The Seasters
Meet the crew
Who we are
After finishing the WA360 race in 2025, Captain Mel was ready for the next big thing! She tapped Anya, a tried-and-true adventure buddy, as the first to start building the team. After that came Audrey, a Bellingham local who was looking for her next adventure after returning from several years cruising internationally. Then in March, we picked up Anna, a river racer from Portland, OR, who was looking for an R2AK team.
Mel is the boatowner, team captain, and brains of the operation, but our team is collaborative by design. We agreed early on to sail to the level of least comfort on the boat; that is, no one would be dragged along into situations they didn’t feel safe in. Many (maybe most?) boats in Race to Alaska do not set out to win. Being accepted, getting to the start line, and finishing are all achievements in their own right. That means the race on the course is often between your own ears and within your own boat.
When you’re putting together an adventure team, we think it’s pretty common to get together with likeminded folks you get along with just enough. Well, we’ve been dang lucky to find that beyond getting along “just enough,” we adore each other! We bonded hard during practices, overnight sails, and sleepovers in March and April, and are looking forward to all being together again for the race.
Read more about each of us below, and hop over to our Team Log for deeper dives.
Crew
Captain Mel
Ringleader
Mel is the one who started it all, and keeps it all going when challenges arise!
As the boat owner and team captain, she has the longest and most complex to-dos, balancing boat fixes and upgrades in one moment with logistics and planning the next. One of her nicknames is “Ringleader” - without her, there would be no team, no boat, no race!
Found most often on the helm, she balances a decisive vision with an egalitarian approach and a relentless streak of silliness.
Anya
Stokemaster
Anya is the steadiest first mate a captain could hope for. Whether it’s teaming up for boat projects on the dock, or working through a problem on the water, you can count on Anya!
Besides being strong and smart and fast and all that good stuff, Anya will be the first (and loudest) to laugh at your joke. That is, if she’s not cracking her own. For this reason, she’s earned the title of “Stokemaster.”
When she’s not maxing the silly-meter, you can find her tweaking sails and hopping to the foredeck, a perpetual motion machine looking for the next job.
Audrey
Fairy Chartmother
Audrey has unmatched adventure cred that translates into experience across all of our expedition planning. Most recently, she cruised with her husband and daughter from the Pacific Northwest to Australia, spending three years voyaging together.
The knowledge is invaluable to draw on, whether it’s thinking through heavy weather tactics, anchoring systems, or tackling intimidating boat projects with ease (winch cleaning, anyone?). One of our nicknames for her is “Fairy Chartmother” - she has been a game changer for our advanced wayfinding.
Audrey also brought us our fifth Seaster: her daughter Soleil is an honorary (but essential) member of our team.
Anna
The Storyteller
Anna is our out-of-towner, a river racer from Portland, OR. The distance didn’t slow her down, and she came up to practice and bond with the other Seasters as many times as possible before needing to turn back to her hometown teams.
Newer to sailing, Anna is doing her first Pacific Northwest Offshore Race in May 2026, followed by her first long distance Swiftsure. Those races will keep her away from Seaster central in Bellingham for the rest of the race prep, but she continues to bring our story to life from afar.