Do you love to travel but also love the environment and don’t like the way airplanes pollute the atmosphere? But without planes, how could you get to Spain, Australia, South Africa, Thailand or Brazil? If you’ve got the time and the drive, I’ve got the answer for you. Sailing.
I had been sailing twice, for a few hours each time, before I got on a sailboat headed to the Bahamas. I wasn’t too interested in going to the Bahamas, but the boat was on its way further and I wanted to sail the world.
How’d I find the boat? An Internet site that allows captains and potential crew members to connect and find each other. There are a number of websites that are designed for this purpose. So if you are one to say, I don’t know anyone with a boat, I’ve never sailed before, then my answer to you is: it doesn’t matter.
Most captains, at least the captains of sailboats—which is what I‘m limiting this post to because motorboats and super yachts are not my scene—are willing and open to have crewmembers that don’t have any experience as long as they are willing to learn.
Below, I’ll run you through
- What It Takes To Crew On A Sailboat
- What To Expect To Do As Crew
- Now that you know what to expect, where do you want to go?
- Packing
- Finding a Sailboat
- Meeting the Captain and Boat; Questions to Ask
- Gender Ratio: Male Captains Seeking Female Crew
- Costs; What to Expect to Pay For
- My Experience Sailing
View from Isla Coronado in the Sea of Cortez. You can see the boat I’m currently living on.
What It Takes To Crew On A Sailboat
- Ability to listen and follow directions (fast). When strong weather comes up, and as a novice, you may not know quite what to do, you must be able to take orders from your captain and lend a helping hand as best you can.
- Seasickness. In very rough seas, seasickness is almost inevitable, but in soft yet rolling seas, which are common, you want to hope that you don’t get seasick. There are ways to avoid seasickness, such as staring out at the horizon and breathing deeply or taking some Dramamine pills or I sometimes chew on a piece of crystallized ginger, but it’s no fun to be seasick. Try going on a day sail before you commit to a month or yearlong trip.
- Knowing how to let go. If you’re a control freak, maybe sailing isn’t for you, then again, maybe it’s exactly what you need. Winds change, weather changes, plans change, life is ever changing, and a sailor must be able to adapt and let go of their desire to control the situation. Being in control of the boat is one thing, but in control of the oceans and the skies is a whole nuther ballgame.
- Ability to live in small quarters with one person, maybe more, all day and all night for a long time. Sailboats are usually small and crammed. Living spaces are shared and like to be maintained clean and orderly. Picking up after yourself, communicating and compromising are some things you’ll have to do. Most captains will let you know how they want their boats maintained as soon as you come aboard, so as long as you can go along with that, you’re good to go.
- Adventure spirit. Life is an adventure and it is even more an adventure when it’s lived out on a sailboat. You will be snorkeling with fish, sailing with dolphins, experiencing new cultures, trying new foods, meeting new people and if none of this excites you than, I don’t know what to say.
Adam and I in the Bahamas on Ask For, Tam’s beautiful Chesapeake Skip Jack wooden boat he built up in Nova Scotia.
What To Expect To Do As Crew
- You will definitely get to help sail the boat. This includes raising and trimming the sails, steering the boat, keeping an eye on the water depth, etc.
- Standing watch on long passages, possibly overnight. This means you have to stay up on deck, probably in the cockpit, for usually 3-4 hours at a time while the rest of the sailors are either sleeping or resting below. Your job here is to keep an eye on the wind direction and the sails, watch out for boats and steer the boat (but more than likely the boat will have already set its course on its Autopilot). Any changes or rarities at this point are reported to the captain. This is also a great chance to watch the stars, play the flute, sing a song or stare out into the dark waters and contemplate how expansive the ocean really is.
- Help cook. Some sailors like to cook and others like to make sandwiches and canned soups. One of the main reasons you may be asked to come aboard is to help cook, no doubt the captain will ask you if you are a good cook. In my experience on 5 boats we have always shared the cooking duties and I never felt like I was a slave to the kitchen, it is fun and a new experience trying to cook a meal in a small galley (boat kitchen) while the waves are rocking you back and forth.
- Keeping the boat clean. This may include scrubbing the head (boat bathroom), washing the decks, doing the dishes, etc. Don’t worry; most boats are so small there isn’t too much to clean. You may even get to clean the hull (bottom) of the boat. Which I enjoy, so long as the waves are gentle and the waters are warm.
