Crew Available: How to find someone looking for an extra hand in France?

[swannie2]

I'm not sure this is the right forum to post this in or not. I'm a new sailor who took the ASA101 class in the spring. I've done some day sailing since then and generally know enough to be dangerous and ask a lot of questions. I'll be in the Saint Nazaire region of France for 6 weeks during August/September of this year, and I'm wondering what the best way to meet other sailors who might be looking for an additional hand/crewmate during my weekends off?

[sailormed]

Do you speak french? That would be a good starting point.

[swannie2]

Originally Posted by sailormed

Do you speak french? That would be a good starting point.

I should have mentioned that ... Unfortunately, I do NOT, however I do agree that would be very helpful if I did. My hope is maybe there's some English sailors there for the summer.

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by swannie2

I'm not sure this is the right forum to post this in or not. I'm a new sailor who took the ASA101 class in the spring. I've done some day sailing since then and generally know enough to be dangerous and ask a lot of questions. I'll be in the Saint Nazaire region of France for 6 weeks during August/September of this year, and I'm wondering what the best way to meet other sailors who might be looking for an additional hand/crewmate during my weekends off?

Reach out to Wolfgal. She's a Forum Member in France. She may have some ideas for you...

Fair winds,
LittleWing77

[Stewie12]

There are a lot of yachts in the south of France and many will be from the UK, so not speaking French will not be a problem Try sending your CV to the crew agencies.

https://www.workonayacht.com/index.p...ncies/antibes/

[goboatingnow]

Basically walk the pontoons. The advantage in France is that most are publicly accessible

[Clivevon]

You could try www. Crewseekers. You have to pay to register as crew but as a skipper it has worked very well for me in uk.

[Clivevon]

How far are you able to travel at weekends? Concarneau is a major sailing centre & loads more similar in SW Brittany where you wpuld stand a good chance of meeting British yachties - well, normally. I wouldnt give up on the French though. Loads of them speak English.

[Mlp48]

Yes.... walk the pontoons but also look for some race events. Racers can do with bodies, any willing bodies. I was working in FR/Italy border when I was relatively new to sailing and found boats that were welcoming, kind and generous. It wouldn't hurt to learn some bit of the boat's language like boat "nomenclature" because when things went very wrong, they won't yell vital needs in English ! It was complete hoot to do this because we'd be racing on-deck and there would be a group below decks -- making a sumptuous meal that we'd have back at the dock.

[nepal]

You can leave an annoucement on the french CF
https://stw.fr/fr/bourse

(use Google translate)

[Franziska]

You could try this popular French forum:

https://www.hisse-et-oh.com/av/crews

I'm pretty sure you'll get some replies even if you post in English.

Good luck from Nantes.

[boatman61]

Walking the pontoons ain't that easy.. most marinas are 'access for owners only' with coded gate access.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Walking the pontoons ain't that easy.. most marinas are 'access for owners only' with coded gate access.

Not in France , Vauban for example is fully accessible as are most Cote Dazure marinas built with public money.

[boatman61]

Cherbourg, La Rochelle, Le Sables.. I guess its where one sails but security is in demand.