No, I hadn’t planned on travelling far from home this winter. I didn’t feel like living out of a suitcase or backpack for weeks or months on end. I had done that for the last five years. Instead, I wanted to stay in my own cozy home during the blustery, chilly winter days. Besides, my seasonal job as Victoria Harbour Ferry skipper was going to start up in mid-February — sooner than usual.
So, here I am sitting in front of the fireplace one overcast December afternoon, feet up, computer on my lap, when up pops an email from “Find A Crew” reminding me to keep my personal profile up to date. I first subscribed to this website, which matches yacht owners with potential crew, while house-sitting in Turkey a couple of winters ago in hopes of going cruising later on. But at that time of year one finds little sailing activity in the stormy Mediterranean; even most yacht charter companies close shop there between November and March.
Opening the website I notice near the top of the list a post by the captain of a 42-foot catamaran looking for crew to sail from Puget Sound in Washington State down the coast to California and Mexico. Hm, not the best time of year to spend sailing in these waters. But Mexico sounds pretty good when freezing rain is pelting against my living room window. So I send off a “wave”, a “Hi, I just may be interested” kind of note. And wouldn’t you know it, I receive a reply in short order.
Now, to keep things in a realistic perspective, I’m getting a little long in the tooth. Sure, I’m in good shape, what with cycling everywhere in town and jogging once or twice a week, and I do have boating experience, both chartering in local coastal waters and a few decades of cruising in my small daysailer. However, most yacht owners seem to be looking for crew in their prime and possibly with more than my rather modest large boat experience.
Yet this time, following further email correspondence and a phone call, things progress to the point that in early January I take the Washington State Ferry from Sidney, BC to Anacortes, WA to meet Dan, the owner and captain of SV Amante. The yacht is “on the hard” (out of the water) with most of the electronics and various other parts strewn across cockpit and salon waiting to be installed in preparation of Dan’s and wife Linda’s multi-year voyage across the world’s oceans. We get along just fine and, upon parting, assure each other that we are both ready to set sail together in early February.
Photos: 1.) The deck of sailing vessel Amante from 67 feet up at its slip in Cap Sante Marina (photo by Bo, my crew mate); 2.) SV Amante entering Victoria, BC harbour.