- Have fun! Most likely the captain doesn’t want you on board just to be a crewmember, they want a friend to pall around with. Snorkeling and fishing are common sea activities, hiking the coasts, eating fish tacos or sipping coconuts on the beach are a few activities you may enjoy on your journey. Some boats have DVD players to watch movies, games to play and stereos to blast.
Now that you know what to expect, where do you want to go?
Sailboats move with the winds and depending on the time of year, winds blow in different directions and in different intensities around the globe. World Cruising Routes is a great book (CornellSailing) that has information that can help plan your trip.
If you don’t have a destination in mind and you just want to try out the sailing life, then try finding a boat departing from a port near you so that you have a chance to meet the captain and check out the boat.
Packing
Depending on where you plan to go, you will want to pack accordingly. Pack for hot, cold, wet and windy weather. I’m sure any captain could give you tips on what kinds of clothes to bring. Also, plan for downtime. Sailboats move slow and you will most likely have plenty of time to practice the guitar, read books, write in a journal, paint landscapes and whatever else you like to do in your spare time.
Finding a Sailboat
Use Your Connections
If you know anyone who has a sailboat or has ever had a sailboat in the past, talk to them. They may have a friend that is looking for crew or they may point you in the right direction.
Hit Up the Docks
Another option, if you live on the water is to walk down to your local docks or marina. You can ask around, get to know people or post a note on a bulletin board advertising yourself. The benefit of finding a boat this way is that you are able to meet the captain and tour the boat well in advance.
Use a Website
I mentioned before about the opportunity to find boats through the internet, a great method as you can often search for the type of boat, length of trip, destination and other parameters that are important to finding the right boat for you.
Here is a list of websites that facilitate crew finding and boat finding. Click them to be re-directed to the webpages!
Kaye and Peter on Dancing Brave just after our 6 day sail from Jamaica to Panama.
Meeting The Captain And The Boat; Questions to Ask
Experience. Ask the captain how long they have been sailing for, where they have sailed to and from, how long have they had their boat for? Is this their first time crossing the pacific or their fifth? Have they spent most of their time sailing in bays and lakes or have they crossed oceans? What type of weather have they experienced? Try to glean as much as you can from the captain about their sailing experience as you can because when it comes down to it, your life is in their hands.
Safety. Ask the captain what types of safety gear they carry on board. A boat should have a life raft, life vests, harnesses, a first aid kit and radio. Do they have mechanical skills? If something in the engine breaks down, you hope the captain can fix it!
The boat. How big is the boat? Are there 2 births (sleeping areas) or only 1? How will the space be shared? Is the boat fixed up and well maintained or does it have leaks and ripped sails?
Food and water. Does the boat have a water maker onboard or will you fill up at marinas? Will the boat be stocked for 3months or will it stop and get provisions every week? An important question for me is if I can survive on the boat as a healthy vegetarian. Will you pay for your part of the food costs or will the captain be providing food for the crew?
Drinking and smoking. Are you a heavy smoker or drinker? If so than maybe you’ll be lucky finding a captain with similar habits but if not, you’ll want to find a captain that agrees with your lifestyle or vice versus, that you can get along with theirs.
Personality. You will be in close contact with your captain so you will want to get along. Its hard to outright ask your captain if they are a racist, misogynistic, prick that needs anger management help but you can do your best through conversation and emails to find out how they might react in certain situations. What do they like to do in their spare time? What kind of music do they like? What did they do in their past lives on land?
Gender Ratio: Male Captains Seeking Female Crew
This isn’t as creepy as it sounds. There are many men out there—the majority of captains I’ve met have been men—who are looking for romantic companions who want to sail around the world with them, BUT most of them aren’t and if they are lets just hope that they say so up-front. I can’t confirm these generalizations but I’m just putting it out there. Captains often prefer women because they believe them to be cleanlier and good cooks. There are many male captains out there whose wives have left them for life on land and they are just used to sailing with women. The captain whose boat I’m on right now just told me he enjoys the yin yang energies of the masculine and feminine. If you’re a male and want to sail on a boat that is looking for female crew, try anyways, maybe your personalities will mesh and the captain will change his mind about being gender selective.
