Aaron, a twenty five year old, home-grown Alaskan, has recently found the joys of the sailor’s life. Working as a carpenter up in Alaska, the opportunity arose for him to crew on the Alaskan Rover in Seward. A 56-foot schooner was his learning platform where he was taught the fundamentals of sailing from his first captain, Colin Day. On his time off, Aaron worked as a deckhand on the tug Junior in the Resurrection Bay, making pilot runs and doing ship assist work for cruise vessels and occasionally barges. Now aboard the Virginia, he has the opportunity to experience the community life of living aboard the vessel with her expert crew.

A former land-locked public relations princess, Carey now happily works as the galley goddess aboard various tall ships.  Born in California and raised in Chicago, Carey now lives in Michigan when she isn't cooking for the rest of her crew.  Before Carey worked on ships, she catered for Civil War documentary film shoots, in other words, she cooked for men with guns!  She also owned a small catering company and worked for several local restaurants.  This is her third time aboard the Virginia as cook.

Carolyn Seavey was raised in Rockport, Massachusetts, in the opposite end of town that the rocks come from. Her drive to work on the water is the logical result of an overwhelming passion for the color blue and a rejection letter from Blue Man Group. She enjoys grammar jokes, goat cheese, sneezing, music and many things she’s never done before, both individually and in various (but not all) possible combinations. Unless she is mistaken – and she never is – this season aboard Virginia will be nothing less than superb.

Casey hails from the small land-locked town of Rockwall in the great southern country of Texas. Growing up far from the sea, her youth was spent playing with dirt, rocks, sand, tumbleweeds, cow pies, tractors, guns, and her favorite- extremely large, overly loud trucks. After graduating from Texas A&M University with an Environmental Science degree she embarked on a journey to answer the ever-debated question “Mountains or Ocean?” Spreading a bit of southern love on her way, Casey traveled to the East Coast, and found the, undiscovered to Texans, art of sailing. For the last three years she has been filling her brain with all that is tall ship sailing. On Schooner Virginia she will be making her maiden voyage up the Atlantic coast. Casey has also worked on the M/V Half Shell, schooners Quinnipiack, Mystic Whaler, and the sloop Clearwater.

Jasmine McCracken grew up on Deer Isle, an island off the coast of Maine. She first started sailing on tallships during an Outward Bound course aboard the Lettie G. Howard. She was a semester student with the Ocean Classroom Foundation in high school. After graduating from Colorado College she returned to crew for OCF for a ten month period, sailing from Maine down to Trinidad and back. Jasmine joins VIRGINIA as a deckhand.

This suburban kid never grew up to be the Marine Corps fighter pilot/Astronaut that he wanted to be. However I have been....a Marine Corporal, a drillers assistant, a Yoga instructor, waiter, hiker, cook, barista, beach bum, kennel assistant, retail clerk, EMT, ER tech, climbing guide, kayak guide, tree slayer, deckhand, heavy equipment operator, and a sailor. I have sailed in Alaska, working on Prince William Sound aboard water taxis, tugboats and oil spill response barges. On the East coast, I have sailed aboard the Pride of Baltimore II. I love to ride motorbikes, curl my mustache, and telemark ski. My best friend is really hairy, walks on all fours, and talks funny. She is the model of the perfect German Shepherd Dog.

Mackenzie joins up as a deckhand this season after spending the last few years sailing aboard Schooner *Seaward*, *Pride of Baltimore II*, *Corwith Cramer* and *Robert C. Seamans*; where she worked as an engineer, deckhand and steward. She has sailed from California to Tahiti and luckily throughout the Caribbean where she is excited to return this season. She graduated with a degree in Environmental Science and Art History from Columbia University in 2007. When she is not sailing she works as a dogsledding instructor in Iceland or Alaska, explaining that "there is a fine madness in running dogs." She has been known to eat live scorpions, fall into nuclear lakes and has even dabbled in pacifism. She holds a Wilderness First Responder, First Aid/CPR certification.

Magno hails from Oxford, Pennsylvania. He has worked on Virginia off and on since 2006. Additionally, he has worked on Pioneer, Lettie G. Howard & Pride of Baltimore II. He holds a 100 ton Inland license & Able Bodied Seaman certification. He is a talented banjo player and drummer. Magno studied film making at Syracuse University and has an artistic flair, enjoying photography and amateur movie production. Despite previous rumors, he has never seen a Rambo film.

Will was born in Midland, TX and made his way to the east coast in 2001 when he went to Southampton College as a Marine Biology major. Like all true rednecks, he grew up with venison in the freezer and a gun-rack in his truck, but he heard the call of the sea – “it was a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied” as Mr. Masefield put it. He began his sailing career in 2003 as a student aboard the Spirit of Massachusetts, and has been sailing professionally on and off for the past 6 years. After a two year hiatus in Africa, where Will worked as a professional hunter, he has returned to the sailing industry to join us here on the schooner Virginia as the Medical Officer/AB. Will has also sailed on the Harvey Gamage and Westward.