Capt. Jesse Osborn

Captain Jesse Osborn learned to sail in Alaska in 2006, and for the most part, on his own. After racing in Ketchikan, Alaska, sailing the west coast from Washington to Alaska multiple times and crossing the Gulf of Alaska six times.  He holds a USCG 50 ton Masters license, with sail and emergency towing endorsements.  He is also a current and Certified sailing instructor for the American Sailing Association to the Bareboat Charter level and was selected as an outstanding instructor in 2011 http://asa.com/news/outstanding2011.html.

When he is not sailing, he works as a captain for hire, mechanic, truck driver, hazard tree tech, welder, handyman and sailmaker. All in the name of perpetuating and funding the sailing voyages and providing for his family.
Jesse has two sons, Isaac, 16 and Steven, 13, who have been sailing the ocean since they can remember. They sailed with Jesse on the 2013 voyage: Steven from Kodiak to Nome and Isaac from Nome to Cambridge Bay.

Jesse’s goal and hope is to share this world exploration with his family, as well with others who wish to crew such voyages.

Samantha Merritt

“The grass doesn’t grow under her feet.” That’s what Samantha Merritt’s grandmothers say about her. She comes by her nature honestly, born to a pilot father and an adventure-enabling mother. Growing up, she moved many times with her family, until she rebelled at 16. Staying put in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, she made it her home for 23 years.
She became a bush pilot, flying to remote places all over Canada’s Arctic & sub-Arctic regions. When she’s not working, Samantha sails boats, rides horses, cooks, bakes bread inexpertly, butchers wild meat, picks cranberries and sometimes even drinks beer with friends. Samantha just sold her own sailboat, Knot Krazy, a sporty sloop, which she raced in Great Slave Lake with a crew of pirate ladies.

It was her role as pilot that brought her to Cambridge Bay last summer, where she met Empiricus and her crew. Samantha moves to Alaska this fall, after the voyage through the passage this summer.