tobixen

Family crew wanted for the summer - Bulgaria, Türkiye, Greece

Previous summer we had a guest family on board for two weeks in Greece. Although a bit crowded on board, It was great for the children and good for us, so I would like to repeat. It's nice if your children are more or less at the same age as ours (born 2011, 2013 and 2019) and have a little bit knowledge of English, Norwegian or Russian.

It will be crowded on board - I think it's sustainable for two weeks, perhaps three, but not more than that. Children and couples tend to compress pretty well, we'll have at least one cabin with a double bed and one sofa available, plus potentially space on the floor, out on the deck and on the benches in the cockpit (under the tent). We will avoid night sailing, and stay by anchor during the nights. Last summer we were four adults and five children on the ship for a bit less than two weeks. We've also been six adults and six children on board for four days on an earlier trip. I still have good memories from that trip, though I wonder a bit how we managed to squeeze in.

SUMMARY

* You gain some sailing experiences and a cheap holiday, we get company, some assistance, and someone to share costs with.
* I usually have a "first-to-the-boat" or "first to book flight tickets" policy of accepting crew, but in this case I primarily look for a family with one or two adults and one or two (possibly three) children, preferably around the same age as ours.
* Common meals if possible (tell me about your food preferences)
* We share the food costs
* A crew contribution of 20 EUR pr day to cover some of the other costs is highly appreciated.
* We share doing the daily chores.
* Planning is usually done in plenum, and although the captain always have the last word, any suggestions and wishes from the crew will be heard and considered.
* Be honest and keep me updated if you decide not to join or if you need time to make a decision.
* If you don't like reading long texts, you may skip the rest.

THE PLAN

The current plan is to starting from Varna, Bulgaria in June, sail through the Bosphorus, sea of Marmaris and Dardanelles, and then spend some time in Greece. I'm not good at planning, but I will probably be ready to commit to some dates and meeting points by the beginning of April.


CREW EXPECTATIONS

I expect everyone to give a hand when it's needed. Children should also be encouraged to try to help. The boat should be kept tidy, ropes should be coiled together, fenders in and out, sails should be trimmed, dhingy and SUP should be inflated and deflated, someone should keep a lookout, meals should be prepared, dishes washed, etc, and sometimes it's needed to do maintenance tasks on the go.

I expect to be informed about food allergies and preferences. With many people and children on board, there will always be someone having special needs or being picky, but I hope we can manage without too much "parallel cooking". Cooking food only for yourself or only for your children is faux de pas, in this ship we try to eat together when possible.

Some boat owners don't allow shoes on deck at all. I'm not that strict on it, but I certainly don't want dirty shoes down under deck.

I do expect my crew to have opinions. While the captain always have the last word and veto rights, planning is usually done in plenum, wishes and suggestions from the crew will be considered, and the crew usually have relatively big freedom to experiment with the sail setup.

I do expect some of my crew to become get sea sick. If you're not feeling 100% well, then please stay in the cockpit, best place to be is by the rudder with the autopilot disengaged or (if conditions allow) out on the deck. You may alternatively try to lay down in the bed - for some people that's the best thing. Make sure to ask for the bucket before you need to puke. DO NOT lock yourself into the toilet if you're feeling down.

THERE MAY BE DRAGONS

I've had people staying only for some 1-3 days before leaving. Once it was due to bureaucratic problems preventing me from leaving the harbour, but most of the time it's because the crew gets sea sick (or possibly scared). Sea-sickness usually goes over during some few days, and I hope to have learned to be gentle and do short trips on the first days with people who haven't had much experience with sailing. In any case it may be an idea to have a plan B ready in case you find that sailing is not for you, or in case the boat gets stuck for whatever reason.

There may be situations when personalities don't mix very well. I once told my crew to leave the ship (though, only after a year and a 5000 EUR halyard wrap issue).

Plans may change - sailing may be unpredictable. Sometimes it's needed to spend anything from some hours to a full year repairing the boat after something breaks down or after an accident, other times plans needs to be revisited due to rules and bureaucracy. Weather is of course also an unpredictable factor. I do put a lot of pride into meeting up for my appointments, so far I've never been more than two hours delayed for picking up crewbay crew, but there is never any guarantee that I will make it.

Long-time planning is not my game, so please don't ask me what I will be doing several months in the future. I ended up sailing from Constanța in Romania and almost to Myconos in Greece, single-handedly most of the way, for no other reason than that I'd done a commitment to meet someone there ... and then they couldn't come anyway, all flights cancelled that day due to the Crowdstrike incident.

APPLICATIONS

For this trip, a short presentation of your family is in place - but there is not much of a point wasting time writing up up a long presentation of yourself bragging about your skills and qualifications. I will read it - but the proof is in the pudding, and it's always better with crew that "exceeds expectations" than the other way around.

COST SHARING

I expect the crew to take their part of the grocery bills, plus pay 20 EUR pr day to help with other costs (as listed below).

There are three models for sharing the food costs, we can count every cent of the food shopping, we may contribute equally to a "food piggy bank" and use that one for grocery shopping, or we may also simply do turns on paying for the grocery shopping, I'm flexible, but I prefer the latter model. Most other "extra costs" with having more people on board are negligible.

Travelling by sail is probably the most expensive way of travelling for "free"! The costs include:

* Maintenance - this is big, probably ~1000 EUR/month. It can't be counted and shared "on the go", the expenses comes down unevenly. Sails, rope, rigging and any equipment tends to get worn out and needs replacement every now and then, things get destroyed due to carelessness or negligence from the crew, skipper doing some serious mistake or just bad luck. Sometimes things may be mended on the go, other times it's needed to buy expensive replacement parts or get professional help. We do not argue about who is to blame when things go wrong, we rather discuss what went wrong and try to learn from the mistakes. I will not claim any compensation for broken equipment from the crew, it all goes on the "running cost"-budget.
* Diesel (has been around 100-500 EUR pr month lately),
* Harbour stays - this is usually fairly low, as I prefer to stay by anchor when possible, but when being two families on board it will for sure be nice to do some harbour landings.
* Insurance, local taxes and other administrative costs ... like fines. I think I have gotten two fines during the last 5 years. The captain does of course bear most of the responsibility for checking up local regulations and adhere to it, but it's not always easy to be up to date on all local regulations. In case of fines, I think it would be fair to share it up until 100 EUR per person on board, with the rest taken by the captain.
* Laundry, refill of drinking water, gas, sometimes electricity in harbours, ....

Q&A

Q: How many cabins are there?

A: There are only two cabins on board with wide beds and two sofas - one of the sofas can be extended into a double bed. Unfortunately none of the cabins are very comfortable when sailing in rough weather, but for this trip I expect to always sleep by anchor. We also have some thermarest matresses that can be used on the floor, in the cockpit or out on deck.

Q: Do you have a shower on board?

A: Yes, but don't use it too often. I've had crew that "needed" to take daily showers. I'm not much happy with that, fresh water may be a scarce resource, and hot water even more scarce. Anyway, feel free to ask for the best time to take a shower.

Q: What do I need to bring?

A: Passports! And of course, some spare clothes. The rest is mostly up to you, but when being two families on board I prefer there to not be a lot of suitcases on board.

Q: Can you tell me what boat model it is?

A: No. This boat didn't come out from a factory line, it's a unique ship, built on the spare time by a Norwegian, based on design drawings from Bruce Roberts in New Zealand.

CONTACT

Please write a message through crewbay so I will have your profile on the candidate list. If you find it easier to communicate off the platform, please remind me to share my contact information

REFERENCES

I may provide references from earlier crew members if needed.

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