Dr. Chris Wellins - Chief Medical Officer

Chris grew up in Newton and then Boston, MA and spent a lot of time on the beach in Ogunquit with his family growing up, as well as coming to various summer camps in Maine. He has had a lifetime interest in the Sea. At the age of 16 he worked as a lab technician at the Darling Marine Center of the University of Maine. He was the only teen employed at the lab and lived with graduate students.

Chris attended Duke University because of their Marine Science program and his favorite semester was the fall of his junior year which he spent in Beaufort, NC at the Duke University Marine Lab. He worked at the lab for about a year and a half after graduating and studied olfaction in the ghost crab, a nocturnal terrestrial crab. It was during this time that he earned the nickname "The Crabman" or affectionately "Crabby." If you want to hear some amusing stories you should ask him about this time of his life.

Ultimately, Chris decided to pursue a career in Medicine. At UVM College of Medicine he had the opportunity to do clinical rotations at Maine Medical Center. Maine had been a special place for him since childhood and when he got to MMC he knew that he had found his new home. After completing a residency in Internal Medicine in 1997 he joined what is now Maine Medical Partners Internal Medicine in Cape Elizabeth.

Chris met Sailing Ship Maine's President Alex Agnew on the squash court and along with Alex remains active with Portland Community Squash where his kids made him very proud–Zac as a third generation squash player in the high school program and Emma as a volunteer tutor. Ultimately the relationship with Alex led to a berth on Harvey Gamage the summer before the pandemic when Chris served as a volunteer deckhand for a week sailing between Portsmouth, NH and Portland, Maine.

Chris loves being at sea and the challenge of improving his own sailing skills and the joy of working with the trainees and crew. Chris joined Gamage again in the summer of 2021 for almost two weeks and despite dense fog and a couple of windless days he had a great time. He looks forward to further adventures aboard Gamage. Chris began serving as the Chief Medical Officer and shoreside medical support for Sailing Ships Maine in 2021 and has helped Sailing Ships Maine & Schooner Harvey Gamage navigate the shoals of the pandemic. He lives in Cape Elizabeth with his wife Scottie and their kids when they are home from college.