OUR TEAM

Tony Davis

President & Owner

Tony is from Massachusetts. He is a boatbuilder, small boat designer, and sailing instructor. His lifetime sailing resume includes two trans-Atlantic crossings on a 44′ wooden ketch, one Pacific crossing, and many east coast deliveries. He was the Head Rigger at Spencer Rybovich 1977-80, West Palm Beach, FL; and apprentice to master boat builder Arno Day, Deer Isle, ME 1979-84; Director of the New England Historic Seaport boat shop and school, 1985-1990. In 1991, with his wife, Robin, he purchased Arey’s Pond Boat Yard. His certifications include Launch Tender, CPR, US Sailing Safety at Sea, and Wilderness Advanced First Aid. His associations include: Cape Cod Maritime Museum, current board member; Cruising Club of America, member; Friends of Pleasant Bay and Orleans Pond Coalition, supporter/past board member.

Tony & Robin Davis

Robin Davis

Treasurer & Co-Owner

Born in Greenwich, CT, Robin grew up sailing with her family on Long Island Sound and Lake Cochituate in MA, before embarking on many sailing adventures out of Boston with Tony on the cutter, Syrinx, his first boat build. After graduating from Connecticut College, she went on to receive her M.S. in Pharmacology from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Boston University, followed by a post-doctoral position in Dr. Sullivan’s laboratory at Schepens Eye Research Institute, HMS, Boston, MA. She is still a research associate in the same lab; when she’s not there, she’s busy acting as Treasurer for the boat yard.

Julian Davis

Director of Operations

Originally from Pittsburgh, PA (and still a die-hard Pittsburgh sports fan), Julian moved to Brooklin, ME at the age of nine. After graduating from Denison University in 2011 with a Bachelor’s Degree in History, Julian worked for two years at the Wooden Boat School teaching sailing and maintaining their fleet and waterfront, followed by a year at Constitution Marina in Charlestown, MA. From 2013 to 2016, he worked at A.P.B.Y. before attending The Landing School and graduating with a certificate in Wooden Boatbuilding, as well as obtaining his 50-ton Master Captain’s License. Julian has returned to Arey’s Pond to help grow and develop the business while maintaining the fundamental goal of introducing everyone to the wonderful and adventurous sport of sailing.

Catherine Sawyer

Service Manager

From an early age Catherine has been enthralled with the ocean, only to fall further in love when she learned how to sail at 12 years old on Cape Cod Bay. Over the years she has taught sailing at Cape Cod Sea Camps in Brewster, MA and eventually became a supervisor over the very sailing program that taught her. Intrigued by the nuances of sailing and a general curiosity for how the world works, Catherine earned her BA in Physics from Colgate University. After graduation, she continued with her love of boating and adventure by crewing on yachts in Florida and instructing private sailing lessons. In addition, she has also taught skiing at an independent resort in Vermont. Her certifications include US Sailing Counselor, Launch tenders license, CPR, and First Aid. 

Anita Winstanley Roark

Administrative Coordinator

Anita, pictured here with Ayla, has been at APBY since 2010. She has a BA in art history and photography with graduate work in Pre-Columbian art history. She has worked as a computer operator and owned her own art gallery for over 20 years, Winstanley-Roark Fine Arts. Prior to coming to APBY, she was the Director of Marketing at the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod. In addition to working as the Administrative Coordinator for APBY, she displays and sells her fine art photography through her online gallery at masterfulart.com.

Leslie Gouveia

Leslie Gouveia

Head Boatbuilder

Leslie grew up in Taunton, MA. She graduated from the wooden boatbuilding program at the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) in 2003. She then worked at Mount Hope Boatworks until 2007 and has been with us since 2008. In her time with us, Leslie has built countless new boats in our production line, including two wooden 14’ catboats and a wooden 16’ catboat. She also did most of the work on the Conjurer restoration. Leslie lives in Brewster, MA with her dogs.

Bill Nash

Bill Nash

Boatbuilder & Yacht Designer

Bill grew up in Bermuda. He specializes in wooden boat and composite construction and design. In the past, he’s worked for Orca Yachts in Virginia and Hinckley Yachts in Portsmouth, RI. He has been with Arey’s Pond since 2013. Bill has received an honorable mention in the Cruising Worlds design contest for his 42’ schooner design. He lives in Portsmouth, RI.

Drew Ryan

Boatbuilder

Bio coming soon!

Sean Brown

Boatbuilder

Sean grew up in Cranston, RI, where a love of being in and on the water got him started sailing at an early age in Narragansett Bay. Now whether sea kayaking off the New England coast, or sailing on Narragansett, Pleasant, or Penobscot Bay that love is still there. Sean has taken classes at the Wooden Boat school and Mystic Seaport, and worked as professional musician, a bicycle mechanic, an antique rug restoration specialist, has designed and fabricated specialized glass polishing and kiln control systems, and worked in the wood shop at Rhode Island School of Design. He is truly happy to put the many skills he has acquired over the years to use at Arey’s Pond.

Matthew Dooley

Head Rigger & Waterfront Manager

Matt was introduced to the world of boating at a young age, and it’s a dream that’s never left him. Growing up in Cohasset, MA, Matt got his start by taking sailing lessons every summer, eventually becoming an instructor himself. He went on to help start Cohasset high school sailing team. Eventually, he sealed his fate and enrolled at IYRS in Newport, RI. While at IYRS, Matt built a Herreshoff Columbia Lifeboat, a Herreshoff Fishers Island 23, and a Beetlecat. He spent a summer with Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway rigging their fleet on Vineyard Haven. In addition, he’s helped the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol restore their sailing fleet, spent a year at Redd’s Pond Boatworks in Marblehead, and worked on a handful of various Newport boats. In October of 2016, Matt joined Arey’s Pond as Head Rigger. His hobbies include photography, sailing, and making every effort to avoid the grocery store.

