Finding owners

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Tomlt

New member
3
0
england
Hello 

I Am a young sailor looking to gain some experience on larger boats - 60ft + 

I have some sailing experience, mostly in north west scotland. Can cook ,clear,sail,have a good work ethic as well as a goo. sense of humor. As well as padi open water and rya powerboat level 2.

What is the best way to find owners or captains who would like a helping hand? - so far writing to people seems be rather a lost cause. Word of mouth seems to be the best way but I am not particularly well connected in sailor circles.

Any advice? Or if you are looking for crew by all means get in touch.

Hard to find people on crew websites who will take people by age - 15/16

Thank you for your time.

 
ROADKILL666

ROADKILL666

Super Anarchist
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FREAKVILLE, FL
Tomlt said:
Hello 

I Am a young sailor looking to gain some experience on larger boats - 60ft + 

I have some sailing experience, mostly in north west scotland. Can cook ,clear,sail,have a good work ethic as well as a goo. sense of humor. As well as padi open water and rya powerboat level 2.

What is the best way to find owners or captains who would like a helping hand? - so far writing to people seems be rather a lost cause. Word of mouth seems to be the best way but I am not particularly well connected in sailor circles.

Any advice? Or if you are looking for crew by all means get in touch.

Hard to find people on crew websites who will take people by age - 15/16

Thank you for your time.
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Unfortunately you need a lot more sailing experience to get on the big boats. My best advice is not to give up and get more experience. Be willing to do just about anything on the boat. Good luck with your adventure. 

 
M26

M26

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fuck the owners daughter....or/and wife.    He'll get in touch and you will be a maxi bowman superstar in no time.

 
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Snowden

Snowden

Super Anarchist
1,040
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UK
Tomlt said:
Hard to find people on crew websites who will take people by age - 15/16
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I suspect you will struggle at that age. Doing things by the book, wouldn't having a 15/16 yr old on board mean that everyone had to be DBS / CRB checked? Taking responsibility for "other people's kids" is not generally done lightly.

 
R

Russell Brown

Super Anarchist
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Port Townsend WA
Jesus, What has the world come to? Young people who want to learn how to sail are taken sailing. That's how I learned and how just about everyone else learned. You would be given priority in my world.

 
R

Robc

New member
43
1
uk
What sailing experience do you have?

unfortunately age is a factor especially for any ‘work’ but going forwards you have the right sort of tickets to go forwards.

Try yacht clubs as a good starting point!

 
JohnMB

JohnMB

Super Anarchist
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Evanston
Russell Brown said:
Jesus, What has the world come to? Young people who want to learn how to sail are taken sailing. That's how I learned and how just about everyone else learned. You would be given priority in my world.
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Sure on a club racing boat with someone who at least vaguely knows the kid. But not on a 60+ft with no personal connection, and limited experience.

For the OP are you talking about racing of cruising?

For Racing: Spend 2 years sailing dinghy's as much as you can, accept any ride you can get on larger keel-boats. Build your network. If you are good the opportunities for bigger boats will come along.

For Cruising: Get rides on smaller boats. As RB says there are people on smaller boats who would probably take you along. But if you are only looking at 60+ft you'll be looking a for a while.

Get qualifications, RYA yacht master with commercial should be doable by the time you're 18. Now you're not a 15/16 year old with no skills, your an 18year old with a qualification, and hours on 30-40ft boats. Take whatever job you can get (to start with) and work up from there.

I know people who have taken both routes.

My Brother spent 2 years working for a charter company in Southampton, he got paid (poorly) spent a lot of time unblocking heads but got his qualifications, (and we ate a lot of leftover food.) Moved onto bigger boats had fun, got married when back to school.....

Other friends crewed on whatever boats would take them, while they learned and got quals and contacts and moved on to skippering steadily larger boats.

I don't know anyone personally who started on 60+ft boats.

Also look into apprenticeship opportunities at sail lofts.

 
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Sail4beer

Sail4beer

Super Anarchist
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Toms River,NJ
I wish you luck, you have some big aspirations, so don’t give up looking for a ride. Some groups that have possession of large sailboats and tall ships will take a teenager aboard for  volunteer apprentice programs. 

 
T

Tomlt

New member
3
0
england
Thank you all for your replies. They are much appreciated.

I though I would reply on some of the issues raised and my thoughts on them.

Why big boats - This is due to:

larger boats generally  spend more time doing trips and passages of larger scale and have a need for more crew and the space to accommodate them. This, perhaps wrongly, suggest that they would be more welcoming of crew. There also have more complex systems and sometimes more experienced crew. This would allow me to learn more. 
They also are faster - allows for more miles as limited time (my holidays). 
I think that having it on a cv would also open up more sailing doors. 

experience- my experience is limited. But here goes:

2 seasons dinghy sailing. Variety of classes. Once a week for 2 seasons.

keelboats: Long weekend sailing at etchells 22 cruising.

yachts. 4ish weeks between 2 yacht of about 50 ft loa. A sloop and a ketch in the north west of Scotland. 
 

somebody raised  the issue of reasonably and the legal risk of anybody having me on board. I am unsure about this but for the time being I have no interest in getting paid and could potentially just be a “hard working guest”.  More digging needed. I Don’t thing anyone over the 24m limit would be keen though. 

For the time being I have been looking at regatta and rally entries lists and writing (email)to owners and captains. Nothing yet.

Looking for cruising mostly as I think there are many more qualified people who are racing these boats. Would not like to be the cause of losing. 
 

 
Chezzetcook King

Chezzetcook King

New member
6
1
Halifax, NS
I got asked to crew on some bigger boats when I was in my early 20s.  I saved up $2000, bought a 25', sailed that in a couple races, got dead last but made friends with a bunch of old dudes (I guess I would consider myself one now),  was invited to crew their nicer boats, worked my ass off for them, and got that word of mouth going.  The whole process took about a summers worth of work ($2k), 2 months of losing races, and then about 18 months of agreeing to races and trips regardless of the boat.  Probably better ways to get hooked up with large yacht owners but my path was fun.

 
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