Larry & Mary

Take a passion for sailing, 
marry it to the desire to travel, 
and you have 
The Crew of Berkeley East

Larry Ivins – Captain, Navigator, Tactician, Weatherman

Mary Ivins – Admiral, First Officer, Helmsman, Deckhand, Travel Agent, Domestic Goddess

Married more than 40 years, Larry and Mary met while attending college at San Diego State University in San Diego, California.  Their first official date was spent navigating a Laser sailboat across Mission Bay.  Larry grew up sailing with his family around the Southern California islands and dreamed of cruising on his own boat one day.   Mary knew little about sailing, but loved traveling to new places and longed to see the world. Throughout their careers (Larry worked in Data Processing and Mary in Advertising), they sailed at every opportunity, purchased a Hobie Cat for weekend activity, and combined sailing and travel into new adventures.

For years, the plan was to take a break at age 50 to go cruising, and in 2005, the search for the perfect boat began.  Larry preferred an older, broken-in vessel; Mary thought building their dream yacht together would be a rewarding project.  In December 2006, Berkeley East, their brand new Hylas 54, was delivered from Queen Long Marine in Taiwan (by coincidence, Queen Long was also the builder of Larry’s father’s boat the “Irish Rover”) to Miami, Florida.  And in July of 2007 they moved aboard, cruising the US East Coast in the summer, spending winters on BE in the Caribbean.  In 2010 they sailed Berkeley East across the Atlantic Ocean with ARC Europe to spend a few years in the Mediterranean.  After 10 seasons of exploring Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece, and Turkey, they were at a crossroads of where to go next.  Plans for the Baltic were underway when COVID-19 invaded the world, so all plans were put on hold.  Once they were able to get back to Berkeley East in Barcelona, Spain, they decided their cruising days on Berkeley East were done.  They would leave the boat maintenance and expense to someone else, and plans for extended yacht charters in new places, as well as other travel, commenced.  They were the sole owners of Berkeley East for 15 years.