| ye olde thorn tree06:14 UTC16 Dec 2002 | Does ANYONE know ANYTHING about crewing yachts through the Pacific islands?
Is it possible?
How does one go about getting such work?
What experience do you need?
What time of year does this kind of journey happen?
Any useful websites?
ABSOLUTELY ANY INFO AT ALL would be really useful as I know nothing (I can sail but it was a few years ago and not big yachts!) but this is a dream of mine!
Cheers and happy travels. X
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| ye olde thorn tree06:15 UTC16 Dec 2002 | sailing the Pacific
Hi, I've just come back from that part of the world. I met loads of people crewing on the boats. It looks like they go from the USA down to French Polynesia ending up in NZ in Nov. The guys I met jumped on a boat in French Polynesia and travelled to the Cooks, Nuie, Tonga and NZ. You don't need any experience some people are desperate for crew (so watch out for the lonely old men!)I was asked loads of times and i've never even been on a yacht!!! I don't know the web page but one exists that advertises for crew. Good luck!
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| ye olde thorn tree06:15 UTC16 Dec 2002 | Howdy...
Hey Gail,
I'm planning to travel with these ppl... not free... but I think it's worth it. They're travelling through that area april-oct of next year. Feel free to send me a note if you'd like.
http://www.geocities.com/apjbond/</A>
Needless to say I'm quite excited about the possibility of doing this :D... it's certainly one of my dreams too.
Cheers,
Gavin
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| ye olde thorn tree06:15 UTC16 Dec 2002 | Sailing Crewing
Can't rememeber the web adresses off hand but there are many for both Captains and crew looking to hook up. Just go to a search engine like Google and plug in Key Words Sailing Crew Pacific and you'll come up with quite a few different web pages.
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| ye olde thorn tree06:15 UTC16 Dec 2002 | Crew Sites
There are many 'crew wanted' sites some where skippers advertise, some mixed with 'crew available' where you can advertise, some divided into different local sailing areas (good for getting experience) or cruising destinations. Some of the most used are :
www.7knots.com<br>www.boatingoz.com.au<br>www.cruisernews.net<br>www.cs.ucla.edu<br>www.members4.boardhost.com<br>www.floatplan<br>www.geocities.com/iycfinder<br>www.crewfile.com<br><br>If you are planning to get yourself to an exotic destination to find a crew position, find out the sailing routes which boats follow due to trade winds/weather patterns, no point going somewhere when they've all just left! An extra set of willing hands is useful, especially if you can help provision and cook, have first aid, language and watch keeping skills. It is usual to pay your own air fares and contribute towards food costs, sometimes towards port and other costs, and there are many larger yachts which take 'crew' who pay to learn to sail or have a sailing holiday. As general crew, skippers are responsible for you, so they are entitled to ask questions but....so are you. Research the 'net about safety equipment and aspects you should satisfy yourself. Obviously the more sailing experience you have the better so update your sailing skills, take a course, join your local yacht club. Even regular short/twilight racing-type experience helps.
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| ye olde thorn tree06:15 UTC16 Dec 2002 | Crewing......
Ah yes -I was a crew member many years ago.I left Panama on April4 and arrived in New Zealand Nov18 with many stops in between.Tahiti is the large gathering spot about June.Most boats to Tahiti came from Panama; Cabo San Lucas Mexico;or Hawaii.We heard more horror stories in Tahiti about people who could't get along once they were out to sea.For some reason many women "ride" for free-but act very innocent.Be very careful with safety gear.Many boats are not properly equipped for emergencies.All told it's still a great experience.
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