Sailing Crew - Finding Yachts?

For all those experienced of crewing yachts in the south pacific, where did you find success, and how long did it take? Are there certain places which are better known for captains who go searching for crew members?

I want to base myself somewhere in the south pacific for a month or two and am hoping to do some sailing, preferably one of the Melanesian islands. I have zero sailing experience, hence I am looking to learn the ropes on shorter sailing trips around my base island rather than long haul journeys.

Thanks in advance.

I've never crewed on yachts myself, but based on what I've heard from those who did, it's not "captains who go searching for crew members" but rather the other way around.
And I might add that somehow all those successful crew I've met so far were fairly attractive young females. ;-)

I haven't crewed either, but Vava'u in Tonga used to attract people looking to crew on yachts. All the people I knew personally were female - but not always young... If you don't have luck here I would look at where the big yacht-hire companies are based as they are likely to be the most well known sailing destinations.

Have you tried [www.findacrew.net] ? It seems where it's all happening these days. I'm a boat member on 'find a crew' for many years, and get all my crew from that site. If you are interested in joining a safe boat, then brains always comes before looks. But with a little experience and attention it's not that hard to work out who is after what. So don't be discouraged by those lady dreamers.

If someone says only young, attractive girls are getting jobs as crew, than that is more a statement about that person to what THEY are paying attention to. The most important attribute is a good character and a great personality. A little experience might help depending on the journey. But I think most captains would agree to prefer crew with some lack of experience, over crew with an abundance of attitude.