Our Team

Mike Whitehouse

Mike has always been passionate about boats and teaching. The sea runs strong in his veins -- he is able to trace his seafaring family for five generations on his father’s side all the way back to the age of sail. He has been teaching sailing, racing sailboats and going to sea in small vessels since he was a teenager. His passion for cruising and racing still burns brightly.

Mike graduated from the Canadian Forces Officers’ School and studied navigation in the Air Force before leaving to get his first degree in physics and math from Dalhousie University, Halifax. Since then he has earned additional undergraduate degrees in Education and Journalism. He also has a Master’s Degree in Education from Acadia University, specializing in cross cultural education and counselling. Mike has spent many years working in the education system at all levels from elementary to university.

Interest in different cultures and trying to understand and resolve racial issues led Mike to live with the Kikuyu people in Kenya, where he was the only white person within a 50-mile radius of the small village where he stayed. Subsequent initiatives back home led to his projects winning the Nova Scotia Human Rights Awards twice – once for building a community radio station and once for starting and running a community & school newspaper. Both projects were built on the idea that communication is the essence of community development. These projects also won the Conference Board of Canada award for “Excellence in Business – Education Partnerships.”

On the sailing front, Mike sat on a committee of five people with the Canadian Yachting Association to write their Learn to Cruise program. When the program was finished, Michael organized and ran the first Instructor Evaluator Clinic in Canada. This is the CYA’s highest certification for cruising. He then certified several of the largest sailing schools in Canada to CYA standards.

For seven years Michael owned and operated the Maritime Sailing School, teaching both basic and advanced offshore sailing courses on his beloved wooden schooner, Hakada. He ran winter courses in navigation and seamanship, certified countless people to CYA basic and advanced standards. He ran a five day basic course along the coast of Nova Scotia and a ten day advanced program to the French islands of Saint Pierre & Miquelon and sometimes up to Boston.

Mike has also spent a year working as a professional charter boat captain in the Caribbean out of Antigua and the American Virgin Islands. His duties included charters, maintenance and deliveries. This also gave him the opportunity to sail an Oyster 47, Swan 46 and a Baltic 51 – all beautiful vessels.

He describes his most challenging delivery as one that took a 51’ motorsailer from Hamburg, Germany, across the Atlantic back home to Nova Scotia via the English Chanel, Scotland, Iceland, and the west coast of Newfoundland.

Mike has won his share of sailboat races and lost many more. He started racing 420’s and switched to Fireballs before purchasing his 41’ schooner to teach sailing. He and his wife Linda currently own a 32’ cruising boat called Masai where they spend their private sailing time together. He has been involved in offshore ocean racing for many years.

Recently Mike has developed an interest in double-handed offshore racing. Two years ago he and his friend finished second in class in the Marblehead to Halifax Race and in 2010 they finished first in the double-handed class of the Halifax to Saint Pierre Race and second in the PHRF racing with spinnakers category.

Mike and Linda do boat deliveries and started teaching sailing onboard owners’ vessels about three years ago in the Mediterranean. Current projects include teaching double-handed ocean racing, polar sailing for maximum boat speed, exploring different racing instruments and software and developing a program to teach advanced ocean racing and cruising through online courses.

Mike & Linda are also interested in expanding Executive Yachts to Asia and have spent time lately exploring opportunities in China and Vietnam.

Linda Whitehouse

Linda Whitehouse launched into the sailing world in 2000. During this relatively short period of time, she has logged thousands of miles on various yachts. She has cruised the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the west coast of Canada. She has even sailed on the coast of China and attended the Shanghai Boat Show in 2005. However, being based in Nova Scotia, a good amount of Linda’s sailing has been on the Atlantic coast, from the Chesapeake Bay to the Magdalen Islands and Newfoundland.

Linda has assisted in the delivery of several yachts from the United States to Canada. This has provided her with the opportunity to become adept at ship provisioning and to take an active part in passage planning.

One first-in-class medal adorns Linda’s trophy wall. This win was for her first ocean race, the 2002 Convoy Cup – the inaugural 100-mile ocean race held to commemorate the convoy veterans who served their countries crossing the Atlantic during the Second World War. She has also been a proud team member during the Caribbean 1500 and, most recently, the Marblehead to Halifax race.

In addition to her enthusiasm for all things nautical, Linda brings to Executive Yachts an extensive business background. Her successful banking career saw her progress from the local area branch level to the regional executive offices. It was here that she earned the respect of leaders in industry, government and academia. Her competency in writing, combined with her journalism studies, has proven invaluable not only in the office setting but also with her community involvement. Linda played a pivotal role in the establishment of a community radio station in her local area. This project earned the Nova Scotia Human Rights award for its work in “building bridges between cultures and communities.”

Linda has a strong work ethic and exceptional organizational abilities. She truly believes that “saying what you do and doing what you say” should be the main principle behind every business.