About Us
Welcome to Passion Yachts, the sailor’s destination for nearly 25 years!
In October 2009, Mr Fitzhugh bought The Sailing Life from Karen Trusty upon her retirement, and renamed the business in keeping with his own passion for sailing and being on the water in general.
Passion Yachts is at the same Hayden Island location at 260 NE Tomahawk Island Drive in Portland Oregon, and most importantly, if you have previously spent time on the docks you will recognize the familiar faces of our experienced sales staff.
We represent Marlow-Hunter Yachts, West Wight Potter from 15-50 foot Sailboats. As of 2013 in collaboration with our friends at Signature Yachts in Seattle we are able to represent Beneteau to Oregon and SW Washington area.
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Here’s an overview of what we provide:
PURCHASE: As a small company, we work hard to make the boat buying and owning process comfortable for our customers. We know that purchasing a boat can be exciting as well as intimidating and as such we combine easy access to boats with a willingness to explain the steps involved which can include selection, test sail, survey, financing, etc.
LEARN: We provide our own ASA Sailing School giving you the skills to be confident aboard your boat. This is on-the-water sailing instruction. We provide all ASA-sanctioned materials including text books,exams, log books, and certificates. Courses are scheduled on our fleet vessels or yours.
SELL: Our established sales location, regular open boats shows and effective advertising provide a successful venue for yacht sales. We would like you to consider us as your first choice for brokerage services.
Our goal is to make it possible for you to enjoy the passion of sailing and we look forward to our future relationship. We welcome you aboard Passion Yachts!
Our Team
Mike Fitzhugh, Owner
I have been Sailing for over 20 years, selling boats now for over 9 years, I have logged several hours from San Juan ’s to Mexico , both racing and cruising. Fortunate to have a career doing something I am really passionate about, I take great pride in finding the right boat for you! Joining the Sailing Life team 6 years ago from an extensive career in retail I can not tell you how happy I am to be working with the most professional and down to earth group of brokers in the Northwest.
If you have the dream to sail off into the horizon or just maybe around the buoys, give me a call and let me help make it possible for you to enjoy the passion of sailing!
You can reach me direct at mike@passion-yachts.com
Marge Welling, Sales 
Marge has a histoy of sailing all the way back to the late ‘70’s on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. She even lived aboard on the Columbia River from 1998 to 2003. One of our longest standing members, she started working at The Sailing Life soon after moving to Portland in 1995. She has many boating credentials, including ASA Basic Keelboat, Basic Coastal Cruising, and Bareboat Charter Courses in 2007; gained certified Professional Yacht Broker in 2003; and has completed several Hunter & Beneteau Sales Professional Certification tests over the past 9 years.
She has also crewed aboard several offshore sailboat deliveries from Portland to Port Townsend, San Francisco, and Half Moon Bay; Attended the Annapolis and Oakland Boat Shows several years as a representative of The Sailing Life team; and visited the Beneteau Factory in Marion, South Carolina in 2004. Her role with Passion Yachts includes New & Used Sailboat Sales, listing, advertising & marketing, and sale closing, including loans, titling, & Notary Public services.
You can reach me direct at marge@passion-yachts.com
Michael Goehler, Sales 
I have enjoyed sailing on the Columbia River since 1998 and have certifications from International Sail and Power Association in Day Skipper, Coastal Skipper, Basic Navigation and Coastal Navigation. I have sailed all around in the Pacific Northwest from the Columbia River, San Juan Islands to Canadian Gulf Islands.
In early 2011 my wife and I purchased a Islander Freeport 41 ketch and completed extensive repairs and upgrades until July when we started the journey on S/V Pura Vida from Seattle to Mexico. We traversed the entire west coast from Canada to Baja California Sur, Mexico and arrived in Cabo San Lucas in early November. We spent the next 6 months cruising extensively throughout the Baja peninsula and the Pacific coastal region of Mexico.
I would love to help you discover your next chapter, enjoying life on the water.
