How Good are Vetted Crews

[PAPERTIGER]

Hi I am doing the RTW Bluewater over 2years with a crew of two; that's me and with my brother; I would need extra crew for those long ocean passages!!..Pacific,,Indian..Atlantic...ponds.:con fused:. The reason for easy watches. GIRLS will do fine but HOW Safe are they??

[Lancerbye]

Now what is the question? How safe are the oceans or how safe are girls? Both can be dangerous. LOL

[hellosailor]

Well, in many places "girls" means underaged females and you'd be arrested for transporting them across borders.

Other than that...how trustyworthy is any stranger, while you are sleeping far from home in middle of nowhere?

[David M]

I can just imagine where this thread is going.

Get to know whoever you are taking on board your boat long before you take them any distance. If they are the types who do not care whose boat they are jumping aboard..then you don't want them on board in the first place. It means they don't care and a crew member who does not care is exactly what you don't want. If you are looking for carefree, loose women to be your "bow bunnies" then your opening yourself up for trouble.

[maxingout]

We always used family and friends as crew, and it worked well for us.

I wouldn't want to sail offshore with people that I didn't know extremely well. When we were in Australia and New Zealand, there were lots of backpackers and others who wanted to make trips to new destinations, and almost always, they were useless as crew members. They were clueless about the boat, and they couldn't trusted on watch. Also, if they have any hidden drugs with them, you could lose your boat. And how do you check their references to find out if they are who they say they are, and whether or not they are psycho.

When I was in medical school, I was told that one out of every ten people will require some type of psychiatric/psychological intervention in their lives. That was before drugs became such a problem worldwide.

Taking strangers on board is akin to playing Russian Roulette. Sometimes it works out, but other times it's a disaster.

Finally, when you pull into a port and drop them off, you are responsible for them and their actions while they are in that country. An irresponsible former crew member can get you in trouble in many countries.

[PAPERTIGER]

Shipping lanes are more dangerous then girls and oceans Lancer ;as for GIRLS Sailor!! ....let them be 18 or over; we will be Lucky LET'S be serous !! DAVE made a important point that crews are still your responsibility even when they have left the boat?? gezz I did not know that's scarey. So if you have no friends or family available where do you get crews!!

[Lancerbye]

Does the term Shanghai ring a bell? I suppose that is illegal too now. You could establish residency in a country that allows more than one wife a marry a crew. That might keep the cost down and keep it in the familly so to speak. I'm sure there are interesting options.

[Morgan Paul]

GIRLS will do fine but HOW Safe are they??

They will do just fine, but don't let them board your boat with crabs.

[Auspicious]

It is more than just knowing them (in the non-biblical sense) -- you should sail with them. Bar stories are not a substitute for sailing together. A long daysail is probably fine if you will be hopping along a coast. Spend a couple days of continuous sailing with watches set before setting across an ocean.

You may find a potential crew member is not a good fit. Heck, the crew may find you are not who they want to sail with. Better to find out earlier rather than later.

Experience can be a cruel teacher.

[PAPERTIGER]

Please carm down all.... DAVE is the only sane one here...I am trying to get one or two crews on my GUNBOAT NOT or crabs for those great ponds; females excepted :kissy: but how do you choise the crew?? maybe BlueWater Rally guys can help?

[Tropic Cat]

What an interesting thread, though I'm not exactly sure why it's in the multihull forum.

Women, in general, are the most dangerous predator on the planet. You must be very young to have even asked this question. If you insist on doing this, reread Dave's post and make sure these girls bring along their antidepressants.

[Tnflakbait]

Originally Posted by PAPERTIGER

Please carm down all.... DAVE is the only sane one here...I am trying to get one or two crews on my GUNBOAT NOT or crabs for those great ponds; females excepted :kissy: but how do you choise the crew?? maybe BlueWater Rally guys can help?

I'm pretty sure if I had any idea what you were talking about I would agree with you.

Cat a ma ran

Tri ma ran

Now it's a multihull topic.

[PAPERTIGER]

I thought a GUNBOAT IS a Cat-ta-ma-ran ? Yes you are right I am too young at three score years to know about Girls with rickety knees..that's why I have a cat to keep me steady on.

[hellosailor]

"but how do you choise the crew?? "

That's a personal call. You can (and I'd suggest should) first ask them for a sailing resume. Lots of folks will have one, listing years and who they crewed for, what they did, and so on. No gotz? Go type it up. Then you can ask for some references (if the trip is "big" enough) or at least, references of reliability. Got a driver's license? Got a credit check? Or at least, own a checking account and credit card? A home address and telephone unmber? If they are crossing borders with you, they should be able to post their own bond, or return air ticket--whatever that next country will demand from your crew.

You can go with just your gut feeling, some people are pretty good at that. Or, you can be crueler and more objective, and go the line of asking for references and other "paper" that can be checked to find out who you are dealing with. If someone gets upset that you are going to leave photocopies of all IDs and passports with your float plan--that would be an indication that they don't want to be traced, and a fast "no way" for me.

A friend of mine is a small-scale landlord, rents, leases, sells lower-end private homes. He found out early in the game that if he asked for a credit check--half would disappear. Half would agree--even if it came back lousy. But the ones who came back with a decent credit check (no bankruptcies, no late problems) tended to be people who took some responsibility about life. Yeah, there are always exceptions and reasons...but he stuck to the line, and his "problem tenants" practically disappeared after that. (He figured out, his gut feelings just weren't good enough for the size of the risks he was taking.)

On the easy side? Call a crew meeting interview for any specific date and time. The ones who show up ten minutes early, go to the top of the list. The ones who show up late? Hey, unless the ambulance driver says "He insisted we stop here before we could go to the hospital" [g] they go to the bottom of the list.

Not saying any of these are "MUST" criteria...but think along those lines, you'll find a set of criteria that work for you.

[PAPERTIGER]

Thankyou sailor that's sound advice.