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clawler · 13-12-2011, 15:27

Hey CFers,

I recently put my life on hold as a freelance web and graphic designer in Portland, OR in order to learn to sail and live a life on the open seas. I've followed a good many threads here but this my first posting and I'm asking for your advice and/or offer for a position.

Before one week ago I had zero experience with sailing so I took a sailing course making me ASA 101 Basic Keelboat certified. I realize that certificates mean nothing next experience but that's what I'm posting this for, to get more experience, plus I needed a little bit to make sure this is something I want to work hard towards.

I've checked out most of the sites about this and by and large it doesn't seem like people are looking for an inexperienced mid-20's male to join their crew (did I mention I was single though?).

If anyone is cruising around the Sea of Cortez and needs an extra crew, let me know where to meet you I'm willing to go anywhere (even back to the cold, rainy northwest). If anyone has any suggestions as to which ports or marinas to hang out in, I'm all ears. If anyone has a boat sitting unused in a marina and doesn't mind me banging it into a few rocks, send me the keys (just kidding, unless if the thought seriously crossed your mind in which case PM me).

I'm also willing to help work on a boat or two to gain experience with that as well, because hopefully at some point in the future I'll be posting in the wanted section of this forum instead.

Thanks in advance for any and all help and/or positions you can give me.

P.S. I can cook, clean, cut hair, paint, tie a knot or two, precisely cut wood and bang nails into it, swim, ride a bike with no hands, and tediously sew by hand.

h20man · 13-12-2011, 15:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by clawler

Hey CFers,

I recently put my life on hold as a freelance web and graphic designer in Portland, OR in order to learn to sail and live a life on the open seas. I've followed a good many threads here but this my first posting and I'm asking for your advice and/or offer for a position.

Before one week ago I had zero experience with sailing so I took a sailing course making me ASA 101 Basic Keelboat certified. I realize that certificates mean nothing next experience but that's what I'm posting this for, to get more experience, plus I needed a little bit to make sure this is something I want to work hard towards.

I've checked out most of the sites about this and by and large it doesn't seem like people are looking for an inexperienced mid-20's male to join their crew (did I mention I was single though?).

If anyone is cruising around the Sea of Cortez and needs an extra crew, let me know where to meet you I'm willing to go anywhere (even back to the cold, rainy northwest). If anyone has any suggestions as to which ports or marinas to hang out in, I'm all ears. If anyone has a boat sitting unused in a marina and doesn't mind me banging it into a few rocks, send me the keys (just kidding, unless if the thought seriously crossed your mind in which case PM me).

I'm also willing to help work on a boat or two to gain experience with that as well, because hopefully at some point in the future I'll be posting in the wanted section of this forum instead.

Thanks in advance for any and all help and/or positions you can give me.

P.S. I can cook, clean, cut hair, paint, tie a knot or two, precisely cut wood and bang nails into it, swim, ride a bike with no hands, and tediously sew by hand.

Welcome to C.F. clawler,

best of luck finding a boat.....

regardless, congratulations on taking the first step (and prepare yourself for the addiction of sailing.....)

msponer · 13-12-2011, 21:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by clawler

I've checked out most of the sites about this and by and large it doesn't seem like people are looking for an inexperienced mid-20's male to join their crew (did I mention I was single though?).

I think you may have better luck than you think. Many folks take crew on to cross the Pacific, especially married couples with big boats. It's just so much easier to be at sea with three people than with two (2 x four hour watches = 8 hours of sleep for everyone). To be honest, being on a long passage with three people is nearly effortless compared to the intensity of two people.

Also, some folks with big boats are required by their insurance to have a crew of three for long passages.

And I hesitate to write this, but I do not agree that being male works against you. I think an older couple with a 48' boat see's a guy in his twenties and thinks-- yeah, this guy could haul up the anchor if the windlass breaks, or will crank in the jib without a problem.

I do not believe that experience is that big of a deal, as far as standing watch goes. I left Galapagos while teaching both of my crew members how to sail as we left the harbor, and we did fine over the next ~26 days on the way to the Marquessas. Well, we did break an asymmetrical spinnaker because of a miscommunication about what "wake me up if the wind gets stronger" means. And the Ecuadorian bar tender I picked up had never driven a car, and had this mental block about using a steering wheel. I would point Left, he'd turn the wheel to the Right. So that was annoying. Especially since he didn't really speak English and I didn't really speak Spanish. But that was it, otherwise it was a fine trip and we all stuck together through Polynesia.

Most of my crew came from folks hitchiking/crewing on other boats, or leaving notices in port (them, or me). I think Pacific Mexico, PV, La Paz, are great places to hitch a ride, but maybe these days most of this kind of thing is done online. I don't know. Let me think to my own experience... I found crew through:

2- Knew them in my landlubber life
2- Surfers I met in a cruisers hang out in Zihuatenejo
1- Distant family
1- A bar tender in Galapagos who always wanted to sail to Tahiti
1- Had a notice on a cork board at the yacht club in Bora Bora
2- Walking on the Quay, looking for a boat
1- Stole her from another boat/they pushed her off, met her at the dinghy dock
1- Introduced by cruising friends

I don't know if there is a pattern there, or that this sample is meaningful for you. But I encourage you to keep at it and keep pushing to find a boat.

clawler · 14-12-2011, 15:26

Thanks, H20man, can't wait til that addiction kicks in.

msponer, I really appreciate your words of encouragement. The scenarios you presented really make it seem like it's not that much of a longshot after all.

I think the pattern in how you found crew members, or at least what I took out of it, is to try as many ways as possible.