How safe is it for single female to crew??

[sugabelle]

i]HELLO!
I'm new to cruising and have no boating/sailing experience except for going deep-sea fishing, boating on lakes, & going on cruises like Royal Caribbean :) . But I want to try my hand with cruising. I want to learn & I'm adventerous. (I'm a single, attractive female in my mid-30's.)
How safe is it for me to answer the classified ads in the back of Cruising World magazine & other ads I might find or are referred to me by networking that say they are looking for a companion/friend for their boat, etc.???
I'm not looking for hand-outs - I won't eat all their food (I eat light) or drink all their alcohol (non-drinker). I will do my job that I'm told - like watches, cooking, cleaning, & whatever I'm taught that I'm capable of.
I have my own financial means & not looking to get paid. When I do finally decide to answer the ads, I won't lie - I will tell them, I have no experience whatsoever, point blank.
Another thing, I'm not really looking for a romantic partner either - just friends, so I don't want to send the wrong message to any males or females, if that so happens. :oops:
I'm just looking to find new friends, that have the same interests as me, which happens to be boating/cruising and the activities that surround it.
What should I do? What precautions should I take? & Does anyone have any suggestions?? Thanks!
Much appreciated!! :D [/i][/b]

[dilligaf]

I would say that you can answer any anything you wish to answer and then ask questions that concern you and use your own common sense and not let the idea of the adventure cause you to ignore common sense. Your post indicates that you are very straight forward so use it to your advantage and ask about anything that concerns you, and go from there.
Good luck

[PaulO]

Sugarbelle :

Why not put your name in with a "crew wanted" company ?

There are rich folks looking for people as crew & that would be a good place to start.

Start looking here http://www.crewfinders.com/index.html

And here http://www.globalcrewnetwork.com/

Good luck !!

[chrondi]

You should rather learn the essentials of sailing first, before you ever propose yourself as a crew. You may get easily seasick, frightened in the night or among the waves or simply not like sea life when at sea. On the other hand, hardly any skipper worth his salt will seriously consider any candidate who has never wetted his feet. It is not about gender, but mere experience and common sence!

[Tom-Scott Gordon]

I would say your first issue is not Your seaworthiness, but that of the Captain. More and more, I'm surrounded by b.s.-artists in every 'specialized' field, so it may be hard to find anyone who actually 'knows' what they profess to know...

Secondly, you must develop your own distinction about what boats really are seaworthy. Like what's the difference between (EU) CatA & B? And how likely are you to see rough water this time of year? If all of the above looks perfectly reasonable, how about the boat's current maintenance and mechanical abilities of the crew? If you can find a family, portraying a sense of having all of these fears behind them, that would be my first choice, for "getting your feet wet," as they say.

My first exposure to the sea was observing the rescue of just such a family from the bay at Jalapa, Mexico, where they had crashed upon the rocks after traveling the world for over a year. The party of 6, included a child, and thankfully no one died. Their survival was the ultimate testament to their combined abilities. They nearly lost their dinghey and they paddled oarlessly through the night against the out-going tide!

[KaptainKen]

Sugabelle;

A "Single attractive female mid-thirties" has to be cautious of course. There are some tried and proven methods developed for responding to "on-line" dating ads that you should use to avoid cyber-stalkers.

First get a throw-away e-mail address that you can use for this purpose. If someone develops an unsafe correspondence with you you can dump that address and get another. There are certain "code words" used: A skipper in search of a "Cruising Companion" is looking to develop a romantic relationship with someone and share a cruising life. Not that there is anything wrong with that ... there are lots of decent guys out there with boats and without girlfriends. "Crew" usually means crew. A crew position with a married couple is usually safe. One or both of the couple may be older and now need a strong, young person to help. On the other hand they will often have lots of knowledge and experience.

I visit lots of cruising forums and most have a "Crew wanted / Crew available" thread. Here are a bunch:

http://www.cruiserlog.com/forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=4

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30

http://netgo4.com/Renegade-Cruisers/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=102174e765d428058b9d0ad9c25a98cf

http://72.32.109.245/forum/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=2084178f40eafada915d6dbebd0ec700

http://www.sailinganarchy.com/forums/index.php?showforum=11

http://www.skolnick.org/midnightwatch/bb/viewforum.php?f=6&sid=3a8b6e04126be64d97cc1deedff17486

http://my.boatus.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=116

Once again it is safer to make a new post than to reply to a post. That way you can filter replies and ignore the ones that don't feel right to you.

When (and if) you connect with a skipper arrange a DAYTIME meeting to check out both the boat and the rest of the crew, if any. Have the skipper provide you with a copy of his drivers license, passport, boat documentation and something with a home address on it. Take a picture of the skipper. Make copies of all this and give them to several of your friends. Tell the skipper you have given these to your friends. A straightforward skipper will understand your caution and co-operate.

Your first cruise should be essentially coastal. That is within cell phone range. Get a cruise plan, that is what day you can expect to be in what port. You can check out the skipper's skills and get a feel for the seaworthiness of the boat. He can check you out. Have your friends expect you to call at least once a day. If a couple days pass without you calling, your friends can take appropriate action.

Have enough cash with you that you can get off at any point and take a bus back home. I'm sorry if I have gone into excessive detail here, but as the father of two early-twenties daughters I worry about their plans and backups to their plans.

That said ... I'm taking my boat North from Florida to New England in May or June of '07. I may need crew. If you are still available, stay in touch.

Good luck!