Captain Rebecca Johnson

Rebecca got started on tall ships as a volunteer on the Barque Elissa while going to college at Texas Maritime Academy.  After graduating she spent three years sailing on the schooner Mary Day out of Camden, Maine.  For the past several years she has been sailing around the north Atlantic and south Pacific on the brigantines Corwith Cramer and Robert C Seamans teaching students how to sail the vessels, and conducting scientific research.  Rebecca is excited about the opportunity to sail on a new vessel.

Captain Greg Terry

Greg is an avid sailor, spear fisherman, and outdoor enthusiast. After dropping out of high school, he fell in love with sailing during a semester as a student with Ocean Classroom. Greg obtained a bachelor’s in Fisheries Science from Cal Poly Humboldt. After several years working on boats in Washington, the east coast, and the Caribbean, he is excited to be sailing close to home. He aspires to learn how to fix a diesel engine.

First Mate Sam Johnson

Sam Johnson started sailing at age 18 out of the Los Angeles Yacht Club and Buccaneer Yacht Club. With them he crewed for a number of different sailing vessels in many races, such as the SoCal 300, Newport to Ensenada, and the Transpac 2019. From there he found himself working on the brigantine Irving Johnson where he found his love of tall ships. After his time on Irving he then spent 2020-2021 on the east coast working on a number of other tall ships such as the Schooner Alliance, and the Lynx. Sam is looking to use his knowledge of sailing and ship handling to bolster his career in the maritime industry, and to one day be a captain himself!

Chief Engineer Rob Charde

Rob grew up sailing around Long Island, Peconic Bay, and various lakes near the Adirondacks since infancy. His love of the ocean and sailing assisted him in earning a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science from Stony Brook University. Over the last eight years, Rob has worked on twelve different tall ships. Of those twelve, the Shenandoah and Schooner Alvei are his favorites to crew. Rob aspires to sail around the world. Fun fact, he can lick his elbow, ask him to show you! 

Second Mate Raffi Altman-Allen

Raffi grew up sailing little boats on SF Bay and started sailing tall ships as a student onboard the Robert C. Seamans, doing oceanographic research between New Zealand and Tahiti. They recently graduated from Roger Williams University with a degree in Marine Biology and Chinese. Raffi joined Matthew Turner as a volunteer in the fall of 2020 and has since then worked onboard as a deckhand-educator, education coordinator, and second mate. They are passionate both about teaching sailing and environmental education and are excited for another great season with Call of the Sea, where they will continue to build community and share their enthusiasm for the water and weird fish facts with a captive audience.

Deckhand Educator Amy Green

Amy is an avid sailor and ocean lover. Originally from Minneapolis, Amy grew up sailing and teaching sailing on the lakes of the Twin Cities. She graduated from Boston University in 2019 with a degree in marine science, where she was first introduced to tall ship sailing with Sea Education Association aboard the Robert C. Seamans. She loves to learn about the tiny critters of the ocean and is excited to join the crew at Call of the Sea and share with others her passion for environmental education and conservation.

Deckhand Educator Sarah Patulak

Sarah “Spatch” Patulak graduated in 2020 from The University of Connecticut Avery Point with a degree in Maritime Studies. Her love for sailing and the maritime world was solidified after sailing for the first time there. She pursued study abroad experiences to explore the maritime world that she called home in New England and around the world. She attended semesters with both the Williams Mystic Maritime Studies Program and Sea Education Association. Her experience in undergrad inspired her passion of understanding and exploring the human experience and connection to the ocean and watery parts of the world throughout history and contemporary times. It is through sail training and environmental education that she is currently pursuing this goal. Sarah has worked for SEA as a Deckhand/Sailing Intern since 2019, and is looking forward to sharing her knowledge of the Maritime world with others and continuing her passion of sailing with Call of the Sea.

Intern Jacob Slobodin

I am Jacob Slobodin, 18 years old, from Seattle, Washington, but originally from Primorsky Krai, Russia. My family comes from a large port city, where they served in the Soviet navy as deck hands, communication specialists, and boat building engineers and I wanted to follow in their footsteps so when I found out Job Corps offered seamanship, I joined as fast as I could. Now 100 days in and I already love the career path I chose. At home I played a lot of sports such as hockey, track, waterpolo, and lacrosse and on top of that participated in high level academics such as IB, AP, Honors classes and my high school debate team and chess club. I’m a competitive person and use that to motivate me to accomplish my goals.  I’m super excited to work on this ship!

Intern Sylas Nainoa Medina

My name is Sylas Medina.  I am 19 years old, of Native Hawaiian descent, born and raised in the islands that make up my homeland. I have been in the Seamanship program at Tongue Point Job Corps Center since November 2022. I found out about this program from my Uncle Rex who is lead captain at Pearl Harbor Naval Installations- Port Operations. Since starting on this journey, I have remained firm in my belief that I made the best choice for myself. The ocean is in my veins; my ancestors were voyagers and their lives revolved around the sea, and I feel it’s only fitting that I follow in their footsteps. From a young age, I have always been fascinated and enthralled by the ocean that surrounds my home, and it is my dream and goal in life to journey far beyond the shores of my motherland and explore the world. I have fallen in love with every aspect of this life and my hunger for knowledge only continues to grow. I am grateful for this opportunity to live, work, and serve on board Matthew Turner.