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| − | '''Hitching on Sailboats'''
| + | #REDIRECT [[Hitchhiking a boat]] |
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| − | In 1989/90 I sailed across the [[Pacific Ocean]] from [[Los Angeles]] to [[Sydney]]. I learned a few things that are likely worth sharing. First off hitching on sailboats is somewhat easier than it sounds for two reasons:
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| − | 1) Most sail[[boats]] are owned by persons of affluent background and they want to sail with their friends. Often their friends think it is a good idea and agree to come along and then find out that sailing is not their cup of tea (too dirty, bumpy, boring, cramped - any number of reasons). Thus crews are constantly unexpectedly reforming. This is your opportunity for a ride.
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| − | 2) In all the ports i visited in Central America and the [[South Pacific]] including [[Australia]] at 8 AM local time all the boats in the harbor talk with each other over radio on channel 19. Thