I live in China and decided to buy a sailboat in America. As fate would have it, Fred Schmitt crossed my path - and I am very grateful for this.

Sometimes it seems it's very hard to trust people you've never met overseas. Not the case with Fred.

Fred trusted me, and I trusted Fred. We went through the process of exchanging money for the boat, surveys, packaging, paperwork, and shipping.

Just recently we decided to buy another sailboat, this time in Canada. I did not hesitate to ask Fred if he would go through the whole process again and he did not hesitate to accept the offer. Fred again acted as my yacht broker. Once again, the whole process went smoothly.

Fred and I have never met and have had only one telephone conversation. Every step of the successful purchase, survey, packing, and shipping of these 2 boats has been made possible by Fred.

I am positive that in his local community in Michigan, Fred is a much-respected and liked boating professional.

I will look to no other yacht broker, other than Fred, to help me buy my next boat.

Buying or selling are usually something we dread.  However, our experience with you was different.  We appreciate you accommodating us in many aspects of the deal.  When we are ready to upgrade or if someone we know is looking for a boat - we know who to call.  Take care and safe sailing...

After sailing to Catalina and back Leslie told me she would like to change our honeymoon plans, she wants to sail the boat from Bodega down to Catalina Island and hit a few ports on the trip. I guess she really enjoyed it!

Thanks so much for all you did, you and the work you did made this purchase doable.

I wanted to take the time to commend my yacht broker Russ Schafer on his excellent service with our recent purchase of Ocean Sportfish he found for us.

He went above and beyond and exceeded my needs. He truly is trustworthy and very professional, even finding us a captain to relocate our new boat and continuous followups to make sure we were happy.

Thank you Russ for all that you did!