Spencer Christopher in Stuart, FL.

Mary Jordon

Yacht Broker

Stuart, FL

Born and raised in Upstate New York at the northern end of Lake George, I moved to South Florida and began my career in the marine industry working for a commercial boat builder. From there, I went on to work for a sailboat manufacturer and have spent the past 32 years with a preeminent custom sportfishing yacht manufacturer, Garlington Landeweer, in Stuart, Florida. Over the course of my career, I’ve gained an in-depth, hands-on knowledge of boats—from their construction and systems to their performance and operation. With more than three decades in the industry, I know boats inside and out and bring a deep understanding of what it takes to build, maintain, and operate a quality vessel.

Sam Brennan

Yacht Broker

Palm Beach, FL · Jupiter, FL · Stuart, FL

Having grown up in Miami, FL, Sam has been immersed in the boating industry since he could walk. His passion runs deep with the quality and craftsmanship of yachts, from classics to new builds. This drive propelled him to the yachting capital of the world, Ft Lauderdale, where he first stepped foot aboard a 164’ Lurssen; performing maintenance and upkeep during its’ yard period. Following that first gig, Sam’s appetite for the industry accelerated his dream of yachting into a career reality.Taking his background operating center consoles from a young age and pairing it with his learned skills obtained from his first yachting job, Sam was able to set himself apart from the average greenie. Between his studies at Stetson University, Sam’s summers were spent onboard a Ferretti in Miami Beach, before jumping on board a seasoned 115’ Broward. This is where Sam spent most of his yachting career. This Broward had seen some better days; but, with the knowledge and acquired skills from his previous work, Sam was able to bring this old and tired vessel back to its’ prime. Following this spectacular position as First Mate; Sam leveraged his skills and experience to spend a Charter Season aboard a 130’ Westport. This fast-paced environment molded him to become a problem solver and prompted him to not only think but also act quick on his feet.Needless to say, Sam has seen the good, the bad, and the challenges of yachting. He has a keen eye for detail with a level of class that is expected from a seasoned yacht broker. His communication is bar-none, just like his honesty and integrity; creating the perfect mixture to ensure his clients are completely satisfied with their experience.

Rhett Bailey

Yacht Broker

Palm Beach, FL · Jupiter, FL

A Florida native, Rhett has called Stuart, Florida home for the past 47 years and has spentvirtually his entire life around boats. His relationship with the water began at age six, when his father built him a wooden rowboat. By age 11, he had already built his first boat himself,following a set of mail-order plans. Growing up, family vacations meant fishing and lobstering in the Florida Keys, and it was not long before boats and fishing became much more than a hobby — they became a way of life.His first job was at a local boatyard, where he painted bottoms and performed general yard work. That early experience developed into an extensive knowledge of high-end vessel maintenance, including varnish work, mechanical and systems maintenance, and managing boatyard periods from start to finish. He began working aboard charter fishing boats out of Stuart as soon as he was old enough to drive, eventually working his way through college by charter fishing and tournament fishing.After graduating from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science,Rhett spent several years working for the Florida Secretary of State’s Division of Elections and as a legislative aide for a member of the Florida House of Representatives. While his career had temporarily taken him away from the water, sportfishing never left him. In 1993, a trip to Bimini to giant bluefin tuna fish aboard the legendary 40-foot G&S Raptor with Captain Peter B. Wright proved to be a turning point. That experience hooked him on sportfishing as a career and ultimately brought him back to the boats.From there, Rhett built a career that has taken him around the world and aboard some of the most respected sportfishing boats ever built. He worked alongside Captain Peter Wright aboard the legendary 40-foot Woodnutt Duyfken in Australia and was part of the crew that completed the build of the 75-foot Merritt Can’t Touch Dis in 1996. His experience includes working aboard Merritt, Paul Mann, Mark Willis, Viking, Hatteras, Bertram, G&S, Whiticar, American Custom, Jim Smith, Woodnutt, and O’Brien boats.His fishing experience spans an impressive range of destinations and fisheries, including the Bahamas, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda, the U.S. East Coast from Cape Cod to Key West, Venezuela, Australia, the Virgin Islands, Panama, Costa Rica, Nova Scotia, and the Florida Keys. He spent 10 seasons fishing in Australia, including nine aboard the legendary 31-foot Bertram Chamois Free. His tournament fishing career dates back to 1991 and includes years of experience chasing billfish at some of the world’s most competitive tournaments.For 10 years, Rhett was employed by Viking Yacht Company as a member of its Demo Crew as a mate and a captain, fishing tournaments, participating in major boat shows, and conducting customer sea trials. His tournament accomplishments include three Stuart Sailfish Club Light Tackle Tournament wins, Top Boat at the 2009 White Marlin Open, second-place heaviest white marlin at the 2007 White Marlin Open with a 78-pound fish, heaviest tuna at the 2017 White Marlin Open, first place for heaviest white marlin at the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Tournament, and first place at the 1993 Dunk Island Invitational in Australia. He was also the wireman aboard the boatwhen 11-year-old Alex Johnston caught his 863-pound black marlin, which earned the IGFA Junior World Record.For the past 13 years, Rhett has served as captain of the 62-foot Viking InTents, fishingextensively throughout South Florida, Charleston, South Carolina, Ocean City, Maryland,Hyannis, Massachusetts, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, and Isla Mujeres, Mexico. 2026 marks his 22nd year fishing out of Ocean City, Maryland.With a lifetime spent not only fishing on boats but working on them, maintaining them, running them, building them, and competing aboard them, becoming a yacht broker in 2018 was a natural progression. Initially entering yacht brokerage as a way to supplement his income, Rhett quickly discovered that his decades of hands-on experience gave him something uniquely valuable to offer his clients: the ability to understand a boat beyond its lines and amenities and to help buyers recognize the differences between a boat that simply looks right and one that is truly right for them.Today, Rhett specializes in helping clients navigate the purchase and sale of sportfishing boats and yachts with the same straightforward approach he has brought to the water throughout his career. He understands what it takes to maintain a high-end vessel, how boats perform offshore, what makes a great fishing platform, and where the real value lies in a boat.Honest, competitive, and no-nonsense, Rhett believes clients deserve straightforward advice and a broker who will put experience ahead of salesmanship. Being on the water chasing billfish is where he is happiest, and his goal is simple: to help his clients find their own happy place while finding the right boat and the right value along the way.

