesel motor launch/workboat and four dinghies.

Jake Beattie, NWMC executive director, said board member Herb Weissblum met Shelton "through a couple different connections." Beattie said Shelton "was considering many different maritime organizations for his donation, and chose us." He "appreciates our organization, and likes what we're doing with the schools," Beattie said.

The 62-foot yacht is named Undine, evoking a mythical water nymph. Built in 1998, the vessel is built for long-distance ocean voyaging; it carries 2,600 gallons of diesel fuel and has a 3,000-mile range at 9 knots. It's a "quality expedition motor yacht," Beattie said.

"This boat has gone to Alaska and back, and Costa Rica and back," Beattie said. "It's meant for just going, and being pretty seaworthy and comfortable. Some boats are built for lakes, some are built for the San Juan Islands. This boat is built for going."

So what does NWMC plan to do with Undine?

"We're figuring that out," Beattie said. "It's kind of like a really fun kind of problem, someone gives you this incredible thing. We have some ideas for programs," including using it as the VIP boat for the Race to Alaska, and/or partnering with a charter company, "people that are into naturalist cruises."

NWMC "will probably partner with other organizations to put the boat to good use," he said.

There are no plans for selling it. "Not in the short term, no," Beattie said. "We're always thinking about how to stretch the limits of this organization," he said. "We would never have bought this boat."

Another possibility is using Undine to train yacht crews, similar to the way a culinary school might run a restaurant staffed by people in training. "Could we do a similar thing for people training to be in the yacht industry?"

One of NWMC's sponsors is UnCruise Adventures, Beattie said. "They do small-boat and 100-passenger cruises to Alaska. They're going to be giving us advice," he said. Beattie was unwilling to name the companies that might partner with NWMC in chartering Undine, but noted there's a lot of relevant expertise in the area, "people around town who have done small-boat charters aplenty."

There are waiting lists for moorage at Point Hudson and Boat Haven, so Undine is currently moored at the Resort at Port Ludlow. "It was just simpler to put it in one spot and leave it there," Beattie said.

Undine has four helm stations, a bow thruster and an articulated rudder, and sleeps 13, including crew. The wheelhouse, up on the second deck, is about the same size as the NWMC simulator, which is used for training. "There's a lot of interesting potential there," Beattie said.

"Before we do anything definitive ... there's lots of ways to explore" possibilities, he said. "You can plan for how you want to grow [as an organization], and then there are these moments where you get these resources that you weren't anticipating."

Shelton was inspired to make the donation by NWMC’s mission "to engage and educate people of all generations in traditional and contemporary maritime life, in a spirit of adventure and discovery,” according to a press release. "He is in a phase in life where he is just simplifying," Beattie said. "I think, in his own words, he felt really good that he was able to support this organization."

Shelton also donated a 26-foot motorboat called Patience, which was built in Port Townsend, "designed to take hardware supplies from Friday Harbor to Brown Island ... the hull was based off a Brown Island ferry," Beattie said.

Brown Island is a small island at the mouth of Friday Harbor at San Juan Island. Patience is "like the pickup truck of the sea," Beattie said. "Patience might be good for working with schools," he said. "Marine ecology groups could use it for sampling or survey work.”

That vessel is also moored in Port Ludlow, as is a 40-foot sailboat, Swiftsure, that was also donated to NWMC by someone else. Swiftsure "is in charter service in Port Ludlow," Beattie said.

"We don't take the responsibility of taking on these boats lightly," he added. "Boats are weird. People pour such heart and soul into them."

The dinghies Shelton donated are based on a Sabot hull design, and are going to be put to use in the NWMC’s adult and youth programs. Program manager Ace Spragg and other NWMC staff are currently developing plans for utilizing the boats in next summer’s programs.