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I used to crew, then moved... hmm..

4K views 31 replies 9 participants last post by  rgscpat 
#1 ·
I used to crew a weekly sailing race in North Myrtle Beach, SC and met a lot of great people, I've since moved to charleston, and while i have been occupied. I find myself itching to sail, with no boat, and no friend with a boat. does anyone recommend anything to a young guy with few resources and no boat to get into one in the charleston area? I'm a little shy about walking up to people who are getting underway with a case of beer at the marina :D
 
#5 ·
Oh groovy, How did ya'll learn ? did you take classes, jump on other boats, read books ? so far i've been doing all three and they've been beneficial, but asa classes are a nice stack of cash i need to save for rent lol.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I've never taken an ASA class, and don't think I will unless they're required for a future race. I do sail on a lot of other boats, go to seminars, talk to sailmakers, and race as much as I can. This past season I was sometimes racing 3 times a week, and I'm 1.5 to 2.5 hours away from the Ches bay.

Don't be afraid to strike up a conversation. Sailing on race boats is about 90% word of mouth if you don't speak up, you don't get a ride. I got a ride back from Bermuda just talking to a guy at a seminar.

Don't over sell yourself, be honest about your abilities. If you think you're a rockstar and tell people you are one... well, you better be one. Nuff said.

Don't cancel on a skipper (for a better ride) if you've commited already. It takes a lot of time and money to get a program going, be competative and keep it going. Hickups like having crew bail at the last minute, REALLY leave a bad taste in your mouth. If people cancel on me or are a no show, they never get asked to come back. And I'll never recommend them to another skipper looking for crew. And that's all it takes, remember the above advice? "Word of mouth".
 
#8 ·
I've never taken an ASA class, and don't think I will unless they're required for a future race. I do sail on a lot of other boats, go to seminars, talk to sailmakers, and race as much as I can. This past season I was sometimes racing 3 times a week, and I'm 1.5 to 2.5 hours away from the Ches bay.

Don't be afraid to strike up a conversation. Sailing on race boats is about 90% word of mouth if you don't speak up, you don't get a ride. I got a ride back from Bermuda just talking to a guy at a seminar.

Don't over sell yourself, be honest about your abilities. If you think you're a rockstar and tell people you are one... well, you better be one. Nuff said.

Don't cancel on a skipper (for a better ride) if you've commited already. It takes a lot of time and money to get a program going, be competative and keep it going. Hickups like having crew bail at the last minute, REALLY leave a bad taste in your mouth. If people cancel on me or are a no show, they never get asked to come back. And I'll never recommend them to another skipper looking for crew. And that's all it takes, remember the above advice? "Word of mouth".
Ooh. good points ZZ, i appreciate the time you took to put that out there. I'm interested in the ASA classes and certifications because i like pieces of paper, its a big deal in the IT industry.

I did belong to the local power squadron and had taken their public safety class. after the informative portion, there was a very grim individual who kept telling story after story about how someone drowned. It did its job, I'm very concious of what i dont know, and if i dont know something i definitely will ask for direction.

And yeah. flakes flake and are most likely flakey. I think of myself as a person with integrity, though you really cant hold it against somebody if something unexpected happens.

and that word of mouth, good old boy network kind of stuff is something that eludes me. I. AM. NOT. COOL. i'm not erkle or anything but i'm defintely a little out there when it comes to social occasions. i'll do what i can on that front.

Do ya'll recommend any good books? i have the one that calls you a dummy, those are always some of my favorite because of the casual read.
 
#7 ·
As ZZ points out... you can get a bad rep pretty quickly and the racing community in most areas is pretty tightly knit, so burning one boat is likely to have bad effects in a lot of places...
 
#9 ·
A good basic sailing primer to read is Dave Seidman's The Complete Sailor. About $16 at the local bookstore.
 
#11 ·
Smaxey - Welcome to Sailnet. You're already doing one of the most valuable things about learning the water - getting involved. Sailnet is a wonderful source of information and I doubt that anyone will say that they haven't learned something new recently.

Check out the Racing forum and the Crew forum. You may be able to hook up there. Also look for crew parties in the late winter and early spring at local yacht clubs. Annapolis has a rockin' one.

