Crew Wanted: Swedish Archipelago, summer 2025

[Flying Monkey]

Ahoj salty sailors, novices, and dreamers.
I sailed my boat across the Atlantic in 2024, Florida to Sweden.
This coming summer, 15 May to end of June, early July, I will spend daysailing and exploring the world famous, calm, peaceful, beautiful, fun and social, St Anna and Stockholm Archipelago in Sweden.
Sailing in the archipelago is casual: day sails. Anchoring at an island. There are thousands of island, some are remote and empty. Some have restaurants and ice cream shops. We say high to neighboring boats, have a drink, book a sauna, have a swim, take a hike, grill some dinner, sundowners with neighboring crews. The next day, maybe we stay. Maybe we sail to another island. Wash, rinse, repeat
I am looking for crew to join the adventure. No experience needed. Some experience desired.
Crew Spots: 1 week-ish, minimum time on board.
15 May-1st week of June: St Anna Archipelago and Gotland. 3 spots open.
7 June-21 June: Stockholm Archipelgo. 3 spots open.
22 June to Midsommar: St Anna Archipelago. 2 spots open.

The vessel: 1978 CSY Pilothouse Ketch. Just sailed from Jacksonville, Florida across the Atlantic to Stockholm over 3 months. She is strong, proud and stable at sea, sails at 7-8 knots with 15-18 knots of wind, and gets a bit more frisky with 20-25. She is well equipped. 125 gallons of fresh water. 100+ gallons of diesel. New standing rigging, some new running rigging, large galley with stove and oven. Large, open pilothouse/deck salon. And a nice little karaoke system for those who are so inclined.

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 InReach..
Satellite Phone.
AIS
EPIRB.
Chart Plotter
Autopilot.
Radar
Windvane
Dinghy and outboard
6 pax Liferaft.
New Dinghy 2024 with 15hp outboard.
Starlink High Performance system for internet. Amazing!


Cost/Expenses:
$$. Captain pays for boat expenses. Folks on board share the cost of their groceries.
FAQ: How much to budget for groceries?
Ans: take your existing food budget and add 20%.
Land 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:

Rule #1. Stay on the boat. Everything is easier if we avoid falling off while underway.
We will focus on comfortable, low risk, low stress sailing. The Baltic sea is very calm. Minimal tides, virtually no current. Lots of rocks! There are still storms and high winds, and we will do our best to avoid them and stay at anchor or port during bad weather. This means crew should be very flexible with time schedules.

All safety gear is up to date and functional.

We practice continuous risk analysis / risk mitigation. This means, when we do 'something stupid" we talk about it and try not to do it again.

Smoking/open flame: No smoking on board. If you are French and have a very compelling story, then maybe you can drift off in the dinghy and practice your habit. Otherwise, no. Candles are ok in certain conditions. Incense can burn in certain conditions.

Alcohol. No consumption under way at all***. The Anchor light is the drinking light. 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. *** This is a high protocol operation, Pirate Protocol, so there are a few exceptions to the rule. We toast occasions with rum or champagne.

Clothing. Yes please. It’s better than sunscreen. Nudity is common in the archipelago. Skinny dipping is allowed. Usually, people are clothed.
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 weather gear">foul weather gear, then you should expect to buy some for yourself.

About the Captain:
The Captain: 57 Year old man. Healthy, Energetic, non-snoring, non-smoking, non-drinking (mostly), guy who likes to sail. Benevolent pirate. Free range cowboy. Creative executive. Karaoke singer. Empathic. Participative leadership style. Pretty good cook. Likes spicy food and good coffee. Excellent, patient teacher, coach, trainer, demanding and particular about safety and operations.

50 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, dive, 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. The crazier sh*t gets, the more calm I become. Gaslighting Mother Nature for decades

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:
High frequency, positive energy people: 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). If you have very good organizational and packing skills, you get bonus points. On shore leave, live music, hanging out under the stars, exploring nature and different cultures are fun ways to explore the local scene. If you are more introverted, no problem. Someone needs to stay and babysit the boat too.

Considerations for complete rookie and novice crew.
Expenses: if you do not have good foul weather gear, then you will need to buy it. Budget $800 for new, coastal quality foul weather gear. I have life jackets, safety harnesses, and tethers on board for you to borrow and use, but you must have your own foul weather gear.
Testing and proving yourself: I welcome complete rookies and novices with little to no experience. We all have to start somewhere. I am an excellent trainer and coach, and I enjoy doing it. It does take a tremendous amount of time and energy to show someone the ropes and teach them new skills. I have to have a good feeling that crew will be able to function on board as well as be safe for themselves, other crew, and the boat. I do not expect newbies to become experts overnight. I do expect that newbies arrive with a good attitude, good energy, and an ability to be instructed, tested, coached and corrected. Everybody makes mistakes and messes up stuff, myself included. Even my Dad, "the Admiral" fouls things up. We all have to be thick skinned and able to make corrections and keep going. This means that you will not show up, pack up, and get under way immediately. There will be some time spent familiarizing and making sure it is a good fit. This is for the benefit of everyone.
Rookie/Novice duty expectations: if you come aboard as a rookie / novice, then you will have regular crew duties on a very simple level. For example you will not stand watch by yourself until after you are "watch certified" by the captain. You will be busy learning, observing, asking questions, practicing, and demonstrating new skills. You will get a lot of instruction, such as, "stand here" and "hold this" and "do not do that" You will stand "shadow" watch with an experienced crew member. It is important to be 'set up for success', and that will be the goal for the safety of the boat, crew, and yourself. The general goal for being "watch certified" is that you can keep the boat going in the correct, general direction, and you know when to wake up other people

Thanks for reading. Let me know if interested. We have a lot to discuss[/U]:

[PanuV]

I sent you a PM!