Interim Captain William Sabatini

Captain William Sabatini grew up in southeastern Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and so has been around water his entire life.  He began sailing tall ships in Newport, RI, before attending Tabor Academy, an academically rigorous high school in Marion, MA.  While at Tabor, Billy sailed for four years on the Schooner Tabor Boy; he also crewed on various other schooners during his summer breaks.  In the latter half of his senior year, he restored a 1939 Alden Coastwise Cruiser, Luau, which he sailed throughout New England after graduation.  The following year, he sailed Luau to Maine Maritime Academy, where he spent the next four years earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Small Vessel Operations, with a concentration in Sail Training.  While at Maine Maritime, Billy worked his way up to the position of Chief Mate of the Academy’s schooner Bowdoin, where he designed and implemented Bowdoin’s student run sail training program.  During his college career, he also assisted in the development of a supplemental seamanship program, applicable to both traditional and modern vessels, for students in all majors at the Academy.  

Billy began his time with the US Brig Niagara in 2005, as 3rd Mate, advancing to Chief Mate in 2008, Captain in 2014 and Executive Director/Fleet Captain in 2018.  While with the Flagship Niagara League the organization won Tall Ships America’s Sail Training Program of the Year twice (2010 and 2015), Port of the Year twice (2019 and 2022) for Tall Ships Erie and Tall Ships America’s Sail Trainer of the Year in 2022.  

During the winter months, he has served as Mate or Captain on a number of tall ships on every coast of the United States.  Over the last three decades, he has sailed the East coast from Nova Scotia to Venezuela, the West Coast from Alaska to Mexico, and the entire Great Lakes system, as well as crossing the Atlantic twice.

As Billy enters his 31st season in the tall ship sailing world, he is very much looking forward to the opportunity to share his passion for sailing and sail training for many years to come.