Our Story - The First Club Mothership
In September of 1978, Blount Marine splashed a 454 ton 147 foot long offshore supply vessel named the State Hawk. National Boat Company contracted the build and for over a decade hull number 217 logged thousands of hours in the Caribbean tending US oil platforms delivering Calcium Chloride and other rig provisions. By the mid 1980’s the State Hawk had completed her oil rig service and was sold to All Alaskan Seafoods and refit as a 150’ crab boat carrying 480 crab pots on deck . Renamed the Shelikov and refit to carry crab in her 6 massive holding tanks the ex-offshore supply ship fished non-stop both on the Russian and US side the Bering Sea. After another 14 years of Deadliest Catch seas and thousands of hours she was tied up in Ballard, Washington in 2004 resting easily in Lake Union’s fresh water and retired to an unknown future.
In 2005 the Shelikov was purchased to become a research vessel named the Deep Ocean Quest but the owners plans grew past the 150 feet the Shelikov offered and was tied up once again in favor of a vessel over 200 feet. In early 2006 Stan Antrim of Yacht Escort Ships acquired the Shelikov specifically for refit and sold her to the Eastern Pacific Yacht Club in the summer of 2007.
After her third and most extensive refit she was renamed the Pacific Provider and given the chance to bring 30 years of offshore history to the newly formed Eastern Pacific Yacht club and its members. The club’s annual migration will find the Pacific Provider in the best fishing and boating locations from San Diego to Panama year round. The commissioning of the Pacific Provider includes a long list of “gotta haves” usually only found on the back of a private Richistani Megayacht.
The 2 main deck crab cranes were removed and a 17 ton telescoping crane that booms out to 51 feet was secured to the hull and is used to lift the clubs game boats securely onto the deck for transport.
In late July of 2008 the club acquired a fully custom built L & H 33 which was finished in Merritts boat yard at a cost of over $600K in late 2003. Sporting a full Pipewelders tower, Eskimo Ice Machine fed fish box, air conditioning and a palm beach style teak helm, this blue hull beauty is well worth a second glance in the gyros. If qualified members are allowed to run the game boat themselves. But one thing is for sure, no member will ever have to repair or worry when things break down. This club really takes the pain out of boat ownership because in this club you don’t have to own one to become a member in good standing!
The Club has identified several other game boats in the number two slot one of which is a sister ship walk around version L & H custom built by Jimmy Buffet. Two diesel 24’ Shamrocks, Yamaha Wave Runners, dive gear, 89,000 gallons of polished fuel, a 5,000 GPD water maker, full sized Jacuzzi, tackle repair shop, gym, satellite TV in every stateroom, VSAT communications and four 500 gallon bait tanks constantly replenished by the crew round out just a few of the amenities that can be had on this one-stop shopping private offshore support platform.
Jumping onto the 6’ foot deep steel swim platform and stepping past the 4 massive transom bait tanks you have to hike 50 feet forward just to get to the toy garage and stairs leading up to the Lanai Deck Bar. Once there you undoubtedly will be greeted by one of the Pac Pros well healed crew and a cold drink of any flavor. This outdoor hangout sports a spacious fully stocked bar covered in light granite with overhead fans to provide relief from the Southern Tropical Sun. Turning around and facing aft members can relax on a massive cushioned lounge and take in the sunset at the end of the day. A final interesting part of the Lanai deck is what the crew has termed the “Hazing Post” that overlooks the working crane deck and is well positioned as the catapult of slurs and verbal debate as guest makes their way across the 50 feet of deck below.
Opening up the dogged door on the starboard side of the Lanai deck members are greeted by a rush of cool dry conditioned air and the atmosphere of a south seas old world pub. This is really the heart of the club where the stories and fish archives will be laid down from bar stools or while seated in overstuffed tan leather couches. A 52” big screen LCD TV centers the massive metallic granite bar top while six very large picture windows provide a dramatic backdrop of the remote locations this club will call home.
If you’re lucky enough to know one of the club’s members and you are invited to go to Deckman’s for dinner – GO! Chef Drew Deckman commands the remaining space on the Lanai deck with a restaurant that seats 20 and has a full commercial galley at his finger tips. Imagine sitting down in a restaurant with platted service from 7 pm to 9 pm and ordering from a menu after a wild day chasing strippers off Magdalena Bay? Did I mention that food is included! Of course it is.
Chef Drew Deckman has worked all over the world and speaks four languages. He has worked in France and Switzerland for some of the world's best: In Geneva with Thomas Byrne and Gilles Dupont; In France with the great Paul Bocuse and Jacques Maximin, after which he returned to Germany where in his first year as Executive Chef earned his own Michelin Star near Hamburg.
From a simple hamburger to an exotic four course wine paired gourmet extravaganza this guy can do it all. Supported by a wine cellar of over 600 bottles onboard, Chef Drew promises to present a world class selection of classic and modern wines for member's enjoyment. Chef Drew plans to feature fresh seafood on the Pacific Provider, with Latin American highlights. His goal is to cook according to where the Pacific Provider is on station showcasing Mexican, Costa Rican, and Panamanian cuisine.
After dinner and some tall tails members can recover in one of 6 luxurious staterooms forward of the crane deck. Borrowing from the lounge the main feature upon entering each stateroom is a massive picture window. Standing in front of the window in stateroom 2 you can step back and just envision throwing the hook for your own personal crab pot in the Bering Sea. Moving aft to stateroom 4 the vision changes to that of the crab sorting table and tall cold Bering Sea waves breaking over your head. There’s no denying that this ship has history – a lot of it. And if you’re going to start an exclusive fishing and boating club there’s no better place to begin than building one on top of hull 217 that has spent 30 years of safe high seas navigation.
There’s very little this ship and crew cannot provide or attend to in its goal of exceeding club member’s expectations. Captain Rich Austin is a veteran skipper having spent the better part of 10 years commercial fishing all over the world for American Seafoods. A graduate of the California Maritime Academy, Captain Austin is one of only a handful of captains who can claim navigating Tierra del Fuego in both directions. He has fished the furthest corners of the globe while setting catch records others are still trying to match. He has navigated “Perfect Storm” caliber seas and lived to tell about them.Dining at this ship captain’s table will surely go long into the night.
Members can rest easy and be assured that should they find trouble aboard their own boat the North Sea trained Pac Pro’s engineering staff can fix anything. Chief Engineer Mike Parnell and Assistant Engineer Nick Wagner have three decades of combined experience on the high seas keeping expensive ship’s running 24/7 in all kinds of conditions. Just think what they can do in space that is not constantly moving!
Jon Dodson serves as Mate carrying out the Captain’s orders and is strongly supported by his lead deckhand Chris Thompson. This outfit even has a full time dedicated Ship’s Concierge, Pam Deckman, who was born in Mexico City and assists members getting to and from the ship and while they are onboard. Pam brings a bright smile and an extensive background in Hotel Services from her years of service for the Grand Maya Resort on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
After years of commerce directed headings as a commercial crab boat the Eastern Pacific Yacht Club and the Billfish Foundation have linked their conservations directives to ensure the proper stewardship of the ocean by club members. Throughout the year the club serves as host to a variety of fisheries scientists and researchers in hope of bringing the relevance and urgency of oceanographic studies to the public.
At the end of the day as in any top game club around the world, it’s the membership and the club premises that make up the rich atmosphere where stories and archives are laid down in the record books. Only in the case of the Eastern Pacific Yacht Club those archives will be etched between the pages of the ship’s log book as she sheppards her fleet of game boats and fisherman in their daily pursuit of the passion TO FISH.
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