Samantha Hicks

Samantha, AKA Captain Sam, started working on the sloop as an apprentice in 1994 at the very beginning of what would become a 17- year career in sail education.

She worked her way up through the ranks on numerous vessels including the Schooner Ernestina out of New Bedford, sailing as chief mate for the maiden voyage of the brigantine Irving Johnson and sailing to both Europe and Asia aboard the Pride of Baltimore II.

After sailing as captain of the Sloop from 2000 to 2005, she signed on as chief mate for the Barque Picton Castle’s fourth World Voyage, circumnavigating the globe in 2006 and meeting her husband along the way. She returned to the Hudson Valley to drive the sloop again from 2008 until the birth of her oldest daughter in 2011.

After a few years in Toronto Ontario, she now lives with her family and Betsy, the world’s best dog, on 5 acres outside Albany, making maple syrup and chopping wood the way Pete taught her. She is on track to receive an MPA (Master’s in Public Administration) degree in the spring if 2021.