How to get out there

[Trim50]

Read the book...it will firmly root the dream.

[Swagman]

Originally Posted by name='Converted Post'

Originally posted by Aventura

hm, that sounded interesting. Just a pity I haven´t got any experience with diving, but it must be a cool job. Captain in a charter company sounds difficult - I guess you need a lot of experience then. But on the other hand - I have thought about being crew on a charter yacht. But someone that I spoke to said that jobs like that were very low paid, which I think is true, and the people working on board were called "boat niggers", independent of their skin colour. Perhaps someone´s got any advices here?

I would not wish to build up false hopes as things may have changed over 10 years - but a decade back all you needed to demostrate was a reasonable degree of proficency and you'd get a role. We had several plas who were 'crew' material when they left Oz - and secured flotilla skippering roles in Greece.

You can fast track RYA Yachtmaster now days. I'm not saying its the best way to learn, and suspect it is not cheap either, but if all you want is the qualification to get a summer job on the water, it would almost certainly suffice.

Good luck

JOHN

[Bajamas]

All great advice.

A few years back, my wife and I worked for the same software company that went under after 9/11. We decided then that we would take our 25' motorhome across country and spend some quality time together. This was one of the best things we could have ever done. That year was filled with the best memories we could have ever granted ourselves. We also stumbled across the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior and fell in love with sailing all over again. Met a coupld that quit their jobs, sold their house and were preparing to take off for the Islands...FOREVER! My wife and I sat with this couple for hours, fascinated! We both vowed that this was what we needed to do too. We ended our one year trip across the country (spent 2 months in the Apostle Islands, loved em' that much!) with no money in our hands and took jobs up again. We both worked our fool heads off for four years, reading everything we could about sailing and taking all our cert. courses. We reasearched out and purchased our Bristol 32 and are preparing our own voyage. We have one more year to go.

Best of Luck. Don't give up the dream!

Bajamas