Is Volunteering as crew to get experience a realistic plan? (for me)

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by Debmar

I hope I have been able to give a bit of a picture of who I am, what I hope to achieve, and what I can hopefully offer. (limited I realize)

For those of you who have read through posts so far. In your opinion what type of arrangement should I anticipate will be possible. As In If I fly myself to the ocean and back will all my passage related costs be covered or will I have to contribute to passage costs or contribute plus pay. Or what do you think I will be looking at if other than above?

I have been following (and will continue to follow) the crew wanted posts to try and get an idea but I am sure some of you out there have a pretty good idea of what value (if any) I would have. Some have mentioned trying to find or contact delivery skippers, where would I find those individuals?

Oh, also I think I am a fairly good cook should that sway the balance in this equation.

Here in Southern California, aside from some coastal cruising, we have two offshore destinations. One is Catalina Island which is a thirty mile piece of cake. The other is Cabo San Lucas. It seems everybody loves to sail down, down wind with the current at your back but nobody wants to sail back against the wind and current. The is commonly known as the Bash. If you were willing to take on that journey, you'd have no problem finding a boat heading north. It's a rough trip but you'd gain a lot more sailing experience than just heading south. The owner would need you to handle watch duties and teach you to read the instruments with maybe some light line handling (under supervision) But wouldn't really need a super experienced sailor for this trip which usually takes 3 to 4 weeks.

[Clivevon]

if you are in middle of Canada I would have thought the Great Lakes were your closest & cheapest place to get to so as to do some serious "big boat" sailing - Why not try a few weekend trips there to get you started, before going on offshore passages?

Google your closest place for local sailing clubs & contact them to offer yourself as novice crew. I would be very surprised if that didnt work.

[Clivevon]

Obviously that would be SUMMER weekends....
then you would be much better placed to crew on longer winter passages around the Caribbean, which seems to be your real goal?

[Debmar]

Currently my job (self employed) doesnt allow me any time from mid april to about November but outside that window i am very flexible
Not a lot of opportunities in that time frame as far north as i am

[MIRELOS]

get a plane ticket and go...April to November, lots of time there, even with plane travel

[Debmar]

Re sailing school
I almost went this january to a week long course
And definitely will be doing so. Any course i have ever taken i got so much more out of if i have already been doing or attempting to learn what the course covered
So the volunteer crewing idea is in addition to not instead of
But i would prefer to do some crewing first if i can find a way to make it work for the reason i have mentioned

[Time2Go]

Originally Posted by Debmar

Re sailing school
I almost went this january to a week long course
And definitely will be doing so. Any course i have ever taken i got so much more out of if i have already been doing or attempting to learn what the course covered
So the volunteer crewing idea is in addition to not instead of
But i would prefer to do some crewing first if i can find a way to make it work for the reason i have mentioned

I have done a fair amount of crewing
under all arrangements from “Paid charter berth” to
Paid delivery crew member.
My advice would be to go to a RYA School for a 10 day program
that will get you to Coastal Skipper/Tidal and an ICC to boot.
This certification will make it DRAMATICALLY easier to get picked up
as crew. Also check out the other crew sites besides here
Oceancrewlink.com
Sailopo.com
Both of these are pay sites but very well worth the small sums
involved.
Also as others have mentioned
Buy a good watch and never be late for yours.
You might make a few mistakes but being on time at 3am
when it’s cold, raining and miserable buys a tremendous amount of goodwill.
Staying a few minutes with your watch replacement does the trick also.
The only words that my captains hear from me is “No Problem”
I have over a decade on you and am still actively crewing.
Cheers
Neil

[sail sfbay]

Originally Posted by Debmar

I am trying to come up with a plan to move myself forward (sailing wise) to the point where boat ownership and ocean cruising is a feasible possibility. One idea is volunteering as crew to get some experience and learn by doing....................November To March ...........I am a long way from the water................

Any volunteer opportunity to crew on someone else's boat is a good plan. Make sailboat owner contacts through yacht clubs and marinas. Couple that with sailing classes, chartering and join a sailing club (which has multiple sailboats to sail at a very low entry cost without ownership expense).

In my case I volunteered as crew on a two 45 ft Beneteau sailboats during the winter race series in the San Francisco Bay for many years. In addition, crewed on a similar size sailboat to assist the owner sailing his boat between Baltimore, Maryland to Ft Lauderdale, Florida at the beginning and end of each winter. Unfortunately, these did not prepare me for sailboat ownership and ocean cruising. What did, was purchasing my own sailboat(s) and I always new crew who want to learn about sailing.

