| About 10 years ago I approached some acquaintances who were members
about joining. They spoke about their sailing experiences frequently
and the club seemed like a good way to log some sailing time since I
didn't own a boat. I got the same story from both of them - there was
a waiting list, openings had to occur, I needed experience, blah blah
blah. I don't know if I was being fed a line of blah blah blah or what
but other sailing oppurtunities presented themselves and I didn't
pursue the issue any further.
The club, I was told, is an association of owners in need of crew and
crew looking for rides. Since the time I inquired about membership
I've heard almost nothing about them. It may be I just picked the
wrong people to approach. Your mileage may differ.
- gene
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| More than 15 years ago, hungry for some bluewater sailing experience, I
hooked up with the Corinthians, a similarly-purposed organization. Their
stated goal was to provide crewing experience for young people who
otherwise lacked the opportunities.
The reality was that many, maybe most, of the skippers and boat owners who
joined had a hard time finding crew elsewhere. As I learned to my dismay
aboard a 34-footer in the 1973 Halifax Race, one reason for this was that
these skippers ran unsafe or unpleasant vessels -- I found both to be true
aboard ours. Other than the skipper, only one person had ever sailed with
him before, and I knew significantly more than he did. (Heck, I probably
knew more than the skipper about many things nautical.) Without doubt, it
was the most humanly-caused dangerous and uncomfortable voyage I've ever
been on, including sailing an open boat up the East Coast offshore in
spring, gales and all. I could go on with details, but the point is:
Caveat Emptor, even if the organization seems on the up-and-up. Good
skippers rarely have trouble finding good crew, but it's worth the effort
and patience to find such a berth from which to learn.
J.
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| I attended the April meeting of the Pelagic Club (last thursday of the
month) to get information and possibly join. My goal in joining is to
broaden my skills and confidence by sailing with "seasoned skippers".
There is a real debate going on in this club right now consisting of
those who want to freeze the crew membership at twice the number of
skippers (currently there are 32 skippers and about 76 crew) and those
who want to keep the crew membership open. The latter believe that
some of the crew are inactive and thus by freezing crew membership the
inactives will sit on a membership that could be used by an active crew
member.
I also learned that both skippers and crew have to be qualified by
taking 2 days of sailing in which they would be "checked out" as to
their sailing skills. Also each crew member is expected to volunteer 2
days per season to "work" for the club, perhaps on skippers boats, etc.
Likewise skippers have to be checked out, but have no work requirement.
To get to crew on a boat, it is up to the crew member to call the
skippers and find a crew slot.
I will post the outcome of this debate.
Paul
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