Neale runs for St. Augustine port district board

Melanie Sunshine Neale is seeking the Group 1 seat on the St. Augustine Port, Waterway and Beach District Board. The nonpartisan race is on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

Neale, a licensed yacht broker and published author who grew up aboard a sailboat, faces Lynda I. Kirker, according to BallotReady election data. Neale is certified for the ballot.

Candidate information

Name: Melanie Sunshine Neale
Party: Nonpartisan
Office sought: St. Augustine Port, Waterway and Beach District Board, Group 1
Residence: St. Augustine, Florida
Education: Bachelor's degree from Eckerd College; master of fine arts in creative writing from Florida International University

Neale was born into the cruising lifestyle and raised aboard her family's 47-foot Gulfstar sailboat, according to the Seven Seas Cruising Association. She lived aboard until age 18, cruising the East Coast and the Bahamas. She was homeschooled during that time.

Her father, Tom Neale, was a Cruising World columnist who wrote a book about raising a family aboard while cruising. Neale earned her U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton captain's license before she received her driver's license, according to the SSCA.

Experience and public service

Neale worked as a licensed and bonded yacht broker at Edwards Yacht Sales and founded Sunshine Cruising Yachts LLC, where she serves as a licensed Florida yacht broker, according to the SSCA. She also worked as a corporate education professional and as a teaching assistant and adjunct professor at Florida International University.

In 2018, Neale sold her house in St. Augustine to move aboard her Island Packet 31 with her daughter and focus on building her brokerage business, according to the SSCA. She lives in St. Augustine and cruises seasonally with her husband, Matt, aboard their 1993 Island Packet 44.

Neale said she founded the Facebook group "Women Working in the Marine Industry" to get more women involved in the marine industry, according to a profile on YourKeyToStAugustine.com. In 2022, she received the Sailing Industry Distinguished Service Award at the Annapolis Sailboat Show for those efforts, according to the SSCA.

She is the author of the memoir "Boat Girl" (2012), the young-adult adaptation "Boat Kid" (2013) and "Boat Buying Basics" (2025). She wrote the "Short Story" column in Cruising World magazine for approximately three years.