Our Origin Story
In 1999, Jeff Hammond and partner Chris Kelly conceived BoatTEST as the first streaming video boat review website in the industry. Both men were boat owners, and had extensive experience at boating magazines, so they had a firm idea of the kind of information boat owners needed and wanted. They also clearly saw that the Internet and streaming on-demand video were the future and magazines and scheduled broadcasts would soon become dinosaurs. On September 15th, 2000, BoatTEST went LIVE with 100 boat test videos and the rest is history. Sadly, Chris Kelly passed away in 2017 from cancer.
Our Mission
For more than 20 years, BoatTEST.com has been the pioneer of streaming boat reviews on the web since it first started in 2000. BoatTEST has become the most trusted source for third-party tests and reviews of new powerboats and engines. We provide the most thorough data and opinions so boaters can make informed decisions about their next boat purchase. With more than 3,500 videos — tests, reviews, factory tours and interviews — BoatTEST is the world's largest online resource for new boat research.
BoatTEST’s daily newsletter “On The Water” published more than 2,000 reports, reviews and videos during 2022, making it possibly the largest purveyor of boating information of all types in the country. This prodigious production of content has been thanks to its 15 Content Partners with boating household names such as Waterway Guide, Canadian Yachting and more. Bringing those 2,000+ articles and videos to life are more than 15 dedicated staffers — most of whom are behind the scenes and you can meet on these pages. We thank them all for their hard work and dedication.
Our Team
Test Captain
Capt. Shelley Morton
Capt. Shelley Morton holds a USCG 100-Ton License, she is passionate about living the boating lifestyle and has made a career out of it. She has lived on and cruised on a 40' catamaran for three years. In addition to being a USCG Licensed Captain, she holds a Florida Yacht Broker License as well. When not testing and inspecting boats for BoatTEST, she can be found exploring boatyards looking for her next liveaboard vessel, which she says will most likely be a 55’ powerboat.
Test Captain
Capt. Trip Smith
Capt. Trip Smith holds a USCG 100-Ton license and has 22 years of experience navigating various types of boats, such as center consoles, runabouts, wake boats, and cruisers. He now owns a 22’ C-Dory. At 36 years old, he is living the dream of escaping the typical 9 to 5 job and has become a popular boat adventure video creator with over 75,000 YouTube subscribers. Capt. Trip Smith's expertise is evident in his 434 videos, where he shares his experiences spearfishing, collecting scallops, cooking fresh grouper on his boat’s grill, and planning his next adventure. Capt. Trip has an impressive background as a firefighter, outboard engine mechanic, boat rigger, fiberglass repair and restoration expert, and kayak safety teacher.
Test Captain
Capt. Gregg Clark
Capt. Gregg Clark holds a USCG 100-Ton Master / 200-Ton Mate license with sailing and towing endorsements. He has over 3,000 documented days of sea service. He currently owns a 56’ Vicem, a 40’ racing sailboat and a 17’ Mako. Capt. Gregg has powered and sailed over 50,000 miles offshore and has raced in many of the world’s premiere distance sailboat races. He is a graduate of Purdue University with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Business from the Krannert School. He has captained motor yachts up to 120’, sailboats up to 100’ and is active teaching both teenagers and adults boat handling skills. He splits his time between Greenwich, CT; Newport, RI and Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Radio Host / Expert Angler
Eric Brandon
Eric Brandon is well-known to saltwater anglers in south Florida as host for the last 17 years of the “Weekly Fisherman Show” every Saturday morning which is a “must-hear” program for anyone going fishing offshore. A life-long boater (starting at age 8), Eric has owned boats all his life and has gained a keen appreciation of what boat owners and boat buyers need to know. For the past 15 years he has also worked in the boat industry getting to know boats inside and out as a boat broker. When working with boat buyers his mission is to guide boat them to the most appropriate boats for their specific applications.
Test Captain
Capt. Boomies
Captain Boomies (aka Capt. Kate) holds a 200- ton USCG license and worked on superyachts for 20 years, captaining vessels up to 150’ before retiring several years ago. She now is a delivery skipper of all manner of vessels. When not testing boats for BoatTEST, she often can be found taking new yachts off their cargo ships in the port of Baltimore, getting them operational, then delivering them to dealerships. Unbeknownst to dozens of boat owners in the Chesapeake Bay, Capt. Boomies was actually the first skipper of their boats. She is also active in boat instruction and making videos for her personal website.
