Laura grew up in Grand Isle, Vermont, on Lake Champlain with her parents, 2 siblings and family dogs. With summer days limited in Vermont, she would spend as much time as possible on the lake, swimming, water skiing, tubing and sailing with her Dad on their 17’ daysailer. Throughout Laura’s childhood she and her family would spend a week at the beach every summer and frequently traveled to the Caribbean during the cold Vermont winters.
In 2008, Laura met Wiley working at a Summer Camp in Vermont and the two got their first taste of working together. Laura then started her Masters program in Mental Health Counseling and Wiley went to South Africa to earn his RYA Yachtmaster. Laura spent what time she could traveling and living in various Caribbean countries with Wiley, while working on her MA. Her favorite place they lived in was the country of Grenada. She fell in love with sailing and the much slower island lifestyle. When she graduated with her Masters degree, she returned to the mainland to put to use her MA in Mental Health Counseling.
Laura worked for several years in various areas of the mental health field. She worked as a group counselor for adults with substance abuse, did in-home counseling with teens who had a dual diagnosis of mental health and substance abuse issue, and finally with young adults who had just experienced their first episode of schizophrenia.
With an opportunity in St. Thomas, Laura and Wiley left south Florida. They lived and worked on the island of St. Thomas for three years learning about yacht management and yacht charters. Laura first worked as an Operations Administrator for a busy day charter company and left that job to start her and Wiley’s first business, which eventually dissolved. Laura then joined a well-known yacht brokerage firm to work as a charter broker. Hurricane Irma and Maria hit the Virgin Islands, forcing Wiley and Laura to leave the island and return to the mainland.
Laura worked for several years as a charter broker focused on crewed catamaran charters. In 2020, Laura and Wiley left the large yacht brokerage firm to start Catamaran Central. She is a member of CYBA, VIPCA, and the Charter Yacht Society of BVI. When she isn’t working, you can find her spending time with her 2 dogs, Sam & Nomad, weight training in the gym and working on her PR’s, sailing, swimming, enjoying the beach, and traveling as much as she and Wiley can. Laura’s favorite trips so far are the safaris in Botswana and in South Africa. Her favorite catamaran is currently the Privilege 615.
