Scott Evangelista
Scott has been boating since he was 10. His first adventure, at the ripe age of 12, was crossing Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts and over to Nantucket with an 11-year-old friend in a 16’ Boston Whaler. He has cruised extensively on the East Coast in both power and sail boats. Scott finally made it to the West Coast when he and his father had a boat build in Olympia WA by Sam Devlin. Scott and his father operated the Sockeye 42 for 19 years before selling the boat in 2022.
Scott dreamed of cruising more extensively and followed the FPB series design by Steve “Skip” Dashew from the beginning. He bought Sarah-Sarah in 2018 and has spent the last seven years, 4600 hours, and 42,000 miles cruising. After spending 15 months over 3 years exploring Alaska, Scott led a group of 24 other motor yachts from San Diego to La Paz Mexico before heading south and eventually going through the Panama Canal. After two years on the east coast and many months in the Caribbean, he was longing for colder waters and big ice and decided that 2025 was the year for the Northwest Passage.
Sam Devlin
For the past 47 years, Sam Devlin has been a Wooden boat designer and builder with an international reputation. He has designed and built over 400 vessels from 8ft. long to 62ft. lengths.
A pioneer of the Stitch and Glue method of wooden boat construction, Sam’s designs have now been sold into over 125 countries for both amateur and professional construction, with over several thousand boats now built to his designs.
Mr. Devlin has written several books including a book (published by McGraw-Hill 1997 and still in print) Titled “Devlin’s Boat Building” which is currently a Best Seller in its category, “Devlin’s Boatbuilding Manual” 2023 McGraw-Hill, “Building Instructions Booklet for Stitch and Glue Construction” copyright 2012 and on its 9th printing, and “The Design Catalog” with over 12 printings and 50+ thousand copies sold . He has also written for Woodenboat, Sailing, Pacific Yachting, Northwest Yachting, NorWesting, Soundings, Passagemaker, and Professional Boatbuilder magazines.
In 2012, Sam was the youngest recipient of Wooden Boat Magazine’s “Lifetime Achievement” award in 2012 given by Wooden Boat Magazine and the Northwest Maritime Association for his contributions in the field of Yacht Design and Wooden Boatbuilding, he is to date the youngest recipient of this award.
Sam has sailed to the East side of Greenland in 2020 landing in Kulusuk, Greenland and then exploring the local waters.
Jon Herman
After a lifetime on the East Coast, Jon retired from the Real Estate industry and relocated to the Pacific Northwest to further his love for the water developed on both Long Island Sound and The Chesapeake Bay. Having crewed on Sarah-Sarah for over 3,000 hours since 2018, Jon has been able to experience Alaska for three summers followed by a run down the Pacific Coast of the US, Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica and transiting the Panama Canal. Recent Atlantic cruising has included the Caribbean, Florida Keys and North to North Carolina.
When not on the water, Jon enjoys spending time in his adopted home of Anacortes, Washington and exploring all that that area offers.
(Nuuk to Nome)
Bill Evangelista
Bill has spent vacations, and parts of summers during high-school and college out in the Pacific Northwest with his dad and grandfather cruising around the San Juan islands and up into the Broughtons. More recently spending time on Sarah-Sarah up in Glacier Bay and Kodiak Alaska. After having flown down to cross through the Panama Canal on Sarah-Sarah the opportunity to complete both horizontal legs around North America couldn’t be missed.
Bill currently resides on the East Coast in Virginia working in the integration of
supervisory controls software for a variety of applications.
(Nuuk to Alaska)
Mario Vittone
For most of his adult life, Mario hated boats. Every time he was on one it was sinking, or upside down, or on fire. The only thing he hated more than boats was boaters. As a Helicopter Rescue Swimmer for the U.S. Coast Guard and later an maritime accident investigator, Mario only met boaters after things had gone terribly wrong. Things changed when he reluctantly accepted an invitation to spend time on a 40-foot sloop with a friend and he learned there was a difference between most boaters, and the boaters he met at work.
Mario cruised the Atlantic and the Mediterranean with the U.S. Navy prior to his time in the U.S. Coast Guard where he began his career in 1991 as a small boat coxswain and helmsman on an 82 foot patrol boat off the New Jersey coast.
He retired after 22 years of military service in 2013 and from everything else last year. Now, he is taking a year off (maybe two) and writes a safety column for Soundings Magazine. When he is not taking awesome trips on other people’s boats, he lives in Florida.
Emeritus Crew
Daniel Malarkey
Portland to Nuuk
Daniel has journeyed throughout the Salish Sea from Olympia to Bella Bella over the last twenty years in a Black Crown power cruiser, often in the company of the boat’s designer and builder, Sam Devlin. His other outdoor adventures include a recent trip down the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, a 2,700 mile self-supported bike packing trip from Banff, Alberta to the Mexican border. When not on a boat or bicycle, Daniel earns his keep as a senior research scientist at the University of Washington figuring out how best to decarbonize our transportation system.