Zero to Ocean Nomad

Travel by sailboat, without owning one

Most sailing courses teach you how to sail.
We teach you how to travel by sailboat, and how to make it a way of life.

No boat, no experience, no connections? Start here.

Learning to sail is only one part of learning to travel by sailboat. The harder questions are usually these:

  • How do I find a boat?
  • Who do I trust?
  • What should I ask before I say yes?
  • What do I bring?
  • What happens if things go wrong?
  • How do I become part of this world when I don’t know anyone in it?

Some of us arrive straight out of a job, some are retiring, some are 25 and some are 65. If your friends don’t get it, you are not the only one, and you don’t have to do this alone. In our Atlantic Crew Report, 51% of the crew who crossed had no real sailing experience before they signed on.

Four things to know before you get on a boat

What no sailing course teaches you.

Where boats look for crew, how to approach captains, and how to write a profile people respond to.

The lessons give you the knowledge. Ocean Nomads gives you the people and the opportunities to put it into practice.

Before you say yes to a boat, run the Scorecard

A beautiful boat, a charismatic captain and an exciting route tell you nothing about whether you should get aboard. The 54-point Safety Scorecard checks the captain, the boat, the safety gear, the money, the communication, the expectations and the living arrangements. Use it before your first boat, and on every boat after that.

  • 3-step captain and boat assessment
  • Solo female crewing: what to look for, what to avoid
  • Agreements to make before you step on board

A boat can look perfect on Instagram and still be completely wrong for you. 52% of Atlantic crew did not know their captain before they stepped aboard, so knowing how to check a boat and a captain is the skill.

The expensive mistake is saying yes to the wrong boat

A crew in one of our sailing groups paid a $2,000 deposit for a Pacific crossing. Departure slipped week after week, six weeks in all, while the boat dealt with serious technical problems they only heard about through the captain’s social media. $2,000 and six weeks lost. The questions that would have caught it early are the ones in the Safety Scorecard.

What’s inside?

Seven modules, one goal: get you from someday to aboard.

From never stepping on a sailboat to buying his own

“I signed up. One week sailing turned into 1.5 months. Together with other Ocean Nomads, we sailed from Northern Spain to the Canaries. I fell in love with the sailing lifestyle and bought my own sailboat. Without Suzanne and the community, I would not be where I am now.”

Nadiem

From “I didn’t know this was possible” to 4,700 nautical miles

I was completely mindblown that traveling like this is even an option. None of us had ever set foot on a sailboat. Suzanne planted a seed. With the support of the Ocean Nomads network, that seed became 5 boats, 9 islands, 4700 nautical miles, and a journey from Tenerife to Guatemala. This community kept providing me with opportunities to continue my way closer to Central America.”

Simon. Sailed from Europe to Central America.

Your first 30 days

From research mode into doing it.

Week 1: understand

You know what kind of sailing fits you. You introduce yourself in the community, and you run the Safety Scorecard on a real crew ad for the first time.

Week 2: prepare

Your crew profile is live and you’re ready to approach boats.

Week 3: connect

You’re talking to captains and seeing real opportunities inside the community.

Week 4 and after: choose

You know what questions to ask and which boats to say yes or no to.

Then: you get aboard. In our Atlantic survey, 39% of crew found their boat in under ten days.

Your guide, Suzanne van der Veeken

I didn’t learn this from a sailing school

Featured in Financial Times, CNN, Lonely Planet & Yacht Magazine.

I started with zero sailing experience, no boat, no connections and the assumption that sailing was for rich people. I learned by walking docks, asking awkward questions, getting seasick, making mistakes, and once walking off a boat hours before it left.

Nearly two decades later I’ve sailed 50,000+ nautical miles on 100+ boats, crossed the Atlantic five times and earned my Yachtmaster Offshore. Getting on a boat turned out to be the easy part. Making it work long-term, financially, mentally, energetically, is a skill too. What I wished for at the start was someone telling me how this world works, how you get in, and how you know when to walk away. That is what Zero to Ocean Nomad is. So you can get out there in a happy, safe and meaningful way. And not too far from today.

Suzanne explains it in 3 minutes

The real advantage

The lessons get you ready. The community helps you get there.

You can learn sailing terms from Google. You can’t Google your way into someone’s cockpit. A lot of boats are never advertised, they’re shared through people who know people, and this is where those connections happen. It is a no-ego kind of place. Ask the stupid questions, and six months from now you’ll be answering someone else’s. Your first coastal hop counts as much as someone’s fifth crossing. Seasickness, wrong turns and broken gear belong here, and we leave the places we move through better than we found them. Everyone brings something: cooking, photos and film, repair skills, yoga, a steady pair of hands.

  • Private crewing board with unadvertised opportunities
  • Bring your crew profile or a crew ad you found to the monthly meetup for feedback
  • A warm welcome when you arrive, and people to ask from day one
  • Low-impact travel and ocean care are part of how we sail

Zero to Ocean Nomad

Choose how long you want to stay in the crew

The lessons and tools are yours for life either way. You’re choosing whether your Ocean Nomads community membership lasts one year or for good. Prices include VAT, and everything opens right away inside the community, on the web and in the app. This is for people who want to take part, learn, contribute and be part of the crew.

€247

Get on my first boat. Lessons and tools for life, and one year of community.


  • 55+ video lessons across 7 modules, yours for life with every future update
  • Safety Scorecard, Route and Season Guide and Crew Coach
  • Checklists, templates and packing lists
  • One year in the Ocean Nomads community: crewing board, member map, 250+ members and 80+ boat owners
  • Monthly meetups, where you can bring your crew profile or a crew ad for feedback
  • A warm welcome inside the community, and people to ask from day one
  • Member discount on Ocean Nomads trips

Most chosen

€397

Stay in the crew. €150 more, community for life.


  • Ocean Nomads community for life, no yearly renewal, so the people stay with you after your first boat
  • First pick on new legs and partner trips, 48 hours before anyone else
  • Member discount on every trip, for as long as we sail
  • One crew pass a year: gift a friend six months in the community

Try it for 30 days. Work through modules 1 to 5 and put your crew profile out there. If you realise this isn’t your way in, tell us and we’ll refund you. No fuss.

Frequently asked questions

Not ready? Explore the free crew resources.

As featured in

Financial Times: “One of the movement’s leading voices is Suzanne van der Veeken, author of Ocean Nomad, and founder of Ocean Nomads.”

CNN: “In the hitch-sailing world, Van der Veeken has become something of a guru.”