Our team members are all maritime professionals with experience in training advanced and novice crew. So you’ll likely have one or two seasoned captains aboard! We have sailed a combined 200,000+ nautical miles on over 50 different vessels ranging from 16′ to 530′, sail and power. We’ve delivered boats to and from the Caribbean & Bahamas, been across the Atlantic, circumnavigated Newfoundland, raced to Alaska, and lived aboard during chilly New England winters. We all have worked on sail training vessels in positions from dishwasher or deckhand to mate, engineer, chief medical officer or captain. Oh, and don’t forget the tugboats, a lobster boat, and primitive row/sail boats too!
We are committed to delivering a safe, fun, and educational passage. Below is our roster of current instructors. The instructors and crew for your course is based on availability.
We’re not just sailors trying to make a living doing what we love,
we are educators who love to sail.
Teresa Carey (Owner/Captain)
Teresa is a US Coast Guard licensed master and sailing educator with thousands of sea miles and two decades under her belt. She began sailing on the Great Lakes and has sailed the Pacific Northwest, Caribbean, and the Western Atlantic from Panama to Newfoundland. She worked for the Outward Bound sea program, where she taught seamanship and leadership to teens and adults aboard traditional vessels. Teresa has sailed schooners, sailing yachts, mega yachts, dinghies, and even a lobster boat. She has sailed offshore and coastal, both solo and with a crew. Teresa moved aboard a small sailboat in 2008 and sailed solo between Maine and the Bahamas for a few years. Teresa has spoken about leadership and sailing at national events, boat shows, Cruiser’s University, and other functions. She was the producer for One Simple QUESTion, a sailing documentary. She was the director for Hello Ocean, providing research expeditions for early career scientists and artists. During the ‘off season’ she is a science journalist.
Ben Carey (Owner/Captain) @morsealphaexpeditions
Ben holds a USCG 200 ton Master and 500 ton Mate of Towing. He grew up on Long Island Sound and was drawn to the water at an early age, when he started clamming commercially. Ben has spent the last 25 years working aboard a wide variety of vessels from schooners and tall ships to tugboats and dinghies. He bought his first sailboat, Chamois, a Nor’sea 27 in 2006. A few years later he listed Chamois for sale, and met Teresa when she inquired about buying it! She didn’t buy his boat, but she did “buy the farm” 🙂 Ben then moved up to Elizabeth, a 28′ Bristol Channel Cutter, which was the boat on which he and Teresa sailed to Newfoundland and made the film One Simple Question. Since then he has crossed the Atlantic, delivered vessels to and from the Caribbean, and worked aboard tugboats. His passion for sailing and good seamanship led him to co-found Morse Alpha Expeditions, and the purchase of Rocinante. He loves sharing his passion and experience, and he also loves baking cookies!
John “Sockeye” Calogero (Captain)
John holds a USCG 100 ton Ocean Master and 200 Near Coastal Master plus a 200 ton Ocean Mate’s License. He is also a Wilderness EMT. After a scientific cruise to Greenland as a student on a 144 foot square rigged barquentine, John “Sockeye” Calogero stepped up into the role of a deckhand and a maritime educator for the first time. That was in 1983 and launched a varied career including boat building and a voyage to Saudi Arabia on a merchant vessel during Desert Shield (after Desert Storm). Since 1994 he has captained and instructed Outward Bound courses in open oar and sail boats in Washington, British Columbia, Massachusetts, Maine, Florida, and the Bahamas. In between Outward Bound courses he ran a charter boat in Alaska, delivered goods to an orphanage in the Bahamas by schooner, monitored whale watching in the Salish Sea, instructed many ASA sailing courses, and completed the Race to Alaska not once, but twice! John has sailed thousands of miles, and brings his vast knowledge and amazing patience to the Morse Alpha team.
Tara Watkins (Mate)
Tara hold a USCG Master’s License, and is a certified Wilderness First Responder. She has been working as a Hurricane Island Outward Bound School instructor and delivering sailboats up and down the East Coast. Since she watched Kurt Russell in Captain Ron take on the seas, she felt the pull to be with the Ocean. Growing up as a landlocked child, she knew finding her way to be on sailboats would come from work opportunities. Her first sailing gig was found through a Craigslist post to race with two English gentlemen up and down the Wilmington River in Georgia. She’s also sailed in the Race to Alaska with our other instructor John Calogero! Seeking a different balance in her time away from the ocean, She can frequently be found covered in metal dust, working at Toole Sculpture Works creating life-size metal art installations. Here she brings her learnings from the dynamic sea into her sculptures and finds ways to blend ocean adventures with urges of creativity.
Courtney Boucher (Mate)
Courtney Boucher is a USCG licensed Captain with a 100 ton Master and 200 ton Mates license. She’s enthusiastic sailor. Having grown up in Annapolis MD, she’s been around the water since day one. She’s gone on to sail schooners, pulling boats and, a variety of sailing yachts. She raced to Bermuda, sailed the Caribbean on tall ships, and knows the Chesapeake Bay like the back of her hand. She currently splits her time working for S.E.A. – Sea Education Association, sailing aboard the 134′ Brigantine Corwith Cramer, and leading expeditions with Outward Bound here on the Maine Coast and in the Florida Keys. She’s an educator through and through, and enjoys the process of watching her students grow as sailors and as leaders. Courtney is also a certified Wilderness First Responder.
Adam Wisneski (Mate)
Adam learned to sail by racing dinghies and keelboats on the lakes of Oklahoma. His introduction to cruising and passage-making began in Chicago on Lake Michigan and included sail training on a Morse Alpha Expedition! Adam is a board member, operations lead, and marketing director for Sail Chicago, one of the country’s largest all-volunteer nonprofit sailing organizations. Sail Chicago coordinates more than 50 volunteer instructors, 300 members and a fleet of 14 boats to introduce more than 150 new students to sailing each year. In 2017/2018, Adam and his wife, Lauren, cruised throughout the US and Caribbean on a 5,000 mile, eight month adventure aboard their Wauquiez Pretorien 35, Jura. Professionally, Adam is a cinematographer and the cofounder of Hardpin Media, which produces short and feature length online films, documentaries and commercials for progressive organizations and politicians.
Nicki Ripple (Mate)
Nicki is a US Coast Guard licensed master and Wilderness EMT with years of sailing experience. Having sailed both coastal and offshore waters, Nicki began her sailing career on the rocky coast of Maine and has since sailed in areas as far west as Puget Sound in Washington state, and as far south as Cuba on vessels from 30 feet to 140 feet long. In addition to sailing, she previously worked at the Philadelphia Wooden Boat Factory teaching both sailmaking and boat building. She currently works for Outward Bound Schools teaching leadership skills through sailing, backpacking and canoeing and assists in instructing EMT courses in Philadelphia.