Crew Wanted: Florida-Bahamas-Caribbean-Azores 2022

[Flying Monkey]

New year, Same Plan. Florida.Caribbean. Azores. Baltic. 2022.

Thanks for reading.
This is the "Third Time is a Charm" ....
I am looking for crew to join this adventure: There are several different legs. Different legs offer different parts of sailing and have different crew requirements, so "Get in where ya fit in", as they say. What this means is that different folks will be on the crew, coming and going, from time to time as it fits schedules, experience, and the pleasure of the Captain. You know how these things go. People can sign on individually or in pairs, depending on room available and other considerations.
FAQ upfront:
1)What happened last year, 2021?
In 2021, an overcrowded work yard caused a 2 month delay. The yard could not make room for us to get in to the work yard until May. Sad Face. I immediately realized a shortage of boat stuff from zincs to fiberglass materials, so work was slow. The good news is that I took extra time to replace all through-hull connections and make other seaworthiness repairs. What was already a very seaworthy boat is now more so. When the boat was ready to go in the water, hurricane season was here. I decided that discrection was the better part of valor, and put the sailing off one more year. Better to sail next year than to lose the boat, or worse, in a storm this year.
2)What about Covid stuff?
I am 100% healthy and welcome healthy crew without prejudice. Rules of states, local spots, countries, particularly relating to travel, are there and change from time to time. Like the weather, we will adjust to accomodate the "changing weather". We will also use discretion to avoid "bad weather". I ask individuals to do what they believe is right for them.
I ask that no one hi-jack this thread for any discussion related to that kind of thing.
3)Is sailing experience required?
Yes and No. There will be at least one spot on the crew open for rookies and novices. This could be two spots if the novice is a couple - that means you are bunking together. Attitude and energy are more important than experience. I am a pretty good trainer and instructor, and I like to do it. I am happy to teach the right person or people "how to". However, we can't all be rookies. I welcome experienced sailors (and so does the insurance company). I would like to have 3 experienced sailors on the crew, which leaves a spot open for a noob or two.
4)How do I apply for a crew position?
Please send a PM to me with the following:
State your interest and what part of the trip you think would work for you.
Briefly let me know if you have any sailing experience or other applicable experience.
Let me know "what else?", for example, if you make a good espresso or do a wicked karaoke version of "I Wanna Rock" or whatever.
Short and sweet is the key.
I will reply to all. Then we will exchange a few messages. If it seems like a good fit for you and a good fit for the crew, then we will talk on the phone. If it still seems like a good fit, then we will get in to detailed planning.

Other folks, US Military Veterans, family and friends of mine will be joining the boat along the way as well.

General sail plan: Subject to change, travel restrictions, and all of that stuff going on.

Middle of February 2022.
Jacksonville, Florida to South Florida, Fort Lauderdale, and then across to the Bahamas (if they are open), and island hop to the Caribbean.
March 2022. Bahamas to Caribbean. We will go "up and over", so this is a mini-ocean passage with about 11 days of water sailing">blue water sailing, east from North of the Bahamas, and then South to the Caribbean.
April - May 2022. St Martin, on anchor. Exploring the wonderful island, going to Carnivale, island hopping for Rum resupply in Grenada, waiting for weather over the Atlantic to stabilize, so we can cross.
As weather permits: Atlantic crossing, St Martin to Horta, Azores.
The Azores are frickin' awesome. We might never want to leave. We will stay two weeks. Maybe 3.
June 2022. Crossing from Azores to Europe. We'll make our way to the Keil canal, and then make our way in to the Baltic for a nice, three-day-drunk, Midsommar Party.

Particulars:

Boat: 1978 CSY 44 Pilothouse Ketch. She is a well equipped, heavy old lady. A graceful sailor. Big, roomy, safe and solid. She is a comfortable, sea-kindly boat with a deep draft and 14,000 lbs of lead. Some say she is one of the finest cruising vessels ever made. I say, she is my dream boat, and she sailed like a dream in 25 knot winds with. 8-10 foot seas.
Ketch rigged.
Furling Head sail.
Hank on Stay Sail.
Main and Mizzen in Lazy Jacks.
Self Tailing winches.
Electric winch.
Electric Windlass.
Water Maker.
Solar.
Wind Gen.
Big Galley, plenty of fridge space.
VHF Radio.
SSB Radio.
Garmin Satellite Roam.
Satellite Phone.
AIS
Chart Plotter
Autopilot.
Windvane
Dinghy and outboard
.... liferaft will be added Winter 2022.

$$. Captain pays for boat expenses. Folks on board share the cost of their groceries.

Ground and other transportation: By future arrangement. Crew joining the boat should expect to pay for their transport to and from the boat.

Customs, Duties, and Border fees: Expect to Pay your own way.

Safety and Security: Always top priority!

We will focus on comfortable, low risk, low stress sailing. We are pleasure cruising. The weather and ocean will give us enough un-planned excitement to deal with and enjoy, so we will not press in to foul weather or any other risky business. This means crew should be very flexible with time schedules.

All safety gear is up to date and functional.

Smokes: No tobacco smoke on board. If you are French, I might make an exception, but no "lighting up" on board.

Alcohol. The Anchor light is the drinking light. No consumption under way at all. But we will have a well equipped bar and beer stock.. Two rules of boating.. never run out of beer or cookies; although, the Captain drinks very little to no beer/alcohol.

Other intoxicants: The USCG still has a "zero tolerance" policy for things like marijuana, so please enjoy at your convenience off the boat and leave it there. Sneaking some on board, getting the crew and vessel impounded is a good way to not win the "most likeable crew" prize.

Clothing. Yes please. It’s better than sunscreen.
This is mostly for the Bahamas, and certainly most of you reading this are already aware, that many visitors to the Bahamas view clothing as an optional situation. This is not a "nudist" boat at all. For packing considerations, space is the biggest limiting factor. We have a packing list that we can send as a guide.
Otherwise, if you do not have foul weather gear, then you should expect to buy some for yourself.

Drama:
This is supposed to be a drama free boat. Believe me, there will be enough drama without we bring a bunch with us.

About the Captain:
54 Year old man. Healthy, Energetic, non-snoring, non-smoking, non-drinking (mostly), guy who likes to sail. Benevolent pirate. Creative executive. Karaoke singer. Empathic. Participative leadership style. Pretty good cook. Likes spicy food, palm trees, offshore breeze, and perky Bs.

45 years sailing experience aboard 16-52 foot sailboats. Yep, started young, with Dear Old Dad and Mom. Great Lakes, Eastern Pacific (San Diego area), Western Atlantic, Bahamas, with the majority of experience in the Bahamas, with many courses at the fictional, but very real, Hard Knocks Sailing Academy.
Skilled and experienced in all boat auxiliary power systems (motors y'all); Gas and Diesel, HVACR systems, electrical, plumbing, rigging, - there's nothing on the boat I can't fix (or throw away and replace ).
I love to snorkel and spear fish. I love to explore the local scene, meet the people and get in to the cultures of visited places, so I tend to be wandering type explorer. All day on a random beach, to me, is a good use of a day.

I have a rock solid personality, not easily ruffled, calm under pressure, and am easy going and laid back. At the same time, I have a loud, command voice (thank you Army), and can be very intense.

I am not a doctor. That is my sister's gig. I am skilled at first aid, trained in CPR, first aid, recovery, and know how to treat many conditions.
I am also an excellent trainer/teacher and coach, so if you have no experience, but otherwise fit, lets talk. Don't count yourself out.

Ideal Crew qualities:
Galley friendly, coffee loving; creative cook, bold, brave, level headed, positive energy and attitude, a bit of a hippie, excellent communication abilities, in great health, non-smoking, not grossed out by fish guts, stable at sea, some experience with sailing preferred, a light packer, excellent problem solving skills, a cheerleader (and I don't mean pom poms and a short skirt, I mean a person who is excited and energetic when facing challenging tasks and not, how do you say in this country, be b*tchy about it), non-snoring (I don't mean to exclude based on stuff like snoring, that you really can't help, but I have a thing with snoring, and I can't sleep if it is going on). You should otherwise be in good health. If you have very good organizational and packing skills, you get bonus points.
If you think you could fill one of the following crew role positions, then please ask about it:
Chief Medical Officer: (Medic/Registered Nurse degree or higher medical qualitications required)
Quartermaster: (mostly good pack and prep skills, but if you have professional type inventory control/purchasing experience +++)
Pastor: (no specific religious affiliation required and idk what to write here, but if interested, then please holler)
Dive Master: (Certified master or instructor types. I am PADI certified).
Rig Master: (if you have experience with such things as river rescue, recue diver, recovery, various military MOSes. Professional level skill with lines, knots, rigging, wire rope, shackles, clevis, block and tackle kind of stuff).
Office Manager/executive assistant: (professional experience with all modern modes of communication, written, voice, text; travel planning and purchasing; scheduling and calendar management; mail handling, filing, paper and electronic. +++ book keeping skills)
***** Please do not get too wrapped up or confused by these specific crew positions. These are specific roles that I would like to have on the crew. It's ok if we have none. Eventually, we need all. If you think you fit, or if you are just curious, please feel free to reach out and ask.


