what to bring to sail across the atlantic
Are you dreaming of sailing?
So how most crossing the Atlantic and experience something unique in a lifetime?
In my example the dream became an obsession after a trek in the Sahara Desert in 2014.
I spent 15 days in a basic environs: wind, sand, mountains, some animals, gorgeous sunsets, moon rises, sunrises, moon sets, and thousands and thousands of stars.
And us, only walking through in silence, humble with two camels, nosotros were alone in the world.
The nomadic lifestyle is that basic: walking, finding water, eating, getting some residue and contemplating the landscape. Information technology is basic and beautiful.
Everything was bigger than usa. There I was, sitting on sand dunes wanting to 1 day answer that question: What would an aquatic desert expect like?
Nobody around except for a huge mass of h2o, only water, some birds and the current of air as but propulsion means.
Would I experience the aforementioned peace of mind?
Merely that'south freaking dangerous and you know absolutely nothing nigh it! I know somebody who's had a trouble, he had to exist rescued and lost his sailboat, which was also his home…
Haven't you watched the flick The Perfect Storm?
Not very reassuring, right?
Merely keep reading…
To brand your dream come up truthful, you need:
- to know that's possible,
- to decide to go for it and commit,
- the right behavior,
- some fourth dimension and patience,
- a bathing suit, a hat and sunglasses.
Sailing beyond the Atlantic is possible
Yes, yes, it'south possible!
Single-handed sailors, couples, even families with young children do information technology every year.
More 1,200 sailboats cross from east to w and take crew to help them with dark watches and other duties onboard. Indeed, in that location needs be someone in the cockpit at all times for the ii to 3 weeks that the crossing takes.
There're all sorts of crew: from experienced people to full newbies.
At that place are a lot of travelers who hitch rides around on the continent and then endeavour to hitchhike a sailboat to keep going on the other side of the pond!
What fabricated a huge difference for me was to read or heed to testimonials from travelers who had hitch-sailed. When you lot know others have done information technology, so yous're but a step away from the magic formula « why-non-me?! »
However, I realized that it required a lot of patience and perseverance to notice the correct captain for those who had never set a human foot on a sailboat before.
Therefore, I decided to learn how to sail first.
Give yourself the means
Aught is incommunicable equally soon as you chop your project in footling manageable chunks.
Take you lot always tried to climb 15 stairs in only one step?
Nobody tin can. Even the ones with long legs. It hurts and it's discouraging.
But! Everyone tin can climb 15 stairs, one stair at a time! Everyone has their own pace.
3 means to cantankerous the Atlantic sailing as crew:
- the rugged manner (wearisome, uncomfortable, uncertain): hitchhiker way, with no experience and non necessarily the best captains
- the quick, efficient but expensive style: going on training sessions, you can even cantankerous with a sailing school
- the slow/efficient/more economic way that is part of a long-term travel programme and consists in joining captains via crew or volunteering websites.
I picked the 3rd way that allowed me to bounce between travel on state and travel at sea.
Bring the right attitude
Any approach you pick, crossing an sea means that you'll exist living for a few weeks in a limited space with total strangers.
And since you're crossing (as opposed to cruising), there's no mode for yous to leave the transport!
Everybody isn't OK with that. If yous already struggle with your roommate(south), maybe crossing isn't for you!
For me, it'due south the event of many experiences where I shared the everyday life of people, families or communities and learned a lot along the manner…
Please keep in mind that captains welcome you to their dwelling house. A sailboat is an investment and might even exist their simply home!
Respect their space and their rules at all times.
Assistance as much as possible, contribute, and show your best smiling!
Existence crew is truly a fantastic experience because in that location are many captains out in that location who take crew to share their passion and want for exploration with open-minded, adventurous, and enthusiastic people just like y'all!
Benefits of the crewing system
I adore (yes, I lovvve!) systems like HelpX or Findacrew. There are plenty more and you'll find the website that works best for y'all.
Hither are, in my opinion, the advantages of the crewing system compared to classic sailing preparation.
Trust and good volition
The coiffure system is based on trust and skillful will.
The more you lot give, the more you receive.
The more you desire to learn, the more than y'all'll be shown.
But more often than not, as opposed to sailing schools where you share the instructor with other trainees, y'all virtually get unlimited access to the captain.
Experience diverseness
Each fourth dimension you join a new gamble, you lot learn something new.
You notice different boats, different technologies, techniques, dissimilar navigation zones, conditions patterns from one ocean to the other.
