Sailboat Crewing....anyone experienced?

I have a major ocean crossing on my bucket list. Not really interested in owning the boat.

I was wondering if anyone had experience in going aboard as either volunteer or paying crew for yacht delivery or just extra hand. I am not looking to be just cargo, want to participate in the effort.

If any of you have retained such crew, I would be interested in knowing what selection criteria you use?

Other than crewing in local yacht club races, on my parent's boat or delivering power boats no. At least in the sportfishing scene, everything is word of mouth and it's a small community. Start crewing in local regattas/races?

I just went into my local Marina in Oz and before you know it I was crewing for races.

Be prepared to drink while racing, I miss sailing

Later, when not on my phone, I'll write you a book.

JohnRW1621 wrote: Later, when not on my phone, I'll write you a book.

A few pointers will suffice!

Most of what I find on line reads like men looking for women to keep them warm during the trip and pay their own way.

I was hopping that there was a more professional approach.

NOHOME wrote: Most of what I find on line reads like men looking for women to keep them warm during the trip and pay their own way. I was hopping that there was a more professional approach.

Can you blame them?
At the very core sailboaters (aka Blowboaters) are cheap. Their whole goal is to see how far they can go without spending a cent on fuel.
It is also said that some sailboaters have deep pockets to afford the boat but short arms to actually reach that money.
Sailboating is broken into two groups: Cruisers and Racers. I am in the racer group and racing boat owners will spend to win. Cruisers are the cheapest of the cheap.

To get aboard you will need to bring something to the table. Tits are a good start (as you are finding), cash is another. Capability goes a long way too. If this capability is not sailing experience then maybe you are EMT trained (or at least Red Cross Certified.) Are you an Eagle Scout, a cook, a mechanic or something else useful. If nothing else, be willing and able...

You might try the following sailing forums:
http://forums.cruisingworld.com/
www.sailinganarchy.com
www.sailnet.com

I see you are in London, Ont. I dont have a lot of Canadian Sailing contacts but I am friends with the Treasurer of the Cedar Island Yacht Club in Kingsville, Ont (Lake Erie.) I could get you in touch with him.
This Club used to (and maybe still does) a fun and crazy race that most people call "The Helen Keller Race." It is a night time race that goes around various perminate bouys in the lake but unlike most bouys in the lake which typically have a red or green flashing light on them, this race intentionally goes around all un-lit marks making it just that much harder.

Cedar Island also seems to have a sailing school: http://www.cedarislandyachtclub.ca/sail-school.php

Years back, I wrote a book in this thread:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/sailboat-race-crew-need-long-beach-ca-feb-2021/18947/page1/

on my bucket list is to crew a North West passage trip. Yes, you can now sail around the top of North America

You could also try your hand at Tall Ships.
On most of these, you pay to be crew but these big girls need a lot of hands to make go.
As an example, in The Great Lakes, these are sailed from port to port and once there, you give tours at dockside festivals.
Samples quickly googled:
http://www.picton-castle.com/sail-training.html
http://www.sailtraininginternational.org/get-on-board/how-to-get-involved
http://www.yachtingmagazine.com/cruising-chartering/adventures/help-save-tall-ship-history
http://www.sailtraining.org/

For a romantic look at this kind of sailing, see the movie White Squall.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69ZoLvE9SpQ

mad_machine wrote: on my bucket list is to crew a North West passage trip. Yes, you can now sail around the top of North America

Northwest Passage:

That is a hell of a goal. I cant imagine how cold that trip must be.

Every other year, in the month of August (the warmest month) they hold the Trans-Superior Race from Sault Saint Marie, Ont to Duluth, MN
Two to five days straight, depending on weather and boat size, atop 50 degree water. The most common sentiment heard from people who have done it is that at night, when the sun goes away, "its the coldest I have ever been in my life, any time of year."

JohnRW1621 wrote: You could also try your hand at Tall Ships. On most of these, you pay to be crew but these big girls need a lot of hands to make go. As an example, in The Great Lakes, these are sailed from port to port and once there, you give tours at dockside festivals. Samples quickly googled: http://www.picton-castle.com/sail-training.html http://www.sailtraininginternational.org/get-on-board/how-to-get-involved http://www.yachtingmagazine.com/cruising-chartering/adventures/help-save-tall-ship-history http://www.sailtraining.org/ For a romantic look at this kind of sailing, see the movie White Squall. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69ZoLvE9SpQ

MANY years ago I spent like 4 weeks on the "Pathfinder" out of Toronto sailing up the saint lawrence. Running around up in the rigging was my favorite thing to do along with going out on the ratlines to tend to the sails. I think I was the only one in our crew who was stupid enough to traverse the triatic.

Besides some basic boat handling and sailing skills, I would expect to cover cost while providing mechanical and electrical skills. Also spanish and french translation if need be.

Definitely a cruiser type. Thanks for the link to the training, getting whatever piece of paper is required to do a bareboat charter is another item on the list; the charter companies are not very useful in this respect.

I've not done the NW passage on a sailboat, but traced a similar path (just a bit farther north) on a submarine. When we surfaced through the ice and went up to the bridge it was very beautiful, very quiet, and very cold.

JohnRW1621 wrote: At the very core sailboaters (aka Blowboaters) are cheap. Their whole goal is to see how far they can go without spending a cent on fuel. It is also said that some sailboaters have deep pockets to afford the boat but short arms to actually reach that money. Sailboating is broken into two groups: Cruisers and Racers. I am in the racer group and racing boat owners will spend to win. Cruisers are the cheapest of the cheap.

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. It's not cruisers/racers, it's just cheap people/everyone else. Yes, maybe something like 65% of sailors are really just borderline homeless people living for next to nothing or pursuing a $$$ dream for pennies. But there are plenty of cruisers that spend a lot of money on extremely nice boats and outfit them accordingly. Also, plenty of crap boats out there in the racing fleets.

I would suggest that if you want to pursue this on smaller, privately owned craft, you be very careful who you "sign on" with. There are a lot of people with money to buy a boat and be "captain" and not much else, like, say, sailing experience. I met a guy once that hired out as a crewman on boats like this. I asked him where he went. He said mostly around the Caribbean and "half way across the Atlantic once." I asked: "Half way?" Yeah, the "captain" hired him on some sailboat. Half way across, the sat nav (GPS) went out and they were lost without it. I asked "Didn't you have a sextant?" "Yeah, we had one, but no one knew how to use it." So, the turned around and looked for jets flying to try to figure out which way land was.

Ms. Service has experience, I can get her to read the thread.