As the winter storms process across the Atlantic, so now is a time when only experienced crew will help you get where you want to go safely. If you are planning a passage now, and are a skipper seeking experienced crew for that passage, then come by Onboard Space to recruit the people you need!
Greta Thunberg takes the leap
The shortest Great Circle from New York to Europe is via the North Atlantic – close to Greenland and Iceland before diving down to Europe.
This means for a winter passage you’re going to hit snot of the worst kind! When I heard environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg had chosen to sail back this route, I didn’t envy her. The North Atlantic is a vile, dangerous place at this time of year.
Low pressure systems are blasting around the world on a powerful jet stream and day after day you will face some sort of weather, often with just 24 hours reprieve before getting hammered by the next system.
For a North Atlantic passage, Greta isn’t ideal as a crew member (though she has a passage under her belt already). Her beautiful mind is geared to stopping these ever strengthening weather systems getting more powerful by asking Mankind to dial back on its carbon-fuelled excesses. Not in going on deck to reef the mainsail in conditions landlubbers wouldn’t walk their dog in!
This is why for passages like this, a skipper seeking experienced crew does so to get home in one piece.
A mixed crew?
For a challenging passage in uncomfortable weather, a skipper needs at least a couple of experienced crew on their team.
Experience brings about knowledge of how to, and not to, fix problems as they arise. What happens if the engine/autopilot/electronics go tits up? It takes serious learning to know what to do if you lose a spar too. Self-sufficiency is the only answer when even 400 miles offshore as no state rescue authorities can bail you out.
Having the odd ‘noob’ on board is fine for a difficult passage. Everyone has to learn in some way and experience teaches that. At the very least the newbie crew needs to know where to be out of the way when the rest of the crew dive in to fix whatever has gone awry.
Skipper seeking experienced crew?
A skipper seeking experienced crew for a difficult passage could have to look hard as the higher up the ladder people are where it comes to experience, the fewer there are about. This is why it may pay to look at a wide variety of sources for crew. Onboard Space has a number of experienced crew who could get you where you’re going with minimal worry.
For as little as €5 per connection you could find just the people you need for a winter sailing passage. Sound interesting? Just sign up here and have a look for the crew you need today!
