Join us on Saturday, March 14, 2026 at 2:00 pm at the Anacortes Library for a talk on US Navy vs. Merchants and what boaters should know from Skip Dassler.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri. Completed a bachelors of science in Biological Oceanography from the University of Washington in 1977. Then worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service as a foreign fisheries observer on Japanese factory trawlers in the Bering Sea. Recruited by the US Navy after that, he was commissioned in 1978 from Officer Candidate School. He served on four US Navy ships in his career comprising 9 years of sea duty. He was a qualified Surface Warfare Officer and qualified for Command at Sea. After retiring from the Navy in 1994, he studied for and became licensed as a merchant marine deck officer. He was hired by the Fishing Company of Alaska and worked as a first mate on factory trawlers in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands fishery for three years. Next, he sailed as first mate on the ships of Western Pioneer, one of two break-bulk cargo ship companies in the Seattle to Dutch Harbor, Alaska trade. He then moved ashore and ran a small boatyard in Anacortes until retirement in 2016. He is married to the former Debra Lindborg of Marysville, Washington. They have two children and four grandchildren. He resides in Anacortes.