Crew Wanted: San Diego to Hawaii in May

[adwalsh858]

Live in San Diego. I've been sailing on and off for 20+ years. Can skipper up to 36' sailboat. Married with grown family. In good shape (tennis surf). Please let me know if you still need someone.

Alan

[hugochapdelaine]

Hi,

I have about a year experience in the Caribeans islands on private motor yachts and references. I will be in San Diego around May 10th and I am looking to get more experience on sailing boats. I can cook without problems, I am in good shape and I have a valid Canadian passport. I am very interested by your itinerary and look forward earring from you…

Cheers!
Hugochapdelaine at hotmail dot com
514.260.4816

[medicrene]

Hello all,

It was suggested that I give a brief account of the voyage. The trip was mostly une eventful. On the second morning we had problems with the genset and tore the jib. We decided to return to San Diego for repairs and leave out a few days later. The trip lasted 20 days. We ate well and were well rested during the journey. We tore some sails and sewed them up by hand. On the last day, we broke the boom, but it it did not slow us down much. The crew were excellent and the trip was safe. Thanks go out to Chris and Jack for crewing to Hawaii. I will see you two when I return home.

Sincerely,

Rene Steinhauer
Capt. s/v Witchdoctor II

[rgscpat]

Nice report -- though this is perhaps the first time I've heard of a sailboat voyage to Hawaii being described as "restful" -- maybe you had happy weather gods and a very good boat. Out of curiosity, what kind of watch system did you and your crew run?

Fair winds for the return to the mainland.
Pat

[medicrene]

Watch...Darn, I knew there was something we forgot to do. Actually, watch was casual during the day. At night, we had three hour watch. The third watch was usually a bit longer as it took a while for everyone to wake up. But overall, we were able to sleep and we ate very well. We would have liked more wind for much of the trip, but we made it in 20 days.

Rene Steinhauer
Capt. s/v Witchdoctor II

[monumentdon]

Curious when you're planning to leave for the Islands.
Thanks,
Don - living in SoCal and sailed for 40 years and now in retirement...sorta not because of all my volunteer duties, but can generally be placed on the back burner for a while .

My wife has decided that she is not willing to sail to Hawaii. She did not think she gets sea sick, but during our shakedown cruise off the California coast, she found she did and she does not want to cruise anymore. But she did say I could continue cruising and she would accept that I will be gone for months and then return home for a few months to work and save money to cruise.

San Diego to Hawaii will be the first leg of a circumnavigation. I need crew for this trip. The boat is a 1973 Hudson Force 50 sailing ketch that has been through a complete retrofit. The boat carries 300 gallons of water and 300 gallons of diesel. It has a Perkins 4-236 engine and 7.3 KW genset. For communications, I have VHF with DSC inside and out, I have a Ham radio (and license), weatherfax, sat phone and even ground to air aviation radios. I have multiple GPS systems for navigation with a sextant as a backup. I have a 20 GPH watermaker. The boat has an exterior and interior helm. The boat has autopilot. The boat has RADAR. The boat has a life raft and EPIRB. The boat has three queen size beds. All systems are fully functional and she is blue water ready. She passed shakedown a few months ago and is ready to go to sea.

For this trip, I would like to find two other people to join me. I will consider a sailing couple or two men. I am certain my wife would not want me taking single women sailing, so there is no need for an unaccompanied woman to volunteer for this trip. Your sailing experience does not need to be extensive, I will need help trimming the sails, keeping the place tidy and keeping her on course. The most important task I need from crew is to maintain watch without falling asleep. I can teach you anything else that you need to know. The boat has a spare berth with a queen bed and the salon has a couch that opens to a queen bed. In theory, I could take two couples, but one couple is going to be stuck out in the open or both couples would need to “hot bunk.”

If you have some sailing experience, that would be great. If you can cook, that would be great. We do have a moderately sized freezer and refrigerator so we should eat well. What is most important, other than being able to stay awake while on watch, is to have a friendly attitude and be able to get along with others in this environment for a duration of up to three weeks.

If you want to join me for this adventure, please let me know. Food will be provided, but you will need to pay for your own transportation to and from home. When we arrive in Hawaii, you are welcome to stay on the boat for a few days while you do some sightseeing. If we all get along, you could even join me for more of the circumnavigation.

Finally, it would be great if you are from San Diego. If so, I can set aside a few weekends so that we can go sailing and get to know each other. Please feel free to e-mail me at: medicrene at yahoo.com

The Witchdoctor[/QUOTE]

[monumentdon]

New to the forum, but 40 years of sailing experience and curious when you're planning the journey. I'm not in SD, but am in SoCal and a retired mechanical engineer.
Thanks,
Don

[rgscpat]

Momentdon,
You might want to read that Rene and Witchdoc are in HI....