Transcription of Brianne Fisher for the show Wellness on the Water #195
Lisa: This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine Radio, show number 195, Wellness on the Water, airing for the first time on Sunday, June 7th, 2015. In each issue of Old Port Magazine, our active life piece features people who are successfully integrating wellness activities into their busy lives. Many manors find their wellness and simultaneously make a living from the water. Today, we speak with speak with 2 such manors, Aaron Frederick, former director of Rippleffect and Brianne O’Donnell Fisher, a realtor with The Swan Agency and avid boater. Thank you for joining us.
Our next guest is an individual who I’ve known for several years. This is Brianne O’Donnell Fisher who is a realtor with The Swan Agency, an avid boater. Brianne lives with her husband, Alex in a newly renovated 1903 John Spencer home on the Portland Peninsula. Brianna, it’s great to have you here today.
Brianne: Thank you for having me.
Lisa: I love that what you do in your life is so much about the water. You and I, and we’re talking about the work you do with The Swan Agency, the types of houses that you sell, you know, your passion for boating and even the fact that you’re in here today wearing your water boots and you have apparently ducks in your front yard because of the rain, but everything is so water-based. Tell me about how this started for you as a child?
Brianne: Sure. Well, when I grew up, I had a very active family and we had camps on Sebago Lake. We had a little island on Tacoma Lake and so I grew up around lake sports, tubing, and wakeboarding and waterskiing. Then as I moved to Portland … Officially I was born here but officially my first department, and running the boulevard, and getting out and seeing Casco Bay, I just started being more of an ocean person. I was skiing one day at Sugarloaf and a friend of mine, Cain Smith said, “We’re looking for a fifth on our J/24 sailboat.” Of course on top of the mountain on Sugarloaf, why not, it’s so far away. It’s in the spring or whatever.
We went. A couple months later, he reminded me that I had this binding contract. I went down and we just started sailing. You just jumped in and figure it out but we did and this will be the fifth season. We race out of Portland Yacht Club and on Wednesday nights is the J/24 Regatta. There’s probably, I don’t know, 14 to 18 boats in the regatta, so it’s good. It’s a great crew, a lot of fantastic people. I think you certainly meet just very interesting people from every aspect but mostly downtown Portland professionals and that’s really been a cool part of it. Wednesday nights we race out of there. They also do a Thursday night series as well so that was really it. It was by invitation and then just getting immediately hooked.
Lisa: How many brothers and sisters do you have?
Brianne: Two brothers, so one older and one younger. I have the middle child syndrome.
Lisa: Middle child and a girl.
Brianne: And a girl, that’s it.
Lisa: Wow. That’s actually really interesting. Did you have to keep up with them in any way or …
Brianne: Yeah. I think that’s also part of being so physical. My brother’s played sports so I played sports. I mean, I was just what everyone did in the household. There wasn’t really any doll time. It was more baseball mitts.
Lisa: Where did you go to high school?
Brianne: I went to Lewiston High School, a little back up. I was born in Portland. My father is in Portland. My mother remarried and moved to Lewiston. I was back and forth but Lewiston.
Lisa: You definitely have the lake sitting there. You have the interior Maine but you also have the coastal Maine. You really have gotten to know the waterways and lots of different …
Brianne: Right. The house I was born in is on Baxter Boulevard. I think I always had it. I mean, I remember learning how to ride my bike which was a strawberry shortcake big wheel on the Baxter Boulevard. I mean, I just have these very vivid memories of it.
Lisa: Well, I’m thinking about my own experiences with big wheels and I would imagine that if you’re a small child and there’s this enormous body of water and you’re thinking wow.
Brianne: It’s the ocean. It’s exactly, right.
Lisa: It’s mine. You probably figured this belonged to you and it belonged to your family.
Brianne: Right, absolutely.
Lisa: Tell me about this J/24 Regatta. I’m only barely a sailor. I mean, I’ve only been in a few, sunfish, widgeon, a few people …
Brianne: Have fun. It is fun.
Lisa: … sailed me around. What are the J/24s?
Brianne: That is the style of boat. A J boat refers to the style of the hull. There’s J/70s. There’s different J’s. On Wednesday nights specifically, in order to be in this Regatta, you have to have a J/24. It just keeps it out. It’s just a style of racing, whereas Thursday night you can maybe mix it up with a few other difference. A little less we did there. It was J/24. It’s a very popular, very sleek, very fast sailboat.
Lisa: If it takes 5 people to race this boat, does each of you have a specific job that you’re doing?
Brianne: Yes, certainly.
Lisa: How is this organized?
