Raised in the small mining towns of northern Ontario, Derek found his interest for all things ocean watching Mike Nelson on Sea Hunt, the 1950s television series. While backpacking in Europe in 1972, Derek was offered his first position as crew on a pre-war wooden cutter bound for Brazil. This is when the passion came to life. Derek learned navigation and seamanship during this voyage, and his talents have grown exponentially over the years.
By 1986, Derek had owned 2 of his own sailing vessels and spent 12 years cruising the Caribbean and Pacific Islands. Derek then captained sailing yachts up to 80 feet in size both privately owned and by charter and has delivered vessels to all corners of the globe.
He has logged over 175,000 nautical miles and completed 7 trans-Atlantic and 3 trans-Pacific crossings. In 2002 Derek began a new chapter as a yacht broker, working for a local brokerage in Fort Lauderdale. It wasn’t long before Derek’s knowledge and expertise brought him to the forefront as the “go-to guy” for sailing vessels within the firm. Honest, easygoing and knowledgeable are a few of the adjectives previous clients have used to describe Derek. He now hopes to help you achieve the dream he has lived.
Testimonials
Derek worked very hard to pull a difficult sale together.
Derek was extremely professional. He was always available. His correspondence was always timely. He effectively communicated via texts, calls and emails. Derek was extremely helpful and fair to me as the buyer and equally fair to the seller.
Derek was everything you would want in a broker. He was like David Walters in how he treated me. Service oriented, responsive, anticipatory to future needs.
I would like to express my gratitude for the services of Captain Derek Jarvis during the recent trip from Georgetown in Bahamas to Linton Bay Marina in Panama. Captain Derek got us through safely. He immediately organized the crew so everyone knew what he/she was supposed to do. He was great in pointing out the shortcomings of our trip preparation like improper fastening of things on deck etc. We have learned a lot about handling the boat and different sailing techniques. He was on call 24hrs a day during the trip. Whenever we were not sure what to do we could always ask him and he would come up with the correct answer. It was like having a 'guardian angel' on the trip.
We wish to sail with captain Derek again.
Thanks a lot
Mario and Jadzia - Buyers of Morgan 51
Derek was fantastic. We were soooo lucky, we got seller who was honest and a gentleman and we got Derek who was very professional, efficient and honest broker !!!! Despite the fact that he was representing seller, he was very balanced.
It has been my good fortune to have met Derek Jarvis a bit over two years ago . I was then in the process of looking to purchase a sailboat and had been looking for several months. I called Denison Yachts and shortly thereafter met Derek at the boat ,which was located in Ft Lauderdale. I liked the boat and found Derek to be very knowledgeable about the boat and it’s systems. There was a co listing agent who I met on a second visit. I did not find this agent to be as knowledgeable about the boat. On a third visit I met again with Derek who had the boat cleaned and looking good.
While the second sales agent was my contact through the purchasing process. I can say she was not the person who sold me the boat. Derek thorough explanations and professionalism were what sold me the boat. I felt I was in good hands with Derek and trusted his opinions and judgement. Derek captained the boat through the survey. His knowledge of sailing and boats in general were very evident. On several occasions after the purchase he came to the boat on his own time help me out with a few minor issues. He even helped out with a few mechanical issues. I wanted to pay him,but he refused. I always knew if I had a question about repairs, I could call him. .
About a year later, I decided to sell the boat. I also decided I was going to move it out of the Ft Lauderdale area, which was 60 plus miles away from my home. I listed the boat with a new broker who lived near me and the area where I was going to move the boat. Unfortunately, I could not find an affordable slip and ended up keeping the boat in Ft Lauderdale. My new broker was also knowledgeable about sailing and sailboats. However, over the course of the next year my experiences with this salesperson were very disappointing. In over a year of listing with this broker I had only one offer on the boat and that was a low ball offer. I found my new broker to have little knowledge about the boat. I felt he was not a go getter and seemed to lack enthusiasm about actively trying to sell the boat.. Shortly after the summer,I decided to let the broker go. I immediately called Derek to see if he would take the listing. He said yes. We met at the boat and he was very optimistic about selling it. He even said “I’ll sell this boat by January.” I was very encouraged with Dereks positive attitude. Immediately, more people began looking at the boat.
By mid December -just about a month after he took the listing he got an offer and helped negotiate a workable price. During the purchase process I had a few issues with the boat. Once again Derek went above and beyond to help me resolve the problems.
I can’t tell you how fortunate I was to have worked with Derek again .He is a top shelf sales person, who has extensive knowledge of boats. I later found out Derek has been around the world sailing. He is professional, very positive and enthusiastic. He is reliable and very trustworthy. He is a kind and humble man.
Derek was fabulous as a buyers broker and I highly recommend him to others. As a salty sailor, I appreciated his opinion and also appreciated the help he gave us after purchase to find a dock and get some work done. He also helped us move our boat from Miami to Fort Lauderdale.
Extremely knowledgeable and super helpful. I would definitely use him again in the future. We have already told friends and family about Derek and David Walters Yachts. Will definitely be my first call when time to sell and move up!