You can travel on someone else’s sailing boat to really get a taste of what it’s like to live on a boat, or to reach a certain place. And travelling by sail can have many different shapes or forms. It can be just for a day, for a couple of days. It can be along the coast, offshore, or even across oceans. Or even for months if not years at a time.
Sail the world as crew
Captains often want crew to make a trip more relaxed, more fun, more safe or more affordable. And then there are people out there, like you, who are looking to get a taste of what sailing life is like, or perhaps looking for a more environmentally friendly way of travel. Or perhaps you are looking to buy your own boat and sail around the world, but you are not confident or experienced enough yet to sail away. Here are 4 reasons to sail as crew as opposed to buying a boat.
You get to sail more as crew
If you own a boat, a lot of time goes into fixing and maintaining the boat. A lot of time goes into working, so you can pay for the sailboat. And another part is sailing. If you jump on board someone else’s boat as crew, they often take you because they want to sail.
More accessible and more sailing crew opportunities
You can jump on a boat as crew tomorrow, as opposed to buying a boat, having the funds to buy a boat, and having the boat ready to sail away. It’s a way to test the waters without making huge time or money investments upfront. There are tons of sailing opportunities out there that welcome a range of experience and skill levels as crew on board. From Caribbean cruising to offshore passages and deliveries, you can find it. Curious what that looks like in real life? Here’s how our crew sailed from the Canary Islands to Cape Verde, many of them on their first offshore passage.
Within the Ocean Nomads network we have lots of nomads, vessels, and contacts worldwide to team up with. Join the member community to mingle with fellow crew and boat owners, browse sailing opportunities, tips and discussions, and be the first to know about the next crew opportunities.
It’s less of a responsibility and commitment than owning a boat
Maybe you’re not ready to make a long-term commitment into buying and maintaining a boat. Owning a boat also comes with storing the sailboat, taking care of it, maintaining the vessel. By sailing on someone else’s boat as crew, you don’t have all of that.
Become a sailor by learning from different sailboat skippers
And another reason to sail on someone else’s sailing boat, especially if you’re strongly considering becoming a skipper and boat owner: you can learn a great deal from other sailboat captains, and from figuring out what kind of sailing boat you like and which kind you don’t. There are so many different boats and so many different captains, and there’s so much to learn by putting yourself as crew on different sailboats with different people.
To become a sailor, we encourage you to get out there, start crewing, and learn from the wealth of experience living the sailing life out at sea. That’s how many of us ocean nomads learned to sail and learned how we would like to pursue the sailing lifestyle, and how not.
About Ocean Nomads
Ocean Nomads connects you to the ocean and ocean people. We’re a global support network of 250+ nomads and 75+ vessels: impact-driven ocean travellers, explorers, and nomadic lifestyle designers helping each other along our journeys.
Join the network to meet your tribe, browse crew calls, and get personal tips from people who live this. Whether you’re 18 or 88, a total newbie or a seasoned sailor, welcome to join! It’s the mix that makes us thrive. Boat owners and captains: our network is full of enthusiastic, ocean-minded crew determined to become sailors, from volunteer crew to experienced hands for deliveries and refits.
Want full-on guidance into travelling the world as crew? Our Zero to Ocean Nomad course covers everything we wish we knew when we started learning about the sailboat lifestyle, with lifetime access options.
And if you want to jump straight in: crew spots are open on the SV Twister Atlantic expedition, eight legs around the Atlantic, no experience needed. Come sail with us. 💙
