Joyce Gustafson
Joyce Gustafson has forty years sailing experience including 35,000 miles in the open ocean: South Pacific, North Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans. She sailed from Port Townsend to Glacier Bay, Alaska in twelve round-trip passages. In addition, she is a licensed US Coast Guard Master, 100 ton, with sailing endorsement (licensed for 35 years). Joyce has worked aboard yachts serving as Captain and First Mate, and has commissioned yachts for extended ocean passages—organizing provisions, supplies, and medical/safety equipment. She is a former owner and operator of Pacific Charter Company out of Redondo Beach, CA, where she managed fifteen sailboats for multi-day charters to offshore islands including, teaching sailing, coastal navigation and boat handling skills.

Allison Demmert
Allison describes herself as a water person, an empath, and a lover of exploration. Born to a fishing family and raised between WA and AK, Allison grew up on the water and enjoys earning her living at sea. Most recently she’s been captaining a purse seiner in Southeast Alaska with her fantastic crew (of mostly women!) and working as a Chief Engineer on tugboats. This winter you’ll find her part-time at Seattle Maritime Academy where she has the pleasure of mentoring upcoming marine engineers and teaching practical boat skills aboard the school’s training vessel. When she’s not out galavanting around the waterways, you’ll likely find her at home in Port Townsend where her favorite way to unwind is to take a walk on the beach and smell the sea-salty air.

Sharon Albert
Sharon Albert is a committed sailor and passage maker, in spite of fairly recently having switched to trawlers. She holds a US Coast Guard 50 ton Master’s License, and is just beginning to teach power boating in the Bellingham area. She has sailed to Hawaii from San Francisco Bay, made numerous Pacific coast passages, and even spent a month sailing around Cape Horn, across the Drake’s Passage from South America to the Antarctic Peninsula, exploring the coast of the peninsula by sail boat. 

After selling her last sail boat in the Bay Area, Sharon bought a trawler with her husband. They quickly made the decision to relocate to Bellingham, and now spend as much time as possible aboard their Kadey Krogen 44, exploring the Salish Sea from Puget Sound up to northern British Columbia.

Maria Cook
Maria Cook had a sailing career on the east coast where she helped do boat deliveries from Maine to St. Lucia, ran private yachts, worked on tall ships, and taught coastal and marine environmental education. She has her 100 ton USCG license, and, in partnership with her husband, started an adventure bare boat charter business, taking groups to the Bahamas and Belize. She took over the business and ran it herself for several years as a single parent.  

After moving to the northwest in the early 90s, Maria started a practice in the healing arts on Bainbridge Island. She took breaks from being a landlubber by teaching seamanship for Outward Bound, running 12-day rowing and sailing trips on 26’ open boats, and by volunteering on the Schooner Adventuress. 

Maria started a small travel business called Journey for Purpose, dedicated to adventure, empowerment and community for women. She leads kayak and camping trips for women in Puget Sound and also internationally, most recently in Belize.

About the Girls' Boat Project

The Girls' Boat Project is a program for middle school girls that creates an inclusive, supportive space for young women to work together and gain confidence through learning skills in boat building, woodworking, and sailing. The program is led and taught by an all-female staff of educators and professional mariners.

The Project meets every Wednesday afternoon from 1:30-4:30 throughout the school year and culminates with an journey on Port Townsend Bay in the Spring. Women and Girls’ programs at Northwest Maritime Center welcome those who identify as women and girls regardless of assignment at birth. These programs also welcome people who identify as non-binary or gender nonconforming and want to be in a female-centered environment.

Read our blog to learn more about the Girls' Boat Project.

Past She Tells Sea Tales Speakers