Absolutely true what other say about word of mouth. But don't be intimidated. A suggestion is to look for boats that may not be rock stars; look for back-of-the-pack-ers. They're more casual and not as insane (I should know). By example, when my wife and I were first married, she wanted to learn sailing so we put our names on a bulletin board at a local boat store and hooked up with a nice family who were casual racers. We did more daysailing than racing but kept the friendship through 25 years. They turned us on to Sabre and here we are today. BTW - my Avatar shows my pick-up crew for our once-yearly race. So your plan to get on boats is viable; I have a crew that ranges from novice to 40 years experience. Our results show it, but we have fun and the boat is comfortable.

Basically, walk the docks, talk to people, be interested but not overbearing (that's scary), and don't overrate yourself. You'll get on a boat. G'luck.
 
#12 ·
I agree entirely with ZZ about being reliable.

First you have to get a ride.

I Googled for yacht clubs in Charleston and there are a lot. I'd work through the ones around Charleston Harbor. Call the club and tell them you're new in town and that you're looking for a regular boat to race on. Generally they'll point you to someone useful - maybe the RC chair, or some committee chairman, or maybe just a very active racer who "knows everybody."

The key phrases are "new in town", "raced before", and "want to be regular crew." You'll find a boat.

Don't be shy about saying you're shopping around. It's okay to say your trying a few boats and looking for a good fit. You don't want to commit to the first opportunity and find you're on a boat with a skipper that yells and can't lead his way out of a paper bag if you shine a flashlight in the opening. A good skipper/owner will understand that you are planning to make a commitment and want to find a good personality match, especially if you are still developing skills.

Good luck.
 
#13 ·
one of my biggest problems that i can remember is knowing what to eat, i still get reliably seasick, and i've yet to throw up, but i can remember being practically useless from being sick. is there a way i can develop a resistance to motion sickness? i've tried a few different things though.
 
#14 ·
Avoid greasy foods and alcohol the day before you have to race. Both contribute to seasickness.
 
#17 ·
I failed to finismy post before hitting reply, there are a few acryonims i dont 'clew' into .

OPB's?

good advice when it came to the gloves and shoes. i imagine someone would get bent if i put black marks on their hull. what else should i consider part of my gear bag? and what kind of gloves? i used a ten dollar set of mechanix gloves last round. they seemed to do well.

in terms of the commitment. well honestly i'm having my first baby in april, and there are some significant demands on time between work, step children and soon to be biological infant. so, at the least, clearing these obsticles with a skipper is what i had planned to do, and if this makes me too inconsistant to be useful maybe i need to come back to sailing in a year or two... or three as the case may be.
 
#18 ·
Other Peoples Boats. Even if I had a bigger boat I doubt I could afford to race it, so my racing will be done on OPBs. An active A fleet boat might spend $20k+ every other year on new sails. It is a pretty big commitment of time and money to stay competitive.

If you can find a boat the winter schedule may benefit you. There are usually only a few races per month over the winter which should be easier to commit to. When the season starts there may be 3-4 races a week you could participate in. The problem in winter is there are fewer races, and fewer boats participating but just as many sailors so the boats usually have the pick of the better sailors to choose from. There are also less C and D fleet racers participating.
 
#19 ·
OH! gotcha,

wait, new sails are HOW MUCH!?!

i'm currently looking for the right sailing club, i found CORA(charleston Ocean Racing Asc.) but they dont seem right, and getting to that dock will take over an hour due to the nature of the landscape. so making it all the way out there and not getting a ride would really be a little rough.

Still looking for a race club near the harbor. i must be using the wrong keywords.
 
#20 ·
No that is for just a few sails. A fleet boats are 30+ feet. They will have Two mainsls, at least two spinnakers, 4+ headsails.

Every year or so one or two sails needs replaced, that is what runs 10s of thousands. I have heard of boats buying 60k worth of sails every year.


Not sure what CORA is but do a google map search for Yacht Clubs in the area. There are at least 3 of them. I am guessing they all have a website. Post something on the websites describing your interest, describing your sailing experience. Even in the sailing dessert of Salt Lake City, I got two opportunities to race, with an online post.
 
#22 ·
Fleets are rated based on PHRF. A fairly universal handicapping system that has some regional variations, look it up.


A fleet might be a PHRF 90 or less
B fleet may be 90-150 PHRFand so on.

These will be based on the region or even season to get a fair spread of boats during starts. A boat like the Melges 30 would be an A fleet boat but most of them would be competitive boats 35' plus. Some 35' boats will still be B fleet boats.
 
