Looking to Crew in Connecticut Area

[bmills]

I just took a basic keelboat course and I'm looking to get some experience. I'm a 25 year old college senior and have lots of time before classes start again in the fall. I'm looking to do a reasonable sized trip (couple days). But any time would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[bmills]

...or any suggestions on how someone as broke as myself could get some time on a boat!

[sailingdog]

Ways to get time on a boat:

• Volunteer as crew at the local yacht club.
• Walk the docks and talk to people about their boats and ask if they need crew.
• Put up a flyer on the local yacht club bulletin board.
• Trade labor for sailing time, though it is a bit late in the season to do that.

It would help if you said what area of Connecticut you're in, as there's a fair amount of territory there.

Also, what other skills do you have? How much experience do you have as a sailor?

[bmills]

Thanks! Those are excellent ideas!

I am living in Willimantic; I suppose the Thames River around the Sound would be the closest major sailing area. My sailing experience is almost non-existent, only a weekend in a very introductory course.

I do not have any specific trades. I am nearing the completion of a Business Administration degree at the moment. However, I am no stranger to hard work I have worked in a warehouse, tobacco, etc. Also I have worked with special ed. students in an elementary school. Currently I am tutoring math to middle schoolers.

[sailingdog]

Well, skills that might be advisable to pick up with regards to crewing include:

• Seamanship/Navigation related skills—dead reckoning, coastal pilotage, ability to read a chart, watchkeeping, etc.
• Practical Skills—First Aid, CPR, cooking, etc.
• Boat-repair skills—Diesel/Gasoline Engine troubleshooting, fiberglass repair, electrical system troubleshooting, etc.

The more of these you have, the more desirable you'll be as crew, especially on a longer passage.

On a recent delivery, I repaired the A/C, soldered a new motor into the autopilot wheeldrive, re-plumbed the shower sump, repaired the transmission shift linkage, replaced the prop on the dinghy outboard, along with sailing the boat, cooking meals, planning several legs of the passage, and standing night watches.

[bmills]

Thanks again!

My friend who is no longer in the area got me intererested in sailing with a bunch of sailing stories. He has done a couple legs with his buddy who cruised all around the world for 6 years on a 25ft wooden sailboat mostly solo. I would like to do something like that in the distant future.

Your suggestions give me some nice next steps for now!

[siakaw]

sailingdog - Thanks for all this advice. Even though it wasn't directed at me, this is exactly what I was looking to ask. Where would you suggest acquiring boat repair skills?

I have the medical and practical stuff (EMT and cook on sailboat in Baltic Sea) as well as the sailing experience but want to learn the boat repair stuff. How do I do that?

Thanks again!

[RobGallagher]

I'm in Mystic. C&C 30 MK1. I mostly just tool around the sound on a week day. PM me if you want to go for a ride sometime.

[sailingdog]

Volunteering to help out at the marina, especially on boats that you crew on is a good way to learn maintenance and repair skills. Many people do a lot of the own work and can use a helping hand, especially with bigger projects.

I'd point out that many of the "repair" skills are a subset of the skills used to maintain a boat. Repairing an engine and maintaining an engine are often quite similar in nature, with the exception that maintenance often prevents the need to do a repair. For instance, replacing the impeller annually is maintenance, replacing a broken impeller is a repair—and often the result of not replacing the impeller on a regular basis—the steps are the exact same, unless some of the blades have gotten separated and lost in the cooling system, and the tools and parts required are pretty much the exact same.

Most of the skills need to do even major boat repairs and modifications are 95% common sense and 5% esoteric knowledge. Unfortunately, the common sense is sadly often the missing ingredient, since the 5% esoteric knowledge can be learned from books, other sailors, self-taught, in classrooms, on websites and forums, and such.

Originally Posted by siakaw

sailingdog - Thanks for all this advice. Even though it wasn't directed at me, this is exactly what I was looking to ask. Where would you suggest acquiring boat repair skills?

I have the medical and practical stuff (EMT and cook on sailboat in Baltic Sea) as well as the sailing experience but want to learn the boat repair stuff. How do I do that?

Thanks again!

[bmills]

I just have to post this so I can PM; You need to have 5 posts.