Crew Available: 20 yo looking to learn

[Whale_thatjumps]

I'm an adventurous 20yo guy that loves to learn and have a passion for being on the water. I don't have a whole lot of experience on boats, but want to be a cruiser one day on my own boat. I'm currently living in Las Vegas, NV but I'm able to go anywhere, also i have a blank passport I'd love to fill with stamps.


Also If anyone has any tips or can point me in the right direction to start this journey that would be much appreciated.

[joel383]

Any skills obtained?

[Adelie]

Welcome to the forum.

[Steve Olson]

How tied down to the Las Vegas area are you? Being young, you're likely to be more able to make bigger changes now than you will be once you're married w/ kids. If I were you and serious about it, I'd save up, fly out to Seattle, and buy a boat to liveaboard so you could work during the week and gain sailing skills on the weekends.

[Don C L]

Welcome aboard! I might suggest getting yourself a fun little boat to learn in and go out to Lake Mead, but winds aren't very predictable out there as I recall. I am in a good location too for practicing. There are fairly regular and predictable winds, good places to practice in higher wind speeds and wave size, nice weather, slips available, boats for sale and some nice islands to visit and practice anchoring skills! But don't tell anyone about it! Not sure about work locally though, but maybe you could do what I did when I was 20, buy a boat and then work in construction to pay for it all!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Whale.

[canyonbat]

If you will be staying in the Vegas area for a while there are plenty of opportunities to get some tiller time near by. With the water level of Lake Meade critically low and no relief in sight, lots of nice, freshwater boats are coming up for sale in the local marinas. Even with the water level as low as it is, Lake Meade is still a huge lake and very fun to sail. Cottonwood Cove on Lake Mohave and Lake Havasu, where we live, also are good for sailing, although much better in the winter.

Don't sell lake sailing short as a venue for learning. We lake sailors deal with more wind changes and tacks in day than many ocean sailors see in a season. Here is one we did a couple of years ago. Winds were 5 to 35 during the sail.

[Mithril Bham]

Go to Road Town, BVI & get a job washing boats for The Moorings or Sunsail. Lots of boats there.

[hamburking]

Start reading. Read every sailing book you can find. The difference is being eager to learn, and being eager to be taught. The right attitude can make all the difference in finding a berth.

Also, maybe get some paper charts, a handheld GPS, and a cruising guide...and start learning the area you are interested in sailing.

I wish you luck and safe travels.

[laika]

It's a grand lifestyle, tempted to say the last true bastion of freedom in the world. Whether you start lake sailing or dive right in and move down the BVIs, it's hard to go wrong. If you end up getting your own boat off the bat, try to enlist some friends to join.. not only to to help ease the workload of learning a bunch of new and necessary skills, but to share the experience. Otherwise, just stay humble, try not to make the same mistakes twice, and make the effort to reach out to the locals along the way.

Best of luck.

[Whale_thatjumps]

I'm not tied down here at all really, I've just been waiting for the right opportunity to come along so I can leave. I see myself being able to buy a boat in 2018, possibly sooner if things go right.

[LLCoolDave]

There are a couple yacht clubs on lake Mead. I learned to sail there. They have a beginner course every quarter for $75. They also have a consistent race schedule where all you need to do is show up at the dock.

[RogerLloyd]

I have a small yacht in Southern Brittany and expect to set sail in June to somewhere, possibly Spain, and back to UK in September. I am looking for crew. I used to be a professional sailing instructor. Regards Roger