Crew Available: Advice on California to Hawaii

[AdrianGr]

Hi!

Me and my girlfriend are looking for a passage from anywhere along the coast of California to Hawaii.

If anyone has a crewing position open we would love to hear from you. We can cover our own costs and are open to all sorts of work. We realize crewing positions are very rare so we are mostly looking for advice here.

We've done some research and are ultimately planning to hang around a marina in addition to online networking. We still have some questions and conclusions that need to be verified if anyone can be of help?

1.) What is a popular part of the coast for departing to Hawaii? We've heard San Diego is a good place to start. Is there any truth to that?
2.) What is are some popular ports for blue water sailors? How can we differentiate marinas for day sailors and long term cruisers?
3.) We don't want to be burdens on our captains. What are some things we can do to go above and beyond in being good crew members?

A little more about us: We are travelers originally from Vancouver, Canada. We have taught dinghy sailing in a day camp from level 1 to racing for over five years as well as being involved ourselves in the racing circuit on Laser's, 420's, Byte's, or 29ers. We have some experience coastal cruising and have our dinghy knowledge transfers easily. That being said we are eager to learn the nuances of keelboat sailing! During this summer's travels we have kept a blog: notthatflowerchild (dot) wordpress (dot) com

[SkiprJohn]

Just a few things that might make you more desireable as crew is a little bit about how diesel engines operate, familiarity with navigation systems and good cooking skills. Knowing how and when to reef large sails is something to master and keeping a steady course in all types of weather by wheel or tiller or windvane. Being personable and understanding that even though you disagree with what the Captain says is law except for what would be considered against the law.
San Francisco, LA, and San Diego are the places people jump off in CA. Portland, Seattle and Vancouver BC if you're further north.

Good luck.