Rick Burnes, a founding member of Sailors for the Sea, has been "messing around with boats" most of his life, having learned to sail on Cape Cod as a child in catboats, and later moved on to extensive ocean cruising and racing. He has been an active participant in the Wianno Sr one design class on Cape Cod and has cruised and raced actively. In 1986, he made a trans-Atlantic passage to Scotland via Iceland on the 50-foot yawl Adele with his family. He has cruised extensively on the East Coast from the Caribbean to Newfoundland and in Alaska, Scotland, and the coast of Turkey. He has participated in 18 Bermuda Races, 8 as skipper with his wife Nonnie as navigator. Other racing includes Halifax Races and a Fasnet Race. He currently co-owns Cybele, a 45 foot racing/cruising sloop.

Rick is a member of the Cruising Club of America and has been a member of the Inspection Committee for the last 10 Newport -Bermuda Races. He is a past Commodore of the Wianno Yacht Club on Cape Cod. Professionally, he was a founder of Charles River Ventures, a firm specializing in starting hi-tech companies. He is currently Vice-Chairman of the Sea Education Association, an organization that operates two 135-foot brigantines as oceanographic training and research vessels. He is also Chairman of the Museum of Science in Boston.

Sailors for the Sea is important to him because for the 45 years he has been sailing in the ocean he has observed the dramatic decline in marine life and recognizes that the best way for sailors to help revive the oceans is to band together to influence governmental policy.