Test Captain
Capt. Kelly J Gordon
Capt. Kelly has a USCG 500-Ton license and has captained vessels up to 160’ (49 m) and is well-known in the megayacht and superyacht world. She is currently the Captain of a 106’ (32 m) megayacht which ranges from the Great Lakes to the Caribbean. She has a B.S. and an M.S. in chemistry and literally knows each item of equipment from the bilge to the mast head. She is certified to teach basic safety and firefighting, and is also a certified emergency 1st responder. Capt. Kelly is also active in the marine industry having been a charter captain, a yacht manager, as well as being in charge of new builds and refits of large yachts. She is also a columnist for the professional captains’ trade magazine Dockwalk.
Test Captain / Fishing Expert
Capt. Dave East
Dave recently retired after a 30-year career in the boating industry as a boat builder when he sold Eastern Boats last year after a successful run building fishing catamarans. He co-founding Twin Vee and was a designer for several other boat manufacturers and is still a marine industry consultant. He is a former boating magazine editor, and has written hundreds of articles on boats, how-to guides, DIY and safety. For four years, he hosted Florida Sportsman’s Best Boat TV series and tested boats up to 6 years ago for Boat TEST until he started Eastward Boats. Capt. Dave is a lifelong fresh and saltwater fisherman. He is a private pilot with multiple ratings, and is an Open Water PADI-Certified SCUBA diver. He currently owns a 22' bass & freshwater fishing boat.
Test Captain
Capt. Ken Kreisler
Capt. Ken Kreisler is a well-known figure in the marine industry, with extensive experience testing boats for major boating magazines. He has held USCG 100-Ton License for 40 years and has served as a delivery and charter fishboat captain, project manager for two small passenger ferry catamarans, making sure every details met USCG build standards. Capt. Ken is an accomplished writer, having received several BWI awards and the John Burroughs Association certificate of commendation for his children's book, "NATURE SPY," published by Macmillan. He resides with his family on the Shrewsbury River in Monmouth Beach, NJ, where he enjoys boating on his 24-foot Grady White Explorer.
Senior Editor
Frank Sargeant
Frank Sargeant, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Boating and Sailing along with nine other books, is a former charterboat skipper and long-time outdoors editor of the Tampa Tribune, where he founded the Frank Sargeant Outdoors Expo, Florida’s largest outdoors show for more than 20 years. He is also former editor of SEA Magazine, former boating editor of Bassmaster, retired senior editor of Florida Sportsman and former contributing editor of Boating Magazine. His writing has won more than 60 national awards, including the 2022 Traver Award, one of the nation’s top fly fishing awards. Sargeant earned his B.A. and M.A. at Ohio University, and was an English teacher before becoming a full-time writer. He now lives on Lake Guntersville in northern Alabama, where he continues his life-long passion of fishing.
Cameraman/Video Editor
Dan Carney
Dan joined the BoatTEST team as a video editor in 2005 and helped the company move from the early days of streaming videos. All along the way, Dan helped helped BoatTEST produce quality video well suited for increased Internet bandwidth. Dan is also one of BoatTEST's primary cinematographers. He enjoys the creative process of working with our Captains to carefully craft compelling video content. Dan’s love for boating began in high school while maintaining an 18' Boston Whaler center console as a summer job.
Cameraman/Video Editor
Kurt Rotter
Kurt Rotter is a professional commercial videographer and is well know in professional circles for his body of work and numerous awards. Kurt has shot hundreds of BoatTESTs video tests over the last 15 years, and for many years was BoatTEST’s only videographer. Currently, in addition to shooting boats tests, he is also working on Boat TEST’s Boating Course, adding a new lesson every couple of weeks. When not flying around the country and shooting boats, he fishes and hunts in his home state of Minnesota. He owns a bass boat that he used for multispecies fishing as well as bass.
Director of Photography
Chris Collins & Deep See Visuals
Chris is a lifelong boater and photographer, regarded as one of Florida's top boating videographers. With over a decade of experience, he excels in capturing up-close boat details and aerial shots with his drone. Chris holds a degree in Multimedia Journalism from FAU and has worked as an editor at Florida Sportsman. His company, DeepSeaVisuals, covers activities like fishing and adventure travel.