Costs; What To Expect To Pay For
In the most common situations I have heard of, the captain covers boat expenses such as fuel, maintenance and repair, and marina or mooring costs. Often food costs will be split, usually the costs divided by the number of people on board because shopping and provisioning is usually done in one big swoop. Some captains may need the financial help, younger ones in my experience, who are looking for friends to come along, help sail and help balance the budget. In this case you may be asked for help contributing to fuel and marina costs. And in an even more rare case, the captain may offer to fly you to wherever they are and pay for all your food too—what a deal. Either way, living and traveling on boats is fairly cheap since much of the time you’ll be at anchor which doesn’t cost a thing, fuel costs are low because you’ve got sails and food is cheap because your cooking in your kitchen as apposed to eating out.
My first Captain David holding up the small but prized Tuna we caught off the east coast of the states.
My Experience Sailing
I was living in Maryland at the time and was lucky enough to find a guy my age that was docked at a port an hour drive from where I lived. I drove down with my dad one afternoon and met him. David and I got along, talked about where we would go, how we would share costs, ran me through the safety features of the boat, and he asked me if I wanted to leave the next day. This was December 19th. I told him no, but I could be ready a few days after Christmas. So I met him down in Virginia along with a friend of his and off we went to the Bahamas. We had a great trip, motoring the ICW, sailing across the Gulf Stream, and snorkeling coral reefs along secluded islands. Click here and here to see my more detailed posts on this trip. A point came in which he decided that he would be sailing towards the West Indies and I wanted to head to Cuba and over to Central America. So on a busier island I posted a small note card advertising myself and that I was looking to join another boat. That very same evening I met some people in a restaurant on shore that were looking for crew.
I joined Tam on his Chesapeake Bay skipjack—a beautiful wooden boat he built himself up in Nova Scotia. I got along great with Tam and his friends that were traveling on another boat. We went for wild day sails, went out dancing to Bahamian music, ate delicious nutritious food and had many great conversations on Taoist philosophy. Like with David, our paths were changing, Tam was planning to head back up to Nova Scotia and I still wanted to go to Cuba. Adam, who was crewing on another boat and I came up with the plan that we would travel together and find a boat to crew on that was going to Cuba. At this point we were in Georgetown—a bigger more populated island of the Bahamas—and there were about 200 boats anchored nearby, so our chances were good. In Georgetown, the cruisers hold a radio program every morning where boats can chime in, say hello to old friends, advertise dinghy races or ask for crewmembers. Adam and I were listening one morning when we heard of a boat going to Cuba in need of crew. We met the couple on the boat, new sailors, nice boat, the captain had a strong personality but we decided to go with it. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into.
The weather was rough from the Bahamas to Cuba and the captain and his wife weren’t quite prepared for it—mentally or physically—and didn’t very well know how to handle their boat in rough weather conditions. Adam and I kept our cool, we helped cook, sail the boat, calm the captain, offer moral support and get ourselves to Cuba safely. The boat needed some repairs by the time we arrived; the autopilot had failed, the mainsail had ripped in two places and the jib furler line had ripped. Adam and I took off for a month to travel Cuba (see……..for more info) and when we came back to the marina we sailed on to Jamaica. By the time we neared Jamaica our engine wasn’t working and we had to have our friends, Peter and Kaye on their own sailboat, tow us in to the harbor. By the time we got into the marina, the captain and his wife were fed up with sailing and decided that they would sail the boat back to Florida, sell it and buy a camper van. Again I was left with finding myself another boat, now to get myself to Panama, only a 6day sail away.
Luckily, Peter and Kaye, the friends that helped tow the boat, were on their way to Panama after a month relaxing in Jamaica. Adam, kind soul that he is, agreed to help sail the couple back up to Florida. I joined Peter and Kaye, we enjoyed Jamaica and soon enough were off to Panama. Peter and Kaye were wonderful, like a sweet aunt and wacky uncle, I learned lots from them. Their plan was to cross through the Panama Canal and head off to their home, Tasmania (after cruising the Pacific Islands and New Zealand of course).
I said goodbye to them on the Caribbean side of Panama, jumped on another boat that needed an extra hand to cross through the Panama Canal (boats are always looking for crew to cross the canal as there is a minimum number of people needed on board to go through).
Finally, after 5 boats I had made it from Virginia all the way across the Caribbean to Central America. At this point I was glad to be on the mainland for a while and spent my time working from farm to farm enjoying trees and dirt.
And now, one year later, I’m writing this blog post from a boat bobbing side to side in the Sea of Cortez, waiting for wind. Paul found me through my profile on FindaCrew and invited me to join his boat. I accepted and here we are today. I’ll sail with him until late May when we’ll sail from the Baja side of the Sea of Cortez over to the mainland side where he will haul out the boat for the summer.
Perma Dub Dream 