Meet the Crew
A little about the people behind RogueWave

Bernie Jakits

As a successful engineer in the aerospace industry, while reading sailing magazines during for all those years (known as a job), I dreamed of one thing, the day I would escape my day job and sail full time…like all those reading this! I imagined creating a special kind of yacht brokerage, uniquely dedicated to blue water boats and the cruising life style. In 1998, the dream became reality. Now, more than ten years later, RogueWave Yacht Sales & Services, Inc. has helped more than 1000 sailors get into their dream boat. As an engineer, there is always a plan, a guiding light, and a destination. Now, all those years of experience have made me uniquely capable of guiding people into the right boat.
 
I have owned, sailed and lived aboard more than a few high quality sailing vessels. In the early 70s I owned two Catalinas, a 27 then a 30. From there it was a Westsail 32, which at that time and still today, is one of the benchmarks of a true classic bluewater cruiser. In the 80s, I raised a family aboard a beautiful Norseman 447, built by Tashing, designed by Bob Perry. Later, I owned a Pacific Seacraft Crealock 34. After that, I bought my ultimate dream boat, Valiant 40, probably Perry's most well known design. Today, after having owned so many truly great boats, the Valiant 40 is still my all time favorite. In the early years of RogueWave Yacht Sales, Kate and I traded up to an amazing 2001 Hallberg-Rassy 53. Wow! That was a yacht of the highest order. We won the West Marine Bermuda Rally doing a 264 mile noon to noon run with Solstice. Then we bought the most beautiful Bristol Channel Cutter ever built, the blue one named "Indigo". Finally, after enjoying the full spectrum of bluewater cruising yachts, we have settled on the ultimate vessel for our sailing style, a brand new Valiant 42. She is the culmination of all the years of experience and all the miles! I have sailed all of these vessels to many foreign ports and lived aboard them while raising a family. I have disassembled every one of these vessels and put them back together again. I installed every new system, and maintained every boat properly.
 
These years of experience have truly made me a specialist in high caliber blue water sailing yachts. I know of no other broker who can make that statement! As a licensed & bonded professional yacht broker, please give me the pleasure of helping you define your requirements and choose your next passage making/offshore capable sailing yacht. My experience is gained from having a 100 Ton USCG Master License, having been a Marine Surveyor, a MSME Mechanical Engineer and most important by having sailed over 200,000 some offshore miles, on my own boats and delivering countless of others to about everywhere imaginable.
 
Sailing isn't a hobby to us, it's a lifestyle........for.......... "If a man must be obsessed with something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble. If it happens to be an auxiliary cruising boat, it is without question the most compact and ingenious arrangement for living ever devised by the restless mind of man - a home that is stable without being stationary, shaped less like a box than like a fish or a girl, and in which the homeowner can remove his daily affairs as far from shore as he has the nerve to take them, close hauled or running free - parlor, bedroom and bath, suspended and alive." bernie@roguewaveyachtsales.com

Kate Christensen, CPYB

As Bernie's partner and co-owner of RogueWave Yacht Sales, I've been able to bring my expertise and my special love of traditional blue water sailing vessels. The stout seaworthy vessels of substance, charm, and character. As a woman sailor, and having owned my own boats, I bring a special perspective to all those who are like me. I truly love to help people, especially those solo sailors and women, to have the confidence to own their own boat, as I did.
 
Sailing is a most amazing way to spend your life. The first time I set foot on a sailboat, I fell in love. It's a special kind of love affair that will never end. For many years, I put sailing on the back burner... chartering, taking lessons, and sailing when I could, perhaps like you. During those years, I worked hard to create a successful company established on a foundation of high standards of quality and service. I can use those skills and help other people make their sailing dreams come true. RogueWave has the same spirit of honesty, integrity, and pride of service that made me successful in the past. Of course, I had to learn everything about the entire brokerage process. I immediately earned my CPYB, and I am a Certified Professional Yacht Broker!
 
Helping people like me become boat owners is something I love. While I've sailed many boats, cruisers and racers and small boats, my true love is a traditional blue water cruising yacht that is beautiful to look at and very satisfying to sail. This is me sailing "Aloha" my second boat, a Bristol Channel Cutter 28' a Lyle Hess-design built by Sam L. Morse in Costa Mesa, CA. To my eye, she is among the most beautiful and functional vessel in existence. I appreciate the artistry and integrity of a well made sailing vessel with traditional lines and sea kindly movement, one with a proud and proven heritage. I wanted a boat I could sail myself! And I did! I enjoy every aspect of sailing from the romance and tradition to the boats and everything about them...how they work so ingeniously, how they are built, and how they are cared for. Since 1982, I've sailed the Chesapeake Bay, the Caribbean, and the East Coast. Bernie and I have sailed many exciting places in Europe, the East Coast, Maine to the Caribbean, Bermuda, the Bahamas and the Pacific Northwest and Mexico's Sea of Cortez. I enjoy people who share this passion. Please give me the opportunity to help guide you through this learning process. kate@roguewaveyachtsales.com