Sailor Extraordinaire
Andy MacGowan
Andy MacGowan is Boat TEST’s resident sailboat expert. Andy brings a remarkable set of sailing credentials from design, construction, maintenance and repair of boats, to racing in the premier sailing events around the world. He grew up racing one-design sailboats on the north shore of Long Island. In the early 1970s he got his foundation in design and construction working for Rod and Olin Stephens at Sparkman & Stephens, at the time the most respected and successful sailboat design firm in the world. He was instrumental in the first boats at Finland’s Nautor Swan, and participated in the design and construction of seven 12 Meter yachts for the America’s Cup. He was the general manager of the Newport Offshore Shipyard from 1978 to 1986.
Associate Editor
Alistair Tremps
Alistair's water journey began with a childhood shipwreck in the Irish Sea. He then traveled the world working on fishboats and entered the seafood business, which made him realize the importance of sustainable fisheries management. Growing up by the Mediterranean, he learned to sail and build boats. Alistair is a bilingual writer, editor, and translator of nautical books. He also does weekly research reports for BoatTEST. In his free time, he races a Farr 40 in Acapulco Bay, which was the site of the 1968 Olympic yacht racing events where the U.S. won two gold medals.
General Manager
Melissa Zeno
With a lifelong passion for boating and the water, Melissa has cultivated an extensive background in business administration and sales within the marine industry. Having grown up sailing a 30 ft sailboat with her family in southern Florida, she shares passion for the water. With a BA in Business Administration, Melissa has successfully navigated the waters of entrepreneurship, overseeing sales, operations, finance, and marketing while prioritizing exceptional customer relations. As General Manager for BoatTEST, Melissa is excited to steer the sales department and foster strong client relationships with excellent customer service.
Content Manager
Jaclyn Marr
Jaclyn is a veteran BoatTEST employee and content manager and production coordinator, where she plans and formats the daily newsletter and keeps the newsletter going out on time. When not wrangling reports and articles she handles numerous special projects. She has a bachelor’s degree in communication from Manhattan College. When she can get away, she enjoys spending time with her family in Vermont.
Sovereign Boat Club Project Manager
Danette Szakaly
Danette manages various projects for BoatTEST and Sovereign Boat Club, including all the daily administrative tasks for its boat owners and members. Experienced in the marine industry, Danette previously held positions at The Moorings & Sunsail and Dream Yacht Charter.
An avid boater and sailor herself, she and her husband currently own a 43’ sailboat that they cruise regularly.
An avid boater and sailor herself, she and her husband currently own a 43’ sailboat that they cruise regularly.
Data Entry & Articles
Dannette Cole
Dannette has 20+ years experience working with data, from apparel with Fanatics Inc to the public education system and now boating. Thanks to Dannette’s good work, BoatTEST newsletter readers get a potpourri of content each day ranging from new boat introductions, how to videos, and seamanship content from our 15 partners. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her son and family in Florida.
Luxury Yacht & Spanish Division
Justine Hammond Macdonald
With BoatTEST.com since 2001, she has held roles such as Managing Editor, Director of Video, and more recently a part of the Luxury Yacht & Spanish division. In the last decade she has taken a step back working part time to raise her young children. Coming from a boating family, Justine has a rich background in cruising and sailing. Her boating journey started at a young age, sailing an Opti in Long Island Sound. As an avid boater of sail and power, she has explored numerous cruising grounds in the Caribbean. New England, Nova Scotia, and the Inside Passage.
Director of Video Content
Alex Hammond
When not working on her film projects, Alex helps with creating new video content for BoatTEST like: BoatTALKS, BoatTEST reports, breathing new life to our tests and producing videos at the boat shows. As a director and producer her films have been on Netflix, Amazon, PBS and studied film at NYU, and graduated from Cal Arts. From a young age she has sailed and cruised around with family, exploring the inside passage, the Caribbean, Maine, Nova Scotia and most recently traveled to the Antarctic on a NYYC cruise. She dreams of owning a Grand Banks and vintage Riva.
CO- FOUNDER / CEO
Jeff Hammond
Jeff is a 55-year veteran of the boating industry, and over the years has been an editor or publisher of 7 major boating magazines, including Boating, Yachting, Motor Boating, The Skipper, Motorboat, and Motoryacht International. He was the founder of Power and Motoryacht and was co-founder of BoatTEST.com, where he is now the CEO. Jeff has owned a number of boats over his career ranging from a 15’ sailboat to a 92’ motoryacht. He has sailed, raced and cruised all over the world. He has written three books on boating, including one on the America’s Cup. He currently lives in Newport, Rhode Island and is a member of the New York Yacht Club.