Sailing vessels! Here’s how we can help you with creating your adventure and eco driven sailing crew team

Updated October 31, 2026

For safe and happy sailing together, a good match and collaboration between the captain and crew is essential. Extra crew can give you more sleep, reduce costs, increase safety, and add more knowledge and fun to the trip. A well-chosen, informed, and prepared crew can make the trip more pleasant and safe for you as a captain. Having been on “all sides of the fence” we created a platform to make valuable personalized connections between boat owners, captains, (aspiring) crew and much more. Afterall, it’s the people you share the ride with what makes all the difference.

If adventure and impact driven salty souls are what you are looking for, you found the place to find your sailing crew. We have a growing pool of dedicated and driven members all around the world eager to explore the oceans. In this blogpost we share a few ways how Ocean Nomads can support with finding your sailing crew.

Why pick your crew from the Ocean Nomads network

First of all, we are not a crew website. We are more of a support crew that has got your back on your ocean adventure mission. Connecting for sailing is just one element of what we do. We’re a community of ocean minded people driven by realizing our dream lifestyle with purpose. Besides connecting people to sail with each other, we create, share, exchange, support and amplify, to help each other on our eco and passion projects, adventures and missions. Together we can simply create bigger waves. So if you’re a boat owner and don’t necessarily need crew but could use, as well as contribute, some healthy, happy good vibes to the sailing and sustainability world, you get lots of value out of it. For example our founding member Peter (superyacht captain and weather pro) has offered weather routing to members, for free. It has literally saved lives.

What I hoped to gain from this community was the option of finding crew. Instead what I found is a collection of people who get what I do, who understand why we make certain choices and who are willing to support each other. And that is something I needed way more than just someone to sail with.

Michiel, vessel member

Nomads joining us are driven, dedicated, and do their research on crewing on sailing boats. They invest a small amount into being a member, showing they are serious about ocean adventure. They are attracted to Ocean Nomads because of similar values, adventure spirit and the resources we provide to inform them of what it means to be sailing crew. On our private network space (desktop and app), members have access to resources and mini-courses related to the ocean nomads lifestyle, crewing, conscious provisioning, cooking, waste management at sea, coastal and offshore sailing packing lists, and much more. All great areas to delegate to your crew members. We’re not a professional crew network, we focus on lifestyle sailing. Still a wealth of skills can be found in our network, mostly teaming up on an exchange basis, simply sharing the love for the ocean and ocean adventure. Our network ranges from total newbies to lifetime liveaboards and everything in between. We can all learn so much from each other.

All of our members pledge to

• Be supportive
• Step up for the environment
• Act local
• Give before you get
• Be open and kind
• …and have no day without nature play!

That includes you 🙂 And we expect all members to treat each other with kindness, fairness and mutual respect.

Another reason to pick your crew from Ocean Nomads is that we’re a warm welcome bunch. Our network is private, away from social media, and created with the purpose to find your value sharing people faster. We may be strangers to you initially but that changes very soon, the more you show up.

How to find your crew with Ocean Nomads

Explore who’s searching

Check the latest crew available on the notice board inside the network. Nomads join us who take it seriously and invest in learning what it’s all about, many of them through the Zero to Ocean Nomad course on travelling the world by sail as crew.

Add your crew ad

Post what you’re looking for on the notice board and we tag members that we see as a good potential match. The more we all know about each other, and the more specific you are, the better we can tag and connect you to relevant people who may be a good fit.

When posting your crew ad, be as extensive as possible to be able to attract the right crew. Include a photo of your vessel, vessel details, and as many details as you can about your voyage plan and what your crew needs are. The more specific you are, the more relevant responses you will get. Make sure you have an up to date member profile and photo also. We can’t create personalized connections if we only know little.

Keep your profile and project up to date

Update your profile to accelerate your ocean dreams, and pin your vessel and project on the map. We love to learn more about our members and their missions and adventures, and if you’d like us to give your project more reach on our channels, let us know.

Most importantly, though, share your updates and quests in the network so everyone can be inspired and support you.

Join a meet-up

Join one of our online events to connect with fellow nomads and captains. The online happenings are all about planting some seeds. Relationship building takes time and the better we know each other, the better references and invitations we will all make. Start networking early to find your best crew member for the upcoming trip.

Also, now and then we as Ocean Nomads or members host meet-ups and raft ups in the wild. Those are the best! Feel free to host one on your vessel as a member. As we grow we hope to facilitate more and more of that. All this online stuff is just a means to get out there with the right people 🙂

Add your vessel to the map

Add, update and explore the Ocean Nomads map and see if there are any nomads or vessels in the area you’re looking for. Also make sure your profile and location on the map are up to date so the system works and vessels near you can find you. Note, you need to be a member to see the contact details of nomads and vessels.

We amplify your voice

We amplify our members’ voices in our full moon newsletter and on our social channels and crew groups, always respecting privacy and never revealing contact details unless desired or with permission.

Mingle with our members

Give, share, contribute, and show your value. Engage and interact within the Ocean Nomads network. People will sooner remember you. Show what you are up to with your vessel, share about your project, ask for input and ideas, and it will attract the right crew accordingly! As well as other vessel owners on a similar mission to turn their vessels into examples of how sailing can be done sustainably.

Ask and we answer

Don’t hesitate to ask your questions. We are an active and engaged group, walking the extra mile for a fellow Ocean Nomad. We have so much to learn from each other.

Our mission: keeping Ocean Nomads a happy, safe, and meaningful ocean adventure network! If for any reason we have doubts about a member’s intentions or safety, we can remove them from the network. We can never guarantee 100% safety, but if we all do our best to live up to the values, then all together we get pretty far.

A resource for captains taking on crew

In the Resource Library inside the network you find the For Captains Taking on Crew guide, with considerations and take-aways that can help you as a captain be prepared when welcoming crew on board.

What has grown since we first wrote this

This post is from 2023 and most of it still holds. A few things have grown since, so here is the 2026 picture.

Crew who arrive prepared

Many crew now come through Zero to Ocean Nomad, our course on travelling the world by sail as crew. They know what a watch system is, what to pack and what to ask you before they step aboard. Inside the Resource Library you also find the For Captains Taking on Crew guide, written for exactly this moment.

Crew calls, scouted and shared

Every season we put the open crew calls from the network in one post, and inside the network we scout for Atlantic crew opportunities in all our groups, the crew sites and the wider network. Your crew call sits right next to them. See the current ones in Sailing crew opportunities: autumn and winter 2026.

The people part

Why some trips click and others don’t comes down to the humans on board. We wrote down what we learned from years of expeditions with mixed crews in Humans on a sailing expedition. Worth a read before you write your crew ad.

Provisioning, waste and watches

Three posts you can hand your crew before departure: Ten ways to provision for a healthy ocean, what you can and cannot throw overboard, and watchkeeping tips for crew. Members also get the Provision Planner, a calculator for your crew and your passage.

The map and the basecamps

The Ocean Nomads map now has vessels, vans, basecamps, organic provisioning spots and member contacts pinned worldwide. Pin your boat and you show up for members passing through your bay.

Proof it works

When Thomas needed crew for his Atlantic support mission and the Arctic, almost everyone on board came through the network: people who had sailed with him once, met him again at a meetup and helped out at the yard. Read The crew behind Thomas’s Atlantic and Arctic expeditions.

Run your own trips?

If you organise sailing trips on your boat, you can bring them to the network. We put trips from people we know in front of the community first. Have a look at our trips page and get in touch.

If you feel aligned with our vibes and values, then welcome aboard! Read all about the membership here.

Come sail with us. 💙