#23 ·
Fleets are rated based on PHRF. A fairly universal handicapping system that has some regional variations, look it up.

A fleet might be a PHRF 90 or less
B fleet may be 90-150 PHRFand so on.
Oh! sorry i thought you were referring to the size and shapes of the sails necessary for replacement. at 30/sq ft on the sail.
 
#24 ·
I don't know about CORA specifically, but in general a (insert name of region) (ocean or other description) (racing association) helps coordinate events among yacht and sailing clubs and centers, often provides a group that people can belong to instead of a yacht club, often provides skippers with a way to obtain a racing rating certificate for their boat (PHRF etc.) without having to belong to a yacht club, and may help sponsor and run events where clubs lack expertise or interest.

A lot of club web sites have contact info; besides the regular officers, there may be listings for the race committee (RC) chairman and members, fleet captains, perhaps local PROs (principal race officers, findable on US Sailing's race mgmt. page), etc.

Clubs often have social meet 'n greet events or open houses for prospective members where you can connect with people and get references; some clubs have an open house every week.

Also, a lot of race committees are looking for volunteers to help work the regattas, which is another great way to meet people.

Boat handicaps are figured against a theoretical yardstick boat and represent a time allowance in seconds per mile (PHRF time-on-distance) or a time ratio (Portsmouth time-on-time), to give two examples. In both PHRF and Portsmouth, smaller numbers mean faster boats; very powerful racing boats can even have negative numbers in PHRF.
 
#25 ·
I don't know about CORA specifically, but in general a (insert name of region) (ocean or other description) (racing association) helps coordinate events among yacht and sailing clubs and centers, often provides a group that people can belong to instead of a yacht club, often provides skippers with a way to obtain a racing rating certificate for their boat (PHRF etc.) without having to belong to a yacht club, and may help sponsor and run events where clubs lack expertise or interest.

A lot of club web sites have contact info; besides the regular officers, there may be listings for the race committee (RC) chairman and members, fleet captains, perhaps local PROs (principal race officers, findable on US Sailing's race mgmt. page), etc.

Clubs often have social meet 'n greet events or open houses for prospective members where you can connect with people and get references; some clubs have an open house every week.

Also, a lot of race committees are looking for volunteers to help work the regattas, which is another great way to meet people.

Boat handicaps are figured against a theoretical yardstick boat and represent a time allowance in seconds per mile (PHRF time-on-distance) or a time ratio (Portsmouth time-on-time), to give two examples. In both PHRF and Portsmouth, smaller numbers mean faster boats; very powerful racing boats can even have negative numbers in PHRF.
oh wow. ya'll have thought this racing competition stuff out lol. the movie Wind was the closest i got to any of this stuff. at least the information. its a cool handicap system, and its very interesting also still over my head but i'll definitely keep that in my glossary for later.

I still struggle with the multiple and sometimes redundant terms on a boat that if i dont know could cause problems. "Get to the stern" for example. to the new guy i have three words, transom, stern and aft, i took the time to look into which parts of the boat are which, like.. the transom is the flat portion of the boat when your looking at it from the rear. the stern is a general term for where the cockpit would typically be in most boats. and the aft is just the direction relative to where the boat is... i think! and books are helping me get past this language barrier.

I've enjoyed reading about the different styles of boat construction, some bonuses and weaknesses, and the terms like beam tell me alot about cabin size though i still have difficulty imaging alot of these boat styles. but everyday i learn something new about one of the oldest and most fascinatingly simple recreational activities.
 
#29 ·
Don't over think things S. Just contact your local clubs... they'll have websites with 'crew' lists, etc... Like others said, just be honest about your skill level. Unless a particular boat's program is highly competitive, or the nature of the boat itself requires a refined skill set, most boats that race (even good ones) have very mixed levels of experience among the typical crew. Good boats are looking for a combo of the right skill sets in the right positions (not all positions require a load of talent :) ), and people that just plain old like each other and enjoy sailing together. You'll learn along the way once you find the boat that feels right.
 
#30 ·
If you have money to take formal classes, you might consider the ones run by J World, since that organization has some focus on racing; they offer generic sailing classes as well as racing-specific classes. They also claim to give people a higher ratio of time on the water than most others. I've not taken their classes but know a few folks who have.

But in any event, time on the water is very good.
 
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