General Timeline is the middle of February, 2022-August 2022.

Thanks for reading. Let me know if interested. We have a lot to discuss

[djgies]

I’m absolutely interested in talking to you about this. I’m a mountain bike trail builder in Vermont, and my plan is to take the winter off and get sailing experience. I do have some. I’ve sailed off of Florida to the Bimini islands, crewed on a friends boat for weekly races on Lake Champlain, and this year I spent five days helping a friend move his boat up the Hudson to a marina in the north of Lake Champlain. I’ve also done a few overnighters with him on his Morgan 30. I also have my advanced dive certification.

I’m a few years older than you, super chill, I’v e been to Dead shows from the Jerry years so I do have some hippie in me. I’m also a photographer/Videographer, a back country ski bum, world traveler, and mountain biker.

In a week or two I’m setting off on a bikepacking adventure from Vermont to Florida, with the goal of getting on boats along the way. I may be in Florida in plenty of time to meet with you. I do want to be back in Vermont by middle to end of May. You can message me here, or send and email to dwightgies@gmail.com

Thanks, Dwight

[Flying Monkey]

Thanks Dwight. I see your PM as well and will reply to you there.

[mhansen]

Great to hear about the 22 version; sending you an email since we talked last year.
Mike

[Flying Monkey]

Great. My target crew mix is 3 experienced sailors and 1 rookie/novice.
The rookie/novice can be 2, if it is a couple.
"Experienced" I will loosely define as being able to stand watch independently.
- knows when to alert/wake up crew for assistance (changes in wind, weather, sea conditions, other vessel positions and activity, recognizes changes in our vessel function, and similar)
- knows how to "read" navigation aids, other vessel lights
- knows how to use vhf radio
- knows how to use auto-pilot, steer, change course, keep course
- knows how and when to use horns, bells, flares and other communication devices for safe operation

This is information is for reference and is not an exhaustive list by any means.

A rookie/novice is a person who is not ready for independent watch duty.

[BillyOrman]

Hey Flying Monkey,

Are you still looking for crew? My girlfriend and I are definitely interested. I tried to send you a PM but not sure if it went through? Let me know. You can also email me at williambcorman at gmail dot com . Anyway, would love to talk about it more! Thanks!

-Billy

[Flying Monkey]

Hi Billy,

Sorry for my slow reply. I saw your messages and sent a short reply. I will reply with more detail by tomorrow.
Thanks.

[Flying Monkey]

This is Cross- threaded information from previous posts. Funny how the same questions are asked.
Here is a little information on crew size, Bunk plans and being "underway" versus "on anchor".

Thanks to that individual who asked some very good questions.
Here is the answer:
The right crew size for this vessel is 4-6 people.
4-5 if there are no couples who are bedding down in the same bed.
We can have 6 adults if there are two couples, or one couple and a cabin girl on duty.

Ladies who join the crew will have first dibs on the privacy of the forward V Berth cabin.
Couples who come on board as a couple will get preference for the V berth cabin as well.

My favorite bunks for sleeping underway are in the pilothouse, which I called deck salon in this graphic for some reason.

At anchor, we bed down at the same time, typically, but underway, we are on a watch schedule and rotating sleeping times. "Get in when ya fit in"

At all times, I believe in flexibility and adaptability. Meaning, if we are doing something that is not working so well, we will come together as a crew and find a solution that works better for everyone. Continuous improvement. Bam!