Brianne: Right. Everyone has their role. There is so much going on. It’s really fast paced. You’re changing direction. You’re changing everything, depending on the wind. If you could imagine how quickly the wind changes, and how sensitive these boats are, everything is moving. It’s all moving parts. To have 5 people on a fairly tight boat, you certainly need to know, not only your job but what everyone else is doing so you’re out of their way. I mean, that’s not only to be smooth and get a better time but also not to fall off the boat and not to get hurt. I mean, so it is really fast paced. With 5 of us, everyone has a very specific job and you have to be efficient at it.
Lisa: What was your job?
Brianne: It changes depending on the day but I am mostly in the front of the boat, so dealing with jib which is the sheet in the front and you stand on the bow. You’re the closest to the bow.
Lisa: The other people … I’m imagining there’s also another larger sail that’s behind the jib, so other people are doing …
Brianne: The main sail is the big one. Then the jib sheet is in the front. Every person, like I said, has their own role but one of the biggest roles is at the helm and you’re steering. You’re at the back and you’re steering because you’re paying attention to what everyone else is doing. That’s the managerial position, if you will. You’re there, you’re at the helm and you are dictating the direction but also you’re realizing that something up in the jib sheet and the front of the bow needs to be adjusted so you tell me that or things like that. That’s probably the biggest role, the most important role but like I said, they’re all pretty important.
Lisa: It’s a little bit like the quarterback of the sailing crew?
Brianne: Yeah. I would say that, the quarterback but there’s a lot of receivers out there too.
Lisa: Then we can only go this far with sports and everything when it comes to football because that’s about all I know. If you do these every Wednesday night between May and October, then how far are you racing and you’re racing out of the Portland Yacht Club so that’s right in Casco Bay. Where do you go?
Brianne: It depends on where the wind is coming in which is the cool thing. I mean, you’re looking out into Casco Bay which is essentially your backyard and you can pick either between the Hussey Sound, and between Clapboard and Long Island or if the wind was coming in from a different direction, you would go more towards The Brothers or in between Diamond and The Brothers. You just have to see where the wind is coming in off of the ocean.
You go out and I mean it’s not … I mean, it’s a couple of miles but it’s close enough that you can usually get about 2 races in, sometimes 3, hopefully 3 between the hours of 5:30 and 8. You get in as many races as you can before the daylight leaves. That’s basically it. You go by Mother Nature. She tells you when you’re done with your race, or sometimes the wind will just stop and so we’re all sitting in the middle of Casco Bay saying, “Okay. This is going to be a slow race. Maybe we’ll only get one in today.” That’s also the cool part of it is you never know every day is different.
Lisa: Is this something where … I’m just trying to picture this because this is so foreign to me that I’m trying to get a sense for. If you’re racing, does somebody go out and say, “Okay, race up to here and then race over here.” Somebody goes out with their boat and they race to that point. Then they time it or how is this done?
Brianne: It’s race committee and of course sailing is been around for so many years. It’s such a beautiful sport. There is a lot of rules. A lot of … I don’t know. There’s just silent rules that you just need to know. The race committee is what’s it called and so it’s a boat that goes out and drops the buoys which are blown up large, orange buoys that you go and you race around. When you are on course, you can look a mile ahead or a mile-and-a-half ahead and you see this big orange floating beacon. When you go up, you go around. Someone everyday as we said it changes according to the wind. Every day the course is set by race committee and that is changed all the time.
Lisa: Do the sailboats go out at the same time or do you …
Brianne: Yes. It is certainly timed. There is a starting line. There is a gun that goes off. Everyone crosses over the starting line, hopefully at the same time. That’s really the fun part, is in the beginning because everyone … When you have, like I said, 14, 15, 16 boats crossing the same finish line, it gets really intense and essentially you’re fighting for air because there’s the wind coming and if a boat cuts in front of you then they take your air. It’s an element of it. It’s scientific as well that you just have to see how things are coming and feel and read the wind. It’s certainly time. It’s definite, finish line at the end, same thing when you crossover that horn sounds and they write down your time.
It’s definitely timed and there’s fouls. You can’t hit other boats. You can’t hit the markers themselves. The fun thing is a lot of times if you do … for a lack of better word, foul. Then you have to do a turn. Your boat, you have to do a 720 turn and then keep going again, so it’s fun. You definitely get penalties. When you get in to it, there’s certainly a lot to it that keeps you more competitive than just a breezy sail through the ocean.
Lisa: They’re keeping track of these throughout the seas and so by the end of the season, does somebody win every week and then at the end of the season there are bigger week winners?
Brianne: Right. At the end of every week, we all come in and we put our boats away. Then we have a bite to eat and shake hands and tell bore stories and we give away prizes which are always very fun and some silly. It’s good. It’s good comradery.
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Lisa: You work a lot in your job with The Swan Agency with Waterfront property. You work a lot with the islands. Do you have some favorite islands that you work with?
