RYA Courses / FindACrew Experiences

t1mm

Hi everybody,

Rather than create two seperate threads here, I thought I'd merge two questions into one, as they are somewhat related anyway.

Firstly, could anybody recommend some affordable options for the RYA Competent Crew course? In Ireland or abroad - I don't mind too much. I've "crewed" on boats before but was really just mindlessly winching whatever I was told to winch. I'd like to gain more of an insight and experience myself, with an eye to trying to meeting people and potentially doing some travelling via findacrew and such sites.

Secondly, has anybody got any experience of crewing on boats through such websites? What is the minimum qualification generally required? During peak times, are there many opportunities around for crew positions? I understand 99% of the skipper's choice will be based on the applicant's personality for the lower level positions, but I thought I'd ask your opinions all the same!

Thanks for reading!

HeidiHeidi

t1mm wrote: »

Hi everybody,

Rather than create two seperate threads here, I thought I'd merge two questions into one, as they are somewhat related anyway.

Firstly, could anybody recommend some affordable options for the RYA Competent Crew course? In Ireland or abroad - I don't mind too much. I've "crewed" on boats before but was really just mindlessly winching whatever I was told to winch. I'd like to gain more of an insight and experience myself, with an eye to trying to meeting people and potentially doing some travelling via findacrew and such sites.

Secondly, has anybody got any experience of crewing on boats through such websites? What is the minimum qualification generally required? During peak times, are there many opportunities around for crew positions? I understand 99% of the skipper's choice will be based on the applicant's personality for the lower level positions, but I thought I'd ask your opinions all the same!

Thanks for reading!

Hi there,

What sort of a boat are you thinking of - keelboat/dinghy (since you mention winching, I'm assuming keelboat)? And what sort of sailing are you thinking of - cruising or racing or both?

For Competent Crew (and higher levels) I'd have recommended Michael Caine in Carlingford - but I hear that he's retired now Such a shame, he was great - and great company - and REALLY great food!

I'd also have recommend Glenans in Baltimore - but they've closed down as well

Did you ever start to feel old :eek:

The INSC in Dun Laoghaire does all manner of courses, and I bet they do something along the lines of Competent Crew - I'm not sure if they have any keelboats bigger than the 1720, but you could enquire if their courses would suit your purposes. A pal of mine recently did some starter weekend courses with them, and was delighted with them. IMO if you're doing a beginner's course, the smaller the boat you can do it on, the better - you'll get a far better feel for what's going on than on a bigger boat. I'm the world's worst dinghy sailor, but did two courses with Glenans in Toppers/Lasers, and it was worth the pain and repeated dunkings! www.insc.ie

As regards "positions" - very few spots on boats are formally advertised, bar bigger races where sailing schools will charge a fortune for berths and tuition/training. In my experience most people find contacts for sailing - whether racing or cruising - through word of mouth. All of the clubs in Dun Laoghaire (and presumably elsewhere, I just happen to sail out of DL so know most about there!) do adult sail training courses during the summer, and I know loads of people who have got spots for racing and made lots of contacts through being around the club and meeting skippers/owners. PM me for details of the courses in my club if you want.

Most of what I do is racing, so I'm biased in that direction - racing boats are ALWAYS looking for crew! www.crewzone.ie is a website started this year in DL to try to match up boats looking for crew with bodies looking for places on boats.

Crusing/deliveries, like I said mostly done by word of mouth or via contacts made personally.

Sorry if this is a bit disjointed, I'm doing two things at once here! But feel free to ask more questions if you're still wondering

t1mm

Hi there HeidiHeidi,

Thank you very much for your reply. I'm only interested in cruiser sailing to be honest, and not too pushed about racing. Although I'm sure racing would grow on me after learning the ropes (so to speak), at the moment it doesn't really tickle my fancy too much.

To tell the truth, I'm quite interested in adventure, and having just finished a very long bicycle trip, I'm trying to make some plans for next year (or even the one after). I love the sea, and I think an open-ended trip whereby I try to find crewing positions on marinas / crewing websites and see where I end up would be pretty amazing.

Am I dreaming?

Thanks again for your help!

PhoenixParker

Look into Sailing In Dublin - sailingindublin.ie

They're a (very cheap!) sailing club based in Dun Laoghaire. They have dinghies, a ruffian and a sigma 33.
Once you're a member you just put your name down to go sailing whenever a captain suggests it.
Plenty of opportunities to sail and plenty of experienced sailors around to offer advice and show you the ropes.
There are regular enough over night trips if you want to try out offshore light, and there's usually a summer holiday or two organised where someone rents a boat in the Mediterranean.

They also regularly organise discounts for club members to go on training courses.

t1mm

Unfortuantely I'm based in Cork and wouldn't be travelling to Dublin for a single days sailing - I think I would only travel that far if I was doing a multiple day course or something. There's a huge amount of sailing activity around Crosshaven and Kinsale; hopefully I can find a crew to fall in with around here for day sails and the like. Thanks a million for your reply all the same, I appreciate it

HeidiHeidi

I'd forgotten about SID! But can see that if you're based in Cork, it's not much use to you.

There has to be tons of sailing opportunities in Cork! Maybe call the ISA and see what sailing schools/clubs are in your area, and just go down there and chat to people? Word of mouth is in my experience by far the best way of finding sailing opportunities, short of actually signing up for formal courses (to be recommended to start with, obviously).

I love the sound of your adventure plan! I had a vaguely similar sort-of plan a couple of years ago - would have involved taking leave of absence from work, and basically being caretaker on a boat that was going to campaign around the Med and Caribbean for a year (or more). In the end it came to nowt - but I know exactly what you're on about and good for you if you can pull it off! It'd be my dream!

Best thing you can do towards that (IMO, others may have other ideas) is to skill yourself up as much as possible - with experience as well as bits of paper. Any sailing you do manage to do, keep a log - and keep on keeping a log! I stopped along the way, and regretted it ever since - never more so than when I recently had to do up a log to apply for my YM Offshore exam - it took hours and hours of trawling through diaries and photographs and anywhere else I could think of to remember dates and trips. I won't make that mistake again! Doesn't have to be a formal "Log Book" - just a spreadsheet with dates, times, distances and details will do.

But most importantly, get talking to sailing people. That's what will get you out on the water.

Best of luck