About Us

Here's a little bit of background about us...

Marvin grew up in Orangevale, California on a small farm, eventually graduating from San Jose State University. He worked in Libya, Puerto Rico, and the frozen Canadian north before joining Aramco, Saudi Arabia in 1975.

First Mate, Ruth, was born in Scotland but grew up in India where her British family lived for over 30 years. After attending nursing school in Scotland Ruth traveled to Saudi Arabia in 1974 where she worked for Aramco as a nurse/midwife.

Marvin and Ruth met there in 1978 and were married in Scotland in 1980. Company work assignments have included stints in London, Houston, Tokyo and Yokohama.

Sailing started in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, on a Hobie 16. The first year was mostly upside down, the second year was out of control, but the 3rd year it all clicked. It was a matter of feeling the wind and the waves.

When Marvin and Ruth retired in 1995 they arrived in California without a house so moved onto a new F-31 trimaran, "Noor", in San Diego. This trailer-able speedster served as a camping home for 3 years, making trips to Canada, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco and Mexico.

In 1998 they traveled to France to buy a 44 ft Catana catamaran, "Chesapeake". This was their home for the best part of the next 6 years, cruising the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the East Coast of the USA before heading west thru The Panama Canal to San Francisco.

The Starks then settled down and build a new house, but soon the call of the sea took them to Malaysia where they bought "Toucan Tango", a spectacular Catana 471. After a few trips to Thailand they headed across the Indian Ocean to India, Oman, Yemen and eventually up the Red Sea to Turkey. This was a spectacular trip with some of the best fishing ever. In late 2009, the Starks had to return home to look after business. Toucan Tango was sold in Turkey and delivered to the Caribbean.

After 7 years of being land-locked, the Starks then embarked on one more adventure purchasing "Toucan" in the Caribbean. Toucan is a 2001 Catana 431. For the next 2+ years the Starks cruised up and down the Caribbean Islands, hauling Toucan in Grenada each hurricane season. Unfortunately, Marvin had a small stroke in 2017, so quickly sold Toucan in Grenada.

One more time - We returned to St. Martin in late 2018 and bought a 2009 Nautitech 442 catamaran "Microbe". The boat was named after the French owners small dog - and we do not ever again change the name of a boat. They sailed Microbe on a wild trip to Aruba, Cartagena, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Matazlan, Mexico. Stay tuned ---