About Us

Michael and Karen live in West Seattle, Washington. They traded in their first boat, a 1975 25-foot custom wooden motorsailer in 2011 and purchased Mischief, a 40-foot Eagle pilothouse trawler which they keep at Shilshole Marina. In recent years, they have spent summer months cruising beyond the Salish Sea up the coast of British Columbia. Although they had already been together for decades, they were married at the end of their two-month cruise around Vancouver Island, since being married couldn’t be any harder than spending two months together 24/7 in a small boat.

They have already logged over 20,000 miles of cruising the Pacific Northwest, and think they are finally beginning to know the area. Starting this year, Michael and Karen will be Field Correspondents for the Waggoner Guide. They will be traveling up and down the North Coast of BC and reporting back with updated information about facilities and anchorages in the region.

Michael retired from a 32-year career at Boeing as a software engineer/business consultant. He is a talented woodworker, and has built two dinghies, because one can never have too many boats. Michael has written articles about our boating experiences for 48°North Magazine and provides the text for our annual Mischief cruising book.

Karen is a graphic designer/artist, and is the ship’s photographer and webmaster. Among her many projects she worked as art director for Harbors Magazine, which featured seaplane and boating destinations in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and for 48°North Magazine, the dominant regional boating magazine. Karen supplies photographs, original art and design for our annual Mischief cruising book. More of Karen’s art can be seen on her website at: karenjohnson.design or on Instagram.com/karenjohnson.com.

Our Roles on the Boat

Karen with Paintbrush

Michael

is captain, navigator and mechanic. He is also the writer for the blog and the magazine articles.

Michael is the dinghy’s engine, and the guardian of the crab trap.

Karen with Paintbrush

Karen

Karen is often at the helm, and is almost always the harbor pilot, bringing the boat into the dock.

She is the ship’s photographer and webmaster, and collector of weird stuff on the beach.

See Karen’s art on her website
Karen and Michael aboard their boat Mischief