Maritime weather may be a seasonal concern for many Mainers, but for Rick Miller, it is a 24/7/365 passion. 

Miller, who recently stepped down as a dean of faculty/full professor of Marine Transportation at Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) in Castine after 18 years of service, continues to explore the science of the sea. 

In recent months, he’s been sailing as a captain for Sea Education Association (SEA) in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins. His voyages took him from Honolulu, HI, to Port Denarua, Fiji last summer and he has just returned from a passage from Fiji to Funafuti, Tuvalu and then on to Auckland, New Zealand. 

On Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m., Miller will join an online audience in the Carpenter’s Boat Shop on-going Lecture Series and use his most recent voyage as a backdrop to discuss some nautical essentials – what creates wind, for instance – as well as some deeper dives into such related fields as global winds and pressure belts as well as tropical and extra-tropical cyclones. 

Miller allows that “personal growth is far beyond mastering a specific skill” and the lessons he’ll provide his digital audience will focus on “learning by doing—mastering skills, living and working with a team.” 

“Doing”, in the case of the MMA veteran, also has included periodically sailing as captain of the Arctic Schooner Bowdoin, including a voyage above the Arctic Circle in 2008. 

And with that full range of experiences, Miller ties a direction connection between global seafaring and the Carpenter’s Boat Shop in Pemaquid, Maine. 

 “Learning to sail, doing oceanographic research, or building a boat all create an experience offering opportunities for teamwork, leadership, and adventure,” he insists. 

The goal of the Virtual Speakers Series, reports Alicia Witham, Carpenter’s executive director, is “connect, learn, and be inspired.” As such, she continues, “It broadens our reach of people being connected to the Boat Shop. 

“What we're doing here at Carpenter’s is exposing individuals to different ways of being, whether you're choosing to be in the trades, you're choosing to be an artist, or choosing to be a craftsperson, or choosing to be a scientist.” 

Upcoming Virtual Speakers include J.B. Smith, schooner captain and educator for such organizations as Vision Quest and Ocean Classroom Foundation (Jan. 25); and Phoebe Jekielek, director of research at Director of Research the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership (Feb. 15); and Brittany Gill, project director for Brittany Gill, project manager at Newcastle’s Community Housing Improvement Project (CHIP, Inc.) (March 21). 

For more information about the Carpenter’s Boat Shop, and to attend the Virtual Speakers series, email director@carpentersboatshop.com, log onto carpentersboatshop.org, or call 677-2614.