Brianne: Well, yeah. I’ve been with this one agency, Sotheby’s for … I’ve been with Sotheby’s for 7 years and with Kim Swan for 4 years. She’s based out of our harbor and so very coastal there which is why it works for me when we decided to tam up to do the Portland version of the coastal real estate focus. In focusing on a lot of coastal Casco Bay properties, some that I did that were most interesting I think is Clapboard Island East. We sold that to Maine Island Heritage Trust. That was just a really good, feel good piece because it was 17 acres and it was going from private sail and the owners have been in the family since 1898, so I mean it wasn’t public.
The trails were beautiful but no one could really experience them other than the family. That was really a feel good. I remember at the closing when the brokers said to me that they went out and the coolest feeling was taking down the sign that said no trespassing, private, no trespassing and basically saying, “Welcome, enjoy.” There’s eagle’s nest, there’s osprey nest. I mean, there’s just … It’s really … There’s 5 different beaches that you can now kayak too and go in and take a walk. That was really a fun one that I think that my business, my real estate influence on Casco Bay did make a difference.
That helps you make you love your job even more. We currently have a property on Sturtevant Island for sale. I sold some property on Peaks Island and that’s just fun to say that you’re going to a building inspection and I’m going to take my wheel and I’ll meet you there. Something like that. It’s really neat. Then just coastal properties immediately, Chandlers Wharf for instance. I do a lot of sales there in condos but also boat slips. It’s real estate really works for me because there is just a lot you can do on Casco Bay in a lot of different ways whether it be downtown Portland and condo or 17 acres of trails.
Lisa: Do you also like the aspect of the historical value of the house or the renovation of the house? It sounds like you did quite a lot of work on your own house, the one that you just moved into.
Brianne: Yes, 1903 captain’s home. Very cool, high ceilings, great porthole type window. It’s this octagon, big but it looks like porthole window. You’d feel captain. You’d feel nautical when you’re in it. When I was doing the building inspection, I had my building inspector put a ladder up so I can go up on to the roof which at the time was an unfinished roof and I was wearing heels. He said, “I don’t know that I should. Okay, whatever, Brea, go ahead.” I demanded it. I was like, “I have to see what it will look like out there and it was amazing.” Of course we ended up putting a roof deck on.
It looks like it was there all long, a very appropriate widow’s walk scenario to a captain’s home. It was a big renovation but it was certainly worth it. You walk in now. We kept everything to period. I think very tastefully so but it’s also brand new. That’s the nice piece to it is it’s bright and it’s sunny. Everything that it should be as far as modern amenities but we kept the marble and we kept the stairwell. We kept the doors, the hardware and the doors and the molding. We didn’t keep the original but we replaced it with something very similar too. It was really fun renovation.
Lisa: Did you come about knowing that this property was on the market because of the work that you do?
Brianne: Yes. I approached it. We put an offer in and then came back again. Almost 6 months later it was still on the market and that’s because I was watching it and seeing what it was doing. To have that ability keep your finger on that pulse was helpful and so we got it 6 months later which was neat. It was one of those meant to be as well. You feel like all right, now we can really take it and feel good about it.
Lisa: Did you work with a local interior designer to create the … to do the renovation or did you do a lot of that yourself?
Brianne: No. My husband, Alex Fisher, really did a lot of the interior design. He is himself, a fantastic interior designer. He’s done projects like El Rayo Portland, El Rayo Scarborough. He and his partner started Portland lobster companies. You still see a lot of that element that he put in place and of course Planet Dog, the retail store in town but also in all the labels and in the design of those products. He uses a lot of friends and a lot of artists and a lot of vendors but ultimately it’s his vision that is the interior design of these places, this house.
Lisa: Having been to El Rayo and Planet Dog and some of the Portland lobster company, there’s something really fun about the design. There’s something very light hearted but also artistic. It’s really wonderful that he’s able to combine all of those elements. I’m imagining that that works really well for your step daughter. You have an 8-year-old stepdaughter?
Brianne: Yes. I think she has the coolest room in the world. She has a swing in the middle of her room. That’s because dad thought it would be cool so he did it. It does help because it’s very modern and it’s very tasteful and artistic but it’s also as you said, it’s whimsical and young. It certainly works for an 8-year-old.
Lisa: Now, does Alex share your love of the water?
Brianne: Yes. We own a few boats. One of them is a lobster picnic boat. It’s a Webber Cove and we are out on that boat 50% of the nights and the summer because it’s a sleep area. We have a bathroom in it and a bed. We prefer to be out there and so do our dogs. We’re on the water all the time. Most of the time we’re trying to catch fish which is more fishing than catching, for sure, but that’s just something that we love to do. We both love to do it and that helps.
It’s a release for both of us. After a busy day, after big meeting or just all the stimulus that you have on your daily life, it’s really nice to have a partner that has that same outlook. Grab a book, grab a towel and head down to the dog and then you can fully release. Because of that, that helps our compatibility a lot is that we both have the same hammock, if you will.
