Looking to Work as Crew from Seattle to Mexico . . . How ?

[hende107]

Hola!

My girlfriend and I are planning to take a one year sabbatical in Mexico and Central America and we thought it would be worth trying to travel to Mexico from Seattle as crew on a sailboat, but we're not sure how feasible this is or what concerns we should really have. Full disclosure: neither of us have any significant sailing experience, but we will be taking a class starting in April and plan to crew as much as possible with the goal of becoming competent enough to be useful on a sailboat.

We would like to leave in late September or October, but we're somewhat flexible if weather or other constraints would make this unrealistic.

Here are a few of our specific questions:

1) How long might it take to sail from Seattle to Mexico (we were hoping to go as far south as Mazatlan if possible)?
2) How do we meet up with someone making this trip?
3) How do people typically split the expenses between crew and boat owner?
4) What can we do between now and when we leave to best prepare?
5) When is the best time of year to make this trip?
6) What should we be looking for in a skipper?

Thanks for your help!

-Chris