[outbound_308]

I don't know if anyone has tried it, I'm kind of in the same boat and looking at sailopo.com Don't mind paying if I know what I'm getting and they know what they are getting. Big plus for me is that it's off shore and not just day sailing as you said. Better to know now how the reality fits with the dream.

[desertsailor]

A few years ago I was in a similar situation. Started out taking ASA classes and sailing dinghies with the local yacht club here in the desert southwest. (Yes, there are large enough lakes and reservoirs near Phoenix AZ). Searching for more sailing experience I posted my name and skills on Lat 38 crew list and searched the Crew Wanted list on this forum. So far, I have logged over 5000 miles of Pacific Ocean sailing, from the Panama Canal to the San Juan Islands of Washington state.



The key criteria for me are flexibility, willingness to travel, following the skippers commands, willingness to learn and a sense of adventure. I'm retired, so my schedule is more flexible than yours. But, given your stated schedule there should be opportunities available. The longest trip for me was from Panama to San Diego, which lasted about 5 weeks. All other trips were less than 2 weeks.



Hope this helps, and good luck with your sailing adventures.

[A CheeseHead]

Volunteering's a great idea, but first things first:
1. Learn to sail - in any way you can.
2. Learn how tie tie the basic knots.
3. Read everything about sailing and racing you can get your hands on.

I did those, then I hitch-hiked to Florida for the Southern Ocean Racing Circuit (this was in 1971, when there actually was such a thing; I don't care who's swiped the name nowadays). I flew back to Wisconsin a month later, with a vague idea of what sailing on the ocean was all about.

I also learned a serious lesson, from the professional captain of a custom 58' cutter. He was paid quite good money to be able to say "yes" when the owner flew in and asked "boat ready?". His advice? Boats are built by rich fools, for poor wise men to enjoy (I have since never owned a boat).

When I got home and the lake ice melted, I joined a sailing club and learned how to race. There is NO BETTER way of learning quickly how little you know and how bad you are out on the water - and how to get better. So I went racing every day, volunteered to crew for the bigger and faster boats. Commuted to Chicago and hung out on the piers, volunteering.

I am pushing 80, still teach sailing at my college's sailing club, and have sailed and raced on every Great Lake, the Med, the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. I did most of that by volunteering, by being available, reliable, and by getting competent.

Acquire basic competence, then do not be shy. Put yourself out there and volunteer. Earlier posts in this thread offer excellent advice: be honest, be reliable, be clean, pay attention, follow orders, and get competent.

Last: don't be too hungry about getting your own boat. Once you've put in the weeks, the hours, and the time sailing for others, you will see how much effort it takes to keep a boat functioning in what is essentially a hostile environment. Remember the good advice I got, back in 1971.

[CyKlop]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Hello, Debmar,

Sometimes deliveries can get scary. Are you the kind of guy who will do what is asked of you immediately, then discuss about it after it is done? if you have questions? That is a skill you will need.

Ann

It's one of the things I stress when someone's coming on board. That, as skipper, I always ask for people's ideas if time permits. However, there are situations where it's not time for a council, it's time to act and I expect people to follow orders right now.

And, even if we have a council, once the final decision is made, I expect people to do their best to make that plan successful, regardless of whether they agree with it or not. No grumbling (although we do often hold a debrief afterwards).

[sail1942]

Read my article, “so you want to be crew”

Musings: So You Want To Be A Crew Member

[tjandoverguy]

join crewbay

[argonauta1]

Good thought Debmar. Please bear with a circumnavigator who has had minimally experienced crew on board, both coastal cruising and offshore. Anyone with your level of experience is best advised to grab some keel boat expertise before becoming a so called crew person who in reality will find the main task "pulling ropes" or related low level make work tasks.

Your thoughts will lead to useful knowledge but you are not ready for that more advanced learning experience. My recommendation is you seek out a sailing school specializing in developing bare boat sailing qualifications. Such courses are available in many nearby places from southern US to the BVI. Get on line, find one that suits your schedule and sign up.

Another couple of thoughts. Dinghy sailing is an essential preparation. Indeed, We took our nephew cold up the Australian east coast and on to Darwin. He never got beyond directed rope pulling and helming. We told him if he wanted to come back, he needed to do a dinghy course to at least White Sail Level 3. He did and when he returned to sail with us from Thailand to Turkey he was very useful as opposed to being an unskilled helper. The second thought refers to guidance I was given at the time by experienced crews: never take someone offshore as crew unless they have been offshore as crew. We nevertheless made that mistake. We took inexperienced crew offshore three times. We were lucky and we only ended up on one occasion that a person became a liability.

I personally took myself on an off shore instructional course from St Martin to Newport RI via Bermuda before I took my own yacht off shore for the first time'

Hope this helps. Get on with it as once you feel ready, you are in for a marvelous personal experience like no other!