Christopher Cooke CPYB

President/Owner

South Florida

Christopher Cooke has spent his life around the water. He learned to sail as a boy at the Crescent Yacht Club on Lake Ontario, right down the street from the summer cottage he grew up in, and has made his living in the marine industry since 1995. He has held a bonded Florida yacht and ship broker’s license since March 2000.Christopher carries the Certified Professional Yacht Broker (CPYB) designation, held by a few hundred brokers in North America, and is a member of the International Yacht Brokers Association. He also holds a 100-ton USCG Master’s license with towing endorsement, earned at the Chapman School of Seamanship. He has run the vessels he sells, and it shows in how he reads a survey, a sea trial, and a maintenance history.Before any of that he served as an infantry platoon medic with the 1st of the 87th, 10th Mountain Division, with combat tours in Somalia, Africa, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was honorably discharged in 1995 with more than fourteen decorations, among them the Combat Medical Badge and awards for valor and for humanitarian service. Years later he co-authored a book about his time in the military, Behind the Gun. The work changed; the job did not. Christopher has spent his adult life looking after people at moments that matter to them — first under fire, now across a closing table. Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship is a veteran-owned business.His brokerage career started in Buffalo, New York, while he was attending D’Youville University, with a part-time job at Obersheimers Sailing Supply and then Seven Seas Yacht Brokerage. From there he moved to MarineMax in North Palm Beach and Boone & Howell Marine Group in North Carolina. As General Sales Manager for Erwin Marine Sales in Nashville he ran seventeen staff and more than $25 million in annual sales, and became the youngest general manager to earn an Ambassador dealership — an outcome he credits to attention to detail and the standard he holds on every file. While at Erwin he continued his education, earning a business degree from Trevecca Nazarene University.In 2009 Christopher founded the Spencer Christopher Division in Stuart, Florida, and helped build it into the largest division of United Yacht Sales, roughly 36 brokers at its prime. Always looking for a better way to do the work, he formed Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship as the independent house that grew out of that division.How Christopher works with clientsChristopher handles his own clients from the first conversation to the closing table: the valuation, marketing and photography, negotiation, sea trial, survey coordination, escrow, and closing documents. His name is on all of it, and he answers for all of it. Nothing goes out under the company name that he has not read himself or is not aware of.That standard sets who he hires. Christopher keeps the house to elite brokers, because at the end of the day he answers for their work the same as his own. He believes that a house built of amazing people who share the same goals and the same values, and who put their clients first, takes care of the rest on its own. Teamwork makes the dream work.Sellers get an honest number rather than a flattering one, with a written case for how it was reached. Buyers get the vessel as it stands, including what a survey is likely to find and what it will cost to put right. No one is moved toward a deal that does not serve them. A brokerage holds money, vessels, and confidence that belong to other people, and that obligation comes before the commission.Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship is built on quality rather than quantity. Christopher is content to let other firms claim the title of largest brokerage in the world. What he measures is the quality of the inventory and how well every client behind it is represented.Two companies and a chandleryChristopher owns two companies. Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship is the brokerage.Christopher also owns a yacht management company, Spencer Christopher Yacht Management. His wife, Linzey, runs the management side as CFO with a group of department directors over captains and crew, mechanical, electrical, and shipwright work, specialty detailing, and the wash teams. An owner who buys through the brokerage can hand the vessel to the same people the day after closing.The Stuart office also houses Six Bells Chandler House, the retail arm — curated nautical goods, local art, antiques, and branded merchandise, with the brokerage behind a glass partition at the back. Six Bells is ship’s time, three hours into a four-hour watch. It is also a private dedication: Linzey and the five “Cooke” children, the whole crew.Christopher is based in Stuart, Florida, with brokers up and down the Eastern Seaboard, in the Bahamas, and in Central America. He is a supporter of the Coastal Conservation Association, a past board member of the Maritime and Classic Boat Museum of Florida, and coached youth lacrosse for seven years.Anyone who spends five minutes with Christopher hears the passion he has for the work. He will say he has never worked a day in his life, because he does what he loves and his job is his hobby. He enjoys nothing more than helping people and helping his brokers get better. He likes to train, he likes to support, and his standing question — to clients and to his own house alike — is what he can do to help.He works as hard as anyone in the business and takes little of the credit. Asked what accounts for the success, he gives one answer: he is never the smartest person in the room. He sees the job as conducting the orchestra. He knows who to call, who has the right answer, and who ought to be the smartest person in the room on a given question — and it is never him.He owns Spencer Christopher Yacht and Ship, and he will not call it his. Asked how it came about, he describes wanting a brokerage house that clients and brokers alike would be proud of, built to serve them. He compares it to a luxury Airbnb: the owner builds it and keeps it right, but it exists for the people who stay in it. It was never about him.By his account, an epic yacht brokerage house comes down to four things:Well-seasoned, proven leadershipEpic clientsEpic brokersEpic staff

Jeremy Klaffer

Yacht Broker

Stuart, FL

Tony Ross

Yacht Broker

Stuart, FL