All those experiences will assistance you in the hereafter and a good trick/practice learned with one captain tin exist shared with the next one.
A pes in the sailing community
Sailing is a minor world and you'll meet other captains/crews at anchorages and marinas that might subsequently invite you to join them sailing or for nibbles or recommend you to their peers.
This is so truthful that I refused 2 opportunities to cross the Pacific!
I stay in touch with captains I've sailed with and besides captains I've met at anchor or on the pontoons… or at the bar. You never know when paths volition cantankerous once more.
No Pacific crossing for me this season considering this summer, I'm again joining the captain I crewed with for a month last year in the Mediterranean. This fourth dimension it will exist a 3.v-month expedition: Balearic Islands, Spain, Portugal, Azores, Galicia, Brittany, Cornwall… and my partner is joining too!
Meet your mentors
Your captains will share more than their boat and sailing projection with you. They'll also share their passion, their story, their anecdotes, and might become friends, or even mentors.
Because every captain has in one case been a (young) coiffure and is happy to requite back what he-she's learned from others.
Your captains volition be curious and happy to learn about your next adventures, volition propose you on the option of your captain for the crossing.
They might too tell you to purchase that sailboat they saw on sale that they know suits you lot… fifty-fifty though you're not yet looking for i! Just they'll argue that you're fix ;-)
The more feel you gain, the more you know who to cross with
Of course, in that location's a flake of everything out there. Reliable captains besides every bit dodgy captains. Generous captains likewise equally captains who are more interested in making money out of you lot.
Some might ask for contributions of $25 to $50 per day on peak of the shared food expenses even though their boat is not well maintained or even rubber!
Be conscientious.
To find the right captain, I would recommend you lot to be sincere on your experience and personality when writing your profile on a crew website or a crew advert to pivot at marina boards. And so to clarify the situation/conditions and ask all the questions you demand an answer for before embarking.
With feel, you'll get to sympathize what you desire and what to pay attention to.
Take your time and plan a budget
It's very common that sailboats don't go to port when scheduled because of weather atmospheric condition, technical problems, repairs, or family reasons.
As crew, you demand to be flexible to relocate, have some slack with timing and some money bated to cope with whatsoever modify of programme.
Learning upkeep
If yous skip the sailing training, you'll even so have to join your captain where he-she is, pay for your food, and maybe also share the fuel cost and marina fees.
I detail my own experiences below.
Crossing upkeep
Since there's no possibility to go out the ship westwardhen embarking on an bounding main crossing, I wouldn't totally rely on crew websites. It'south very of import to meet your captain in existent life before committing. Spending fourth dimension at the marinas to talk with captains instead of jumping at the first opportunity is my preferred approach.
Taking time is key. And taking time means you'll need nutrient and adaptation for that period of time.
In Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the inexperienced boat hitchhikers spent weeks looking for the right sailboat, camping on the beach, getting a bunk from captains they fabricated friends with, gunkhole sitting, or living in squats!
I preferred the hostel option, but our search was faster.
On average, boat hitchhikers spent half-dozen weeks looking for the holy grail.
How did it all work out for me?
Since I had no thought how to enter the sailing world, I beginning used HelpX (helping hosts for room and lath) earlier creating my contour on Findacrew.
Then for the crossing, I posted adverts on French forums and Facebook groups and as well opened an account on Crewbay and other websites.
Summer 2015: Restoration of a two-masted wooden vessel in Copenhagen
Sailboat: 27 meters
People onboard: around 20
Connection: HelpX
Conditions: assistance for room and board
Learned the restoration techniques.
Amazing atmosphere & community life. A swell project and vision to revive cargo shipping by sheet.
Met several captains and had my first sailing sessions with a Danish captain who liked our project and visited us oft. His sailboat was over a hundred years old and had no engine!
March 2016: 2 sailing camps with teenagers in Stewart Island, NZ
Sailboat: 15 meters
People onboard: ix to 11, Kiwi captain
Connectedness: HelpX
Atmospheric condition: help for room and lath
Slap-up for the life onboard and the sailing spirit.
Loved the mode the helm addressed the teenagers and the stories he shared with them!
Even so, since nosotros were many onboard, I didn't learn as much as I wanted.
August 2016: 12 days effectually Moorea, French Polynesia
Sailboat size: 10 meters
People onboard: 2, Canadian captain
Connexion: HelpX
Conditions: help for room and board
Change of plan: we should accept crossed from Moorea to Huahine and so back, but the weather atmospheric condition were uncertain and the captain had no slack with his schedule.
