How to join a crew for a regatta or delivery with little to no experience

Every year thousands of people go to sea for the first time not as passengers but as part of a crew. Almost none of them arrived with a full set of certificates — they arrived ready to work and able to stay out of the way.

Let's break down how this actually works: where people look, what to write, what gets paid, and where people get burned.

What's actually required of you

Experience helps, but it's third on the list. The first two are different.

• You don't fall apart in a swell. Severe seasickness is the one thing that truly closes the door. Everything else is fixed with practice.
• You can live in close quarters without friction. Four people, a week, two cabins and a shared head — here character matters more than qualification.
• You do what you were told, and ask again when you didn't understand. On someone else's boat, doing as asked is valued more than initiative.

Learning to tie a figure-eight knot and hold a course is a two-day matter. Waking up for a watch at three in the morning without souring everyone's mood is not.

Where people are found

Regattas. Crews are recruited for a specific event, often a month or two ahead. Regatta calendar — start with whatever is geographically close to you.

Deliveries. A boat needs to be moved from point A to point B: from the yard, after winter storage, after a sale. This is where newcomers get taken on most often, because hands are needed for watches. How a delivery works.

Marinas. An old method that still works better than many others: a noticeboard at the marina and a conversation at the yacht club bar. Especially in Las Palmas ahead of the November Atlantic start.

Circles and chats. Club, class, and regional ones. This is exactly why we're setting up our own board: not "message a stranger," but within a vetted circle.

What to write to the captain

A short five-line message works better than a long story about yourself.

1. Who you are and how old you are. No biography.
2. What you've already done on the water. Be honest: "two weeks chartering as helmsman," "sailed a dinghy as a kid," "nothing, but I want to learn" — all three answers are fine.
3. When you're available. Exact dates, including a buffer for delays.
4. What else you can do besides sail. Cooking, diesel engines, electrics, medicine, languages — on a passage these matter just as much.
5. One substantive question. It shows you've read the listing.

What not to write: "up for anything," "pay doesn't matter," "take me, you won't regret it." This reads as not understanding what you're getting into.

Money: three arrangements and what's normal

Miles for work. You sail for free, cover your own travel to the port and back, sometimes a share of food. In return you get miles and an entry in the ship's log. The most common arrangement for a newcomer, and entirely normal.

Paid crew. The captain gets paid, and, less often, the deckhands too. Newcomers are rarely taken on this way.

Training passage. You pay a school or an instructor-skipper to learn along the way. Also normal — if it's a school with a contract and an invoice.

What counts as a red flag: a request to wire a deposit for a crew spot to a private individual's card. A normal delivery or regatta doesn't require a deckhand to prepay a stranger. If it's a training passage, payment goes to the organization, under a contract — not "send it to my card, I'll hold the spot."

What to check before buying a ticket

• The boat exists. Name, home port, photos, ideally video. Check the name against open registries.
• Who the captain is. Name, experience, past passages. Ask directly — a legitimate captain will answer.
• Who pays for the trip back. The most common source of grievance.
• What happens if it falls through. Weather, breakdown, yard delays — all routine. Agree on this in advance.
• Insurance. Ask whether the boat's policy covers the crew and this cruising area.
• A return ticket with a buffer. Not on the expected arrival day itself. A third of passages run late.

What to bring

Foul-weather gear, non-slip shoes, a warm mid-layer (nights in the Mediterranean in October are cold), a headlamp with a red-light mode, seasickness remedy, a personal first-aid kit, a power bank, a soft duffel instead of a suitcase — there's nowhere to put a hard suitcase on a boat.

And documents: passport, insurance, license if you have one.

Where to start if you haven't been anywhere yet

Start short: a coastal weekend regatta or a two-to-three-day delivery along the coast. That way you'll learn the main thing about yourself — how you handle the motion and whether you even enjoy it — without committing to three weeks of ocean.

After that, the miles add up on their own.

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We're setting up our own board for deliveries and crews: where an owner looks for a team, and a captain and deckhands look for a passage, and where people are vetted rather than just having messaged into a chat. If you're looking for a crew spot, or conversely for people for a passage — write to us, we're already matching such pairs by hand.