[Flying Monkey]

Questions related to finance and administration:
Here is a question sent by an interested party, so I am sharing the answer here:

a. Assuming that I am on board how much should I budget?
A person's grocery budget is very much a subjective thing, so it is a hard question to answer objectively. Here is some guidance.
Take your current, land-based grocery budget and add 30%. Things are more expensive once we depart. As a crew, we will provision and supply as much as possible before we leave "home port". Once we are out and about, consider that food is more expensive in the islands and booze is less expensive (except for beer. Beer is gold in the islands. Good beer is platinum. Note: there is no room on board for cheap beer.)
This is never a situation where crew give money to the Captain for groceries. This is a situation where the crew get together to plan out meals and supply needs as a crew. On board, galley duty is a rotating duty, just like standing watch. When a crew member is on galley duty, they will prepare lunch and dinner meals for the crew and do dishes for the day. Breakfast is a Do It Yourself situation, even though, usually when I am on galley duty, I want to make a big breakfast and I make enough for the crew, if they want. Personally, I love my galley duty day. I usually have a meal that I have been craving, and this is my day to make it, show off, and treat the crew - or, perhaps, make them suffer my gastro-experiments: Chicago, deep dish pizza, from scratch, mid-Atlantic, in 6 foot seas. Yay!
The larger point is that lunch and dinner are meals that the crew share. We can't please all the people all the time, but we can strive to make good, edible, and nutritious meals to sustain our nautical nature. Therefore, if one's personal diet consists of canned pasta.... well, their sailing grocery budget might be significantly higher than their regular budget.
Crew with highly specialized or medically restrictive diets will have to figure out a way to make it work for them on board. In those cases, I suspect it would be more expensive.
My personal diet is whole, raw, organic whenever possible. Underway, that changes considerably. Fresh vegetables and fruits go fast. Then we switch to dried, frozen, canned. God willing, we will have fresh sprouts on a rotating basis for a fresh veggie fix. Around the islands, fresh fish is abundant. Out in the deep blue, fresh fish is rare. It is a big, blue desert out there.
A well fed crew is a happy crew! Plan and budget accordingly.

[Flying Monkey]

Ahoj Ahoj... Significant Schedule Change

Here is the new version:
November 10-25: boat work in the yard.
Early December: launch boat and install new standing rigging.
**** Take on leg 1 Crew, provisions, fuel ****
Before Christmas: sail for Lake Worth / Fort Lauderdale / maybe Bahamas.

This is a draft sort of timeline, but it is good for planning purposes.
Of course this greatly affects the overall sail plan, and I am still figuring out the logistics of that. I will post and adjusted, general sail plan ASAP.

I just got back to Chicago. I came back to the US early, in order to kick this sailing adventure in the rear and scramble to get ahead of the wave.

I have adjusted my timeline considerably to adjust for external things that were jeopardizing the whole trip. I can't wait until January to get started with preparation work on the boat. I have not figured out how to edit the original posting on this thread, and, hell, I might even need a whole new thread.

I will be hustling around for the next couple days getting my stuff together.
Once I am on the road driving to Florida, I will have a lot of time to talk on the phone. Nov 10 and 11 (Happy Veterans' Day) I would like to get on the phone with the folks who are interested in joining the crew.

In the meantime, please take a look at this adjusted timeline and see if it will work for you.

The only constant is Change.

Best,

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, BillyO.

[Mark Zwick]

Hello, My name is Mak Zwick. I'm a professional yacht chef with many miles of sea time. I'm interested in the Apil to May spots and arriving in the Azores by sailboat is on my bucket lists. I have been a full-time crew on tall ships, classic sailboats, and charter S/Y. Please contact me to assist you on your adventures.

[Mark Zwick]

Also I'm an aspiring Primatologists. I have several flying monkeys of my own. Please send me an email address and I will forward my C.V. zwickmark at rocketmail dot com

Fairwinds

[softgoodsint]

What an excellent description - I really appreciate elaborate, detailed information such as you took the time to compile. And yes, your mid-Winter works for me - I'll PM with my CV. A few bits is that I've got almost a dozen deliveries from a few weeks to a month, and I estimate 5K nm in that, majority being off-shore deliveries in both Atlantic and Pacific sides, and especially in and around Florida. I'd only need to see the time windows and durations of the legs, meaning I'd probably not have sufficient time to go to the Azores, but I'm keenly interested in joining for the other legs. My schedule as I know our project will downsize at the Holidays, and I'll have free time between then and the next project. Will PM in just a bit.

[lefttheoffice]

I would be interested in hopping on your boat and sharing some of the adventure. I am 58 and retiring this December. I am healthy and workout 4 to 5 days a week. My sailing experience is not great. I have sailed a total of about 60 days over the course of the last 10 years. Always with a captain. I have taken my 101,103 104. I have been on boats most of my life and have captained a 42 foot power cat in the virgin islands for about 15 days.
After the first of the year I am free to roam for as long as I want. I am PADI certified and have a great sense of adventure. Brad

bcundiff_7@hotmail.com