Lisa: When we asked you in our questionnaire coming in today, what place in Maine you love? First you mentioned Casco Bay out in the water, that makes sense but then you also said or on the front porch of the Chebeague Island Inn.
Brianne: Yes.
Lisa: What’s so special about that place?
Brianne: I don’t know. I think they’re just a cool energy. If you are ever out and I’m sure, I know that you are. It’s probably close to your new house, right?
Lisa: Yeah. We Actually live in Chebeague Island.
Brianne: Look at it, yeah. I thought you must be close.
Lisa: It’s a great place.
Brianne: It’s fantastic. I mean the building itself is just so epic and historical. I don’t know what year it was built but you walk in and just the bones feel like they’ve been there for hundreds of years. When you go out on to the port and the sun sets, there is just this energy that just Zen’s me out at least. It’s that or the martini but one of the two. When I’m sitting on the porch, I’m like, “This is amazing.” It’s just one of those places that if you live in Maine, you should do it and you can. There is a ferry.
Even if you’re not a boater or even if you feel that it might be out of your price range, it’s not. You can get on a ferry. I believe it leaves out of Yarmouth and go over. It’s a restaurant that’s a fantastic restaurant. I mean anyone can go and show up and go and sit on that porch. I mean, I just think it’s really quintessential Maine but specifically Casco Bay, beautiful experience. That’s available to everyone so I think I’m giving them the shout out but everyone should do it.
Lisa: I agree. My daughter and many of her friends actually work there and they enjoy working there. I go see Abby.
Brianne: Tidwell.
Lisa: Tidwell, exactly. It really strikes me that you are living a life that you love that you have a job that you love that you have past times that you love, with a partner that you love and it seems to be that you’ve somehow managed to surround yourself with people who do have this great energy that you referred to having met Kim Swan and hang out with her several times. I mean, she just … There’s something about her.
Brianne: She’s a hot ticket.
Lisa: She really is a hot ticket and I think that that just of makes it possible to just really be happy in your life. Is this intentional in your part? Are you seeking out all these happy energy people or do you feel lucky or how did that happen?
Brianne: Maybe it’s 50-50. I think that I’m certainly lucky. I feel very blessed all the time. In fact most of my quite times during meditation, I’m just thinking about being grateful and gratitude and things like that because so much of it just seems to fall in, in your lap so to speak, but the other 50% is because I am grateful and I do take the time to think about it. I think that you are making a conscious choice to be around people that feed your soul, don’t take away from your soul. I think that some of it is luck maybe but most of it, I think is just when you’re positive person, as you know, you want to surround yourself with positive people.
When you’re in tuned with your body, you know when energy is draining you and that’s something that you don’t know until later on in life but I certainly have learned it somewhere along the line and continue to learn more about it and just go with that gut instinct that we all have. You have this basic instinct inside of you. If you just probably listen a little more than not, then life becomes a little less hard and a little more copasetic.
Lisa: Wise words.
Brianne: Thank you.
Lisa: I agree. For people who are interested in learning about sailing, do you have any suggestions?
Brianne: Yes, Sail Maine is an amazing organization. They were down on the east end but now they’re being moved, I believe over to the west end underneath the bridge on Commercial Street. Anyway, Sail Maine, you can go, call, check out the website. They give lessons. You can buy a gift certificate for your friend who’s always wanted to but hasn’t quite done it. Then just get him a gift certificate. Make him go down and check it out. They have a youth program. A lot of times when you look out on Casco Bay and you’ll see, it seems like 15 to 20 little boats going around and there’s the youth programs and some adults as well but it’s just a really cool, again, very attainable way of getting on to Casco Bay and learning how to sail, Sail Maine. Check them out.
Lisa: Brianne, how can people find out about the work that you do with The Swan Agency?
Brianne: Well, I think we advertise in Maine Magazine and things of that sort. Sotheby’s has an amazing marketing outreach just with Sotheby’s Corporate. It’s literally an international outreach. I think a lot of awareness of The Swan Agency, our group is socially and locally but in large majorities it’s also online through Sotheby’s International Realty. I mean, it’s a huge and brilliant company to be with for sure.
Lisa: They have a website, I’m sure.
Brianne: Yeah. I say crème de la crème. I mean they have very high standard which is nice and I hold everyone to it so it’s a consistent high standard and so go those their magazines, Reside Magazine and some of their more global magazines. It all is just a really nice package that’s very easily accessible to the consumer for sure.
Lisa: We’ve been speaking with Breanne O’Donnell Fisher who is a realtor with The Swan Agency and an avid boater. You’ll also be able to read about Breanne in Old Port Magazine coming up. I really appreciate you coming in and inspiring me to get out in the water and so some sailing. It’s really fun. Thank you.
Brianne: Good. Well maybe I’ll you see you sailing.
Lisa: Maybe you will.
Brianne: Good. Thank you.