After a 35,000-mile and six-and-a-half-year circumnavigation aboard their Amel 50 Wasabi, Andrew and Patty Atkins were ready for something new. So when they returned to Canada they bought Peck’s Marina on the St. Lawrence River in Ontario. They also decided to move from sail to power and bought a used North Pacific Yachts NP43 power voyager. It was their experience with the NP43 and a good old fashioned human connection with Trevor Brice, president of North Pacific Yachts in Vancouver, BC, that led them to their present NP45, Sharki’s Wake.
While Andrew and Patty were still in the process of deciding on their next boat, Andrew attended the Annapolis Boat Show. Andrew hadn’t spoken to Trevor for two years but when he climbed aboard the North Pacific Yachts boat at the show, Trevor greeted him by name and asked how Patty was doing. That interaction, buttressed by their positive time with their NP43, helped the Atkinses make the decision to commission a new NP45.
The Atkinses had been impressed by the design and the fit and finish of the Amel 50. Andrew said that designer Henri Amel had done a great job designing the ergonomics of the boat and its many small touches spoke to Amel’s attention to detail. Andrew noted that their NP45 has a similarly well-thought-out design. When asked what especially appeals to him, he quickly rattled off a list of his favorite features: “The engine room access is wonderful, the finishing is great, the galley set up is great, the pilothouse is roomy — it all works.”
The NP45 has a solid, uncored fiberglass hull for strength, and that adds to the weight of the hull, which North Pacific sees as a benefit as the weight down low in the vessel adds to stability. The superstructure is cored using closed cell foam. In terms of looks, one of the features that appealed to Andrew was the reverse rake windshield of the NP45 pilothouse. The boat’s main power plant is a 355-horsepower Cummins QSB 6.7-liter diesel, with a Cummins ETS control module. The prop is a four-bladed Precision model and the steering is Ultraflex two-station hydraulic.
The Atkinses, who are based on a farm in Landsdowne, Ontario, ordered their NP 45 in 2015 and picked it up in Seattle in 2016. Their first cruise aboard Sharki’s Wake was north to Alaska. On the first leg from Seattle to Canoe Cove on Vancouver Island, the boat was still technically under the ownership of North Pacific Yachts, with Trevor Brice aboard. Once in Canadian waters, the Atkinses officially took ownership. From there they powered north to Glacier National Park, spending three and half months on their Alaska shakedown cruise.
Later they put their NP45 on a ship for transport through the Panama Canal to Ft. Lauderdale. They used Ft. Lauderdale as a jumping off point for an east coast cruise of the U.S. and Canada into the St. Lawrence and home to their base at Ivy Lea in the Thousand Islands. The Atkinses have since cruised the Great Lakes and plan an extensive cruise to Lake Superior this coming summer.