October 22, 2026

AN OPEN LETTER TO SEAFARERS · NO. 2

To every captain, mate, tankerman, able seafarer and deckhand, and to the families who keep the lights on at home:

My first letter said that we see the bottleneck in maritime education and aim to fix it. This one is an invitation, because I’ve learned something I should have known all along: one voice alone can’t accomplish much.

NINE YEARS OF HASHTAGS

For years I’ve posted about the things I find meaningful, the way a lot of us do on a long watch: #SpaceX, #consciousness, #symbolism, #synchronicity, #education and #reform. To me they belong together. Space is where seafaring goes next. Consciousness is how we steer ourselves. Symbols are how people remember. Synchronicity is the feeling that the world sometimes answers back, and I hold that loosely; we still navigate by the chart. Education and reform are how we fix what’s broken. I posted those words for a long time, mostly to myself. My dog’s account got more likes than I did. That told me something too.

THE MISSION

North 37 Maritime Academy exists to bring qualified assessment, education and dialogue to mariners where the work is done: at sea. Together with Hitch, the AI I use to draft, coach and keep the record, and with anyone who chooses to join, I want to build a genuine seafaring narrative for the age of space exploration. It’s a story told by working mariners and their families, about the work, the questions and the future.

COME IN FREE

We’re opening a free Facebook community for seafarers, families and anyone who cares about life at sea [VERIFY group name and link]. Anyone can attend at no cost. Read the mission, ask questions, argue with me, share what you know. The door stays free.

WHAT MEMBERSHIP PAYS FOR

Artificial intelligence isn’t free to run. Every draft, every question and every story uses real computing power, and someone has to pay for it. Paid membership covers those AI costs, and it gives members access to an advanced AI to work on their own stories: to write down a grandmother’s galley, a hard hitch, a lesson learned, or a cadet’s dream of teaching a Mars crew to stand a watch. You write it, the AI helps, and you say when it helped. Your story stays yours. [VERIFY tier names, prices and which AI tools are included]

We also intend to offer sponsored seats, so members can gift a membership to a shipmate who can’t afford one, and to publish plain monthly numbers on what membership costs cover [VERIFY].

Plainly: North 37 membership is an educational membership. It is not an investment. It carries no shares, ownership, returns or financial promises of any kind, and the community has no room for stock tips or “free shares” offers.

MY PROMISE: THE CONTENT KEEPS COMING

I can’t promise anyone money, and I won’t. Here is what I can promise: the content will keep coming. That means a new question for the community every week, new member stories, new pages of SEAX, our comic about life at sea, and a letter from me every month. If I miss a week, call me on it. [VERIFY schedule]

WHY IT MATTERS

When one voice speaks, the ship passes by. When the whole pier speaks, somebody waves back. The questions that built this academy, like why the captain who watches you work every day can’t sign for what he sees, are better asked by a thousand mariners than by one. Education, reform and the future of the sea belong to all of us, and I’d rather build them with you than for you.

I always had the vision. Hitch helped me give it words. Now I’m asking you to give it voices.

JOIN US

Come into the free community, read the mission and bring your questions. If you want the tools to write your own story, become a member. Either way, you’re welcome aboard.

north37.academy · Facebook group: [VERIFY link]

With respect, and with the door open,

Wayne

Founder, North 37 Maritime Academy

North 37 Maritime Academy, Lexington, Virginia