Alone onboard with the captain was perfect for me to learn the ropes. And since the sailboat was small, I had the correct size and forcefulness to do it all!
Summer 2017: 55 days around the Baltic Body of water
Sailboat size: 10 meters
People onboard: 2-three, Swedish captain
Connectedness: Findacrew
Weather condition: sharing food expenses
two changes:
- I was supposed to join the captain in Scotland merely he had to plough effectually as he was crossing from Norway.
- Hamburg was then the second coming together point merely a storm had the Captain head east. We finally met in Copenhagen and decided to explore the Baltic sea which he knows really well.
One of his friends joined the states after and spent three weeks with the states.
Some other crew from Belgium finally cancelled his plans because it became complicated for him to bring together us in a different location.
I was joining this captain because I wanted to experience several overnight crossings and sail the challenging Irish gaelic Sea, the English Channel and the North Sea. Instead, I had the best guide to observe the skärgårdarna (archipelagos) of the Baltic and learned a lot nearly the history and culture of the region, particularly in Åland, Finland, Estonia and Latvia… places that were totally new to me!
Sept. 2017: 1 calendar month from Gibraltar to Menorca (Balearic Islands)
Sailboat size: 12 meters
People onboard: 3, English-Kiwi-Australian captain
Connection: Findacrew
Atmospheric condition: sharing food expenses ashore
Astonishing time together. The three of u.s.a. will canvas together once again in the future!
Since it was all new places to the three of us, the helm actually had u.s. participate in the decisions. We had many overnight passages where I was alone on picket and loved information technology. We discovered stunning places you don't get to see from land and the whole stay was all very friendly and playful!
Oct. 2017: three weeks from Málaga to Lanzarote (Canary Islands)
Sailboat size: fourteen meters
People onboard: ii, French captain
Connection: La Bourse aux Équipiers
Atmospheric condition: sharing food expenses
Commencement multi-day offshore navigation and confirmation of how much I a-practise-re being alone on night watches.
We were iii hours on and 3 hours off, for 5 days.
We waited for a week in Gibraltar to get favorable conditions to exit the Mediterranean (combination of tide, current of air and electric current) and met other captains and crew I got to see again after in the Canaries. The temper was smashing as we were all going in the aforementioned direction and shared the same dream. That's when I realized that crossing the Atlantic was no longer a distant dream but my near hereafter.
Even though I didn't take my own gunkhole, I was 1 of them.
It was obvious for everyone. I was about to cross. Only with the right helm.
Nov. 2017: iii weeks from Galicia to La Graciosa (Canaries), via Madeira
Sailboat size: 11 meters
People onboard: iv, French helm
Connection: Hisse et Oh
Conditions: sharing nutrient and fuel expenses
My significant other had just arrived in Europe and on the get-go leg, we went straight on a iv-day passage from Ribeira to Porto Santo island. We were sailing downwind with the genoa on one side and the mainsail on the other side. To practice so, nosotros used the spinnaker pole to keep the genoa in identify, as the boom does on the master. Even though the spinnaker pole broke on the 2d 24-hour interval, nosotros had all the tools onboard to shorten information technology and one 60 minutes later we could switch off the engine and enjoy…
Jan.-Feb. 2018: Crossing from the Canaries to Barbados via Cape verde
Sailboat size: 11 meters
People onboard: iv, English language-Canadian helm
Connection: at the marina
Conditions: sharing nutrient expenses
Crossing with the trade winds isn't the near technical navigation merely requires to be confident with dark watches and then the helm can become some sleep and rest. We had potent winds and high swell. We were cautious non to push the boat too much. You lot don't want to suspension anything "Better safety than sorry". In the end, we crossed quite quickly. More about the crossing in an upcoming mail service!
Voilà!
This is how my crossing dream came true.
I met extraordinary people all forth the way (captains of form but as well other sailors, coiffure, marineros, boat hitchhikers…) and all of them contributed in their own way to make it happen.
And then, back to you. If crossing an sea sailing is likewise i of your dreams, I urge you to believe in your dream, requite yourself the means, and the fourth dimension to go for it.
Because crossing an sea is a unique experience of time suspension, out of this world.
It's actually more difficult to draw than to do!
Your plow!
So what are you starting today to pursue your (sailing) dream?
Let me know :-)
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Source: https://leplusbeauvoyage.com/en/how-to-sail-across-the-atlantic-when-youve-never-been-on-a-sailboat-before/
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