Terry Connelly

Terry Connelly

Mechanic

Terry (John) is originally from Connecticut.  After a variety of jobs, his hobby of repairing small engines and outboard motors became his profession. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and Tohatsu certified and has been at APBY since 2014.

Travis Block

Travis Block

Service Technician & Transportation Officer

Travis grew up in Needham, MA and moved to Cape Cod in 2017. He’s previously worked at Cape Cod Sea Camps in the summer as a sailing instructor. At the boat yard, Travis does a little bit of everything including boat maintenance, canvas work, and launching and hauling. He loves to sail, hike, rock climb, or do anything else that gets him outdoors.

Karl Bittner

Karl Bittner

Service & Finish Technician

Originally from New York, Karl moved to the Cape in 2012. He comes to APBY from a position as a Mate on Hy-Line Cruises. When he’s not at the pond, Karl enjoys working on his many project cars and traveling. Karl is a licensed Captain with a 100 ton inland masters certification.

Trevor Deegan

Assistant Rigger

Trevor was born and raised in Brewster. Growing up around the water meant a natural affinity for boats. Trevor started learning to sail at the age of 7 through Brewster Recreation, eventually spending his summers with the program as an instructor. 

After graduating from Nauset High in 2013, and with some extraneous bonding around in between, Trevor started at Arey’s Pond in April of 2014. In his time here, Trevor worked many jobs including rigging, bottom painting, shrink wrapping, boat hauling, forklift driving, cat wrangling, fine varnish and AwlGrip work, and even some light boatbuilding. In addition to all of these various assorted tasks, Trevor spend three years with the Arey’s Pond Sailing School, with two years as Head Instructor of the program.

In September of 2016 Trevor decided to try his hand at other pursuits. Never one to stay far from the water for long, he became a Pool Boy on Nantucket, living and working on the island for nearly six years. After so much island living, Trevor came back to the Pond in July of 2022. Now he spends is says as a Rigger and MudMan, Master of MudWorld, back with his beloved catboats.

When he’s not at the Pond, Trevor can generally be found at home, deep in the woods, cranking up his sound system and surrounded by the horses he fears so much.

Colin Shaw

Service Technician

Bio coming soon!

Geoff Cabral

Canvas & Sail Shop Manager

Growing up in Bermuda, Geoff has spent his entire life on and under the water. Starting his career at the age of 13, he went to work at Ocean Sails, a small sail loft in the town of St George’s. After years of other jobs, ranging from teaching scuba diving, building an underwater cooling pipeline, building small boats, delivering sailboats between Bermuda, the Caribbean and eastern U.S. and working as bosun on an oceanographic research ship, he decided to go back to the sail loft and really learn the craft.

Steve Hollis, owner of Ocean sails, taught Geoff the skills that got him rolling on an exciting career. For Geoff, the ability to take raw materials and fabricate beautiful and functional products is very rewarding. He moved to Cape Cod in 2002 and started at Arey’s Pond Boat Yard in 2004. He led the rigging department for 12 years.

In 2016, when we decided to build a sail loft/canvas shop to meet the growing needs of the boat yard, Geoff became its manager. He fabricates all the boat covers, upholstery and accessories for our new boats, as well as for existing customers’ boats. When he’s not behind the sewing machine or patterning new work, he can usually be found surfing or kite-boarding on the water, or mountain biking the beaches and trails of Cape Cod.

Catherine Sawyer

Program Director

From an early age Catherine has been enthralled with the ocean, only to fall further in love when she learned how to sail at 12 years old on Cape Cod Bay. Over the years she has taught sailing at Cape Cod Sea Camps in Brewster, MA and eventually became a supervisor over the very sailing program that taught her. Intrigued by the nuances of sailing and a general curiosity for how the world works, Catherine earned her BA in Physics from Colgate University. After graduation, she continued with her love of boating and adventure by crewing on yachts in Florida and instructing private sailing lessons. In addition, she has also taught skiing at an independent resort in Vermont. Her certifications include US Sailing Counselor, Launch tenders license, CPR, and First Aid.

Ryan McElwee

Sailing Instructor

Ryan grew up in Orion, Michigan where he started sailing at about 8 years old. In 2010 he moved to Lexington, MA where he attended Camp O-AT-KA before becoming a sailing and racing instructor there. After teaching at O-AT-KA for five years, Ryan came to Arey’s Pond. He recently graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in Sustainable Biomaterials and will be attending the boatbuilding program at IYRS this fall.

Wim Steenbakkers

Sailing Instructor

Wim (sounds like “Vim”) grew up in The Netherlands where he began sailing as a teenager, and he has loved sailing ever since. While in college, he and a group of friends built a sailing school in Holland that is still operating today. Wim first came to the US to teach sailing at Stanford University in California. Wim’s travels on the water have included sails from The Netherlands to islands in the Caribbean, from San Francisco to the Gulf of California in Mexico, and from Nova Scotia to the Bahamas. Wim enjoys sharing his love of sailing with the beautiful Arey’s Pond community.

Bleiz

Lola

Aila