Capesterre, a beautiful 63’ motor yacht built in 1972 in Vancouver, B.C. Canada by McQueen Boat Works, was purchased by its current owners, Ken and Deb Carlson, in 2016. The designer, Ed Monk, Sr was a naval architect who died in 1973 at the age of 79, shortly after Capesterre was completed.
Because Capesterre’s hull is wood, she sits quietly in the water for docking instructions from the Captain, and she does exactly as she is told. Her 63’ length accommodates a 16’ wide beam and a draw of 5’6” of water.
Ken and Deb were on vacation on Salt Spring Island, B.C. in August, 2016, when they met up with Capesterre’s previous owner, Bryan Ray, while playing golf at the municipal course there. Over lunch, Mr. Ray invited them to stop by for a drink aboard his yacht which was moored at the Scott Point Marina owned by the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club.
The Carlsons did not go looking for a yacht to buy. Deb’s dad had owned a 1981 53’ Ocean Alexander Mark 1 from the early ’80s until his death at 86 in 2007, and Deb had been a guest aboard it four or five times in the beautiful waters of the Salish Sea. But she had no deep-down desire to be a boat owner. In fact, when she married Ken in 2002, she told him that if he ever bought a boat or a plane, the marriage was finished! LOL!
A few days passed and the Carlsons decided to take an afternoon drive around Salt Spring Island to try and find the yacht club. When they arrived, they went down to the marina and asked a bystander which yacht was Capesterre. As they walked up to it, they were shocked at how BIG it was, but more than that, what beautiful lines and design she had. She had all the trappings of a luxurious, traditional, classic yacht that you see in the movies with Elizabeth Taylor and Cary Grant. (Hint: If you don’t know who they are, you’re way too young to own this yacht! LOL!)
Again, the Carlsons had no desire to own a boat. Period. They were invited aboard and Mr. Ray took them on a full tour. Deb only knew about her dad’s smaller vessel that had a queen bed in the master suite midship, right next to two V-berths for the guests—no privacy for either the guests or the owners with that layout. But this was so different. Instead of midship, the master suite was the entire width of the vessel as far aft as you can go. When Deb saw the king-size bed, she nearly had a heart attack. Wow… that would be comfortable for her then-225 lb husband and herself.
There was a very nice aft head and bunk room for either grandkids or crew. Next she saw the engine room. Wow! For a 43-year-old boat, it looked marvelous—and it was huge! On the other side of the engine room was what we have come to know as the basement. It’s where the two 300-gallon diesel fuel tanks are housed as well as the eight Rolls Royce 8V batteries that run the 32V side of the electrical system. There’s a ton of space in the forward half of the basement to store food and dry supplies as well as our shop-vac and carpet cleaner. A handy ladder takes you up through the galley floor into the huge galley, so it’s very convenient to store extra galley supplies down here.
We then headed back up the aft stairwell to the salon which had a comfortable layout. One of the coolest features of Capesterre is that the Captain (me) gets to drive the boat with friends and family sitting comfortably in the salon watching a huge TV installed under the Captain’s double-wide bench chair. You just have to see this to grasp why it’s so awesome. Instead of being stashed away up another flight of stairs, it’s all right there. And right next to the helm is a short stairwell that takes you down to the galley. This isn’t just any old boat galley: it’s a fully equipped kitchen, just like home, with a glass-top table that seats six comfortably. Cabinets galore, drawers, a pantry, and every appliance you can think of. I love to cook too, so I made the galley feel like my kitchen at home—every utensil imaginable is there. The new owner will not have to purchase one thing (except the food, of course). Can you say “Dinner is served!”
From the galley, we step down just three steps to the forward head complete with walk-in shower. The V-berth is in the bow and it, too, has a ton of storage space for both your guests and extra galley supplies if you need it. Both mattresses were custom made just for Capesterre, and I’m told our guests get the best night’s sleep of their lives in this very private, very comfortable stateroom.
One thing I forgot to mention is how bright and open this yacht is. Picture windows surround the salon, helm, and galley. So it feels like you have the outside invited in—which is great if you love cruising in British Columbia like we do.
So, back to the story of how we fell in love with Capesterre. When we walked back up the hill to our car that day at the Scott Point RVYC Marina, we just sat there for a few minutes and didn’t say a word. Until Deb looked over at Ken and said, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Ken remembered his agreement to not own a boat or an airplane, so he said, “No honey, I’m not thinking anything about that boat, I swear!” Then, totally out of the air—and uncharacteristically for Deb—she said, “Ken, I see us spending the next trimester of our lives living on that boat in the summer just like my dad did for his last 20 years.” After Ken woke up from the shock of what Deb had said, the rest is history. Deb and Ken became Capesterre’s owners in November 2016, and they have spent every summer from mid-May until mid-September living aboard and cruising the Northwest from Seattle, WA, USA to Rivers Inlet, British Columbia, CA.
This summer, 2025, will be their ninth—and probably last—summer of love and fun aboard Capesterre. In June 2024, while Capesterre was in Vancouver getting the finishing touches of her complete makeover, Ken came down with an upper respiratory virus that attacked his 80-year-old heart, and he now has congestive heart failure. Deb is not getting any younger either; at 74 she’s a fantastic Captain, but we know we are rolling the dice every year from now on. Capesterre needs to find a new owner who will love and care for her as Ken and Deb have since that first summer in 2017. She’s a real gem and now a very proud girl. We love her deeply, and we will miss all the fun, the friends we’ve made, the places we’ve been, and the experiences we’ve had.
So if you are like Deb and Ken, and never thought you would own a yacht… think again! Just imagine what it would be like living aboard this beautiful yacht. Deb can teach you everything you need to know about Capesterre, and if joining the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club is in your dreams, we can help with that as well. This comes in handy if you do not currently have moorage for Capesterre. The RYYC Marina at Scott Point in Long Harbour of Salt Spring Island has proven over the past eight winters to be a safe, comfortable, secure moorage. We had a new cover made in 2018 by Lohman Boat Covers. Mr. Chris Lohmann installs and removes the cover for us each spring and fall; he should do that for you too should you decide to keep Capesterre in Canada over the winter. As a USCG-registered vessel, she must cross back into the US each spring before the summer officially begins, and at the end of the summer in September, we cross back into the US to start the clock once again.
The Carlsons would love to meet you! If you want to have the best years of your life ahead, and if you have the time and means to care for her like they have, give us a call!
Deb & Ken Carlson
214-498-4654
deb@debcarlson.net