Staff

Armchair Sailor has been serving the boating community in the Pacific Northwest since 1987. Whether daysailing or racing, fishing, kayaking, sculling, or powerboating, it's what we enjoy. We have the greatest customers that any business could have. They love boating and love feeding their boating habit in our store! So selling nautical books, charts, and other related stuff is more fun than work!

Our mission is to provide exceptional customer service! We're open seven days a week to best serve you. Every year our expert staff outfits cruisers going up the Inside Passage to Alaska, down the Pacific Coast to Mexico and the South Pacific, or elsewhere around the world. Others just enjoy cruising the thousands of islands and inlets of the Northwest and British Columbia. If you're thinking of visiting the area to sample the cruising, we would be delighted to talk to you about it and offer our guidance.

Of course, we also get involved with the more serious aspects of boating as supplier to the merchant ships, tugboats, and ferryboats on the West Coast.

Now, meet our staff. These are the people you will be talking or corresponding with about your boating needs, so we thought you would like to know a little about them.

Brindy & Chris Bundesmann

Brindy and Chris have a passion for boating, books and the Pacific Northwest. Brindy spent several years as an employee at Armchair Sailor before taking some time off to care for our two young children. When the opportunity arose to purchase the store in January 2007 we jumped at the chance. Experienced sailors, we have been members in a local sailing club, raced on Puget Sound, owned our own sailboat, chartered in different parts of the world and are now passing on our love of the water to our children. We truly enjoy sharing our experience and in turn learning from the great customers who visit Armchair Sailor.

Margaret Whittemore

If you call or visit the store on Sundays, you will probably be talking with Margaret. Her primary occupation is teaching English as a Second Language at a local college, but she works for us part-time because she loves books and boating. Margaret had a career as a librarian before deciding to go cruising for a few years as a way of getting to some of the more remote and interesting islands of the South Pacific. She has been at Armchair Sailor on and off for over 17 years.

Rick Smith

Rick is our jack-of-all-trades. He is responsible for supplying our major shipping and tugboat accounts and also handles instrument repairs. He's been a professional clockmaker for over 20 years (he's an authorized Chelsea Clock service person) and also repairs barometers, binoculars, sextants, and other marine instruments. Rick also participates in local sailboat races and each summer cruises the West Coast of Vancouver Island with his family.

Cassi Lehfeldt

Cassi is our wooden boat enthusiast. After sailing up and down the west coast as crew on various historical vessels, she has settled in Seattle. Cassi now lives on a 70+ year old, 34’ wooden sloop in Lake Union and is in school for boat building and marine carpentry. Here at Armchair Sailor she can help you find the right boat repair/restoration book.