You can reach me direct at admin@passion-yachts.com
Mal Patton, Sales 
Mal has sailed and owned boats on two continents and both coasts of the US. Occasionally spending time crewing aboard several offshore sailboat deliveries from Canada to Mexico, Florida to BVI as well sailing in his home country Australia. Mal has worked seasonally at this location for many years and enjoys passing along information about sailing and the yacht buying process.
Captain Brigg Franklin, 
Instructor
I began sailing at age five with my father on Storm Lake, Iowa in a Gull class dingy. Since then I have owned several racing and cruising class sailboats. I have sailed and chartered in the San Juan Islands, Canada’s Gulf Islands, the Gulf of Mexico, The Virgin Islands, New Zealand, and Australia. I deliver sail and power boats up and down the Canada, U.S. and Mexico Pacific Coast and have a Coast Guard 50 ton Master’s License. For thirty years I worked for the US Government as an Employee Development Specialist training managers and supervisors in leadership skills. After being transferred to the Pacific NW in 1984, I qualified as an ASA certified Instructor and started teaching ASA classes. I began teaching at The Sailing Life/Passion Yachts in 2005 and volunteer as an instructor for the US Power Squadron.
Captain Franklin, is recognized as one of the “Top ASA Sailing Instructors” in the nation for 2008 and 2009.
You can reach me direct at lessons@passion-yachts.com
Dee Turner, Instructor
I’ve been sailing since the early 1980’s when I started sailing on the Willamette River!! I purchased my first boat, a Hobbie16, sailed her for a year and then went onto the first of my love’s for Hunter sailboats a Hunter 23, then a Hunter 28! Since I started sailing later as an adult I decided to learn to race and to charter and sail in the sunny waters of the Caribbean and Windward Islands. Yes, sailing became a love affair for me and shortly before my retirement in 2000 I became a certified US Sailing basic keelboat and basic cruising instructor. 2011 I became a certified ASA Instructor for Basic Keelboat and Basic Cruising.
You can reach me direct at deepassionyachts@yahoo.com
Captain Bob Baldwin, Instructor 
A classmate of mine at the university suggested that I crew with him on something he called a "THISTLE". Not having any idea what a thistle was and being game for almost any adventure, I accepted. That was in 1950. I have been hooked on sailing ever since. I have sailed in many bodies of water all over the world and have never been bored. I have sailed the Atlantic from the Canaries to Martinique, the South China Sea, the Mediterranean, and have delivered boats up and down the Atlantic coast. I've sailed in boats as small as eight feet and as large as 200 feet, both as crew and captain. I've been teaching sailing since around 1988. When I had a real career, I taught every off moment. Most of the students I have taught are still sailing. Many own their own boats and some have even moved aboard and are sailing worldwide as a lifestyle. I am proud of my students and often hear from them wherever they are in the world. I am ASA Rated to teach through Bare Boat Charter and hold a USCG Sailing Masters License. My fellow instructors and I here at Passion Yachts look forward to showing all of you the magic of sailing just as I was shown, on a Thistle, racing on a river in Ohio many years ago.
You can reach me direct at lessons@passion-yachts.com
Captain John Holden, Instructor
My first experience with the sea was when I was three years old. My father took me to sea on a Norwegian freighter. By four I was a shell back and knew all the verses to “What shall we do with the drunken sailor” but it was a Norwegian ship after all. Later, my family settled down in San Francisco. There I frequently accompanied my father in pilot boats, meeting ships at sea and scampering up Jacob’s ladders (without life jackets) while the ships continued their journey into San Francisco. During the summers I would beg, borrow or rent power boats for use in the surrounding bay or on lakes in an around California. At the same time I built an 8’ dinghy and sold it for a profit.
My sailing experience includes the Pacific Ocean, South China Sea, the West Coast of the United States, Australia and the waters of the San Juan Islands.
I hold a Coast Guard Master License, am a Certified ASA Sailing Instructor. I have a 100 ton master certificate from the Clatsop Maritime Science Dept. I am a certified scuba diver, and have various other certificates from the USCGA and the US Power Squadron.
You can reach me direct at lessons@passion-yachts.com
260 NE Tomahawk Island Drive, Portland Oregon, 97217