Crew Available: Sailing co-operatives

[Craig Cape Town]

There seem to be a lot more crew wanting to get on boats than owners looking for crew. I struggled to get on the water when I began sailing and would have joined a sailing co-operative if it was available at the time.
The thread on owners expecting crew to pay to sail got me thinking about these sailing co-operatives as an alternative to "crewing" as well as offering the opportunity to sail parts of the world without the big investment and logistical headache.
There clearly are skippers out there who "use" crew as cheap labor and to help finance their lifestyle. How to distinguish them from a truly shared co-operative is not simple and I'm sure we'll disagree on where to draw the line.
Please share your experiences if you have taken part in one of these ongoing co-operatives that is not a commercial enterprise.

[Dockhead]

Communal ownership of boats is widely practiced in Scandinavia. It can be a very economical and even fun way to participate in the sport, if you find the right people and work out the right rules.


But sailing as crew on someone else's boat is also a fantastic way to get onto the water. If you are only paying your share of fuel, food and berthing, then you are using the boat for free. All the vast expense and headache of maintaining the vessel is exclusively born by the owner. This is an absolutely fantastic deal, and the fact that there is more demand than supply of such opportunities should tell you something. If I were boatless, I would crew as much as I could, and try to be such good crew and such pleasant company, that I get to be regular crew for someone. That's the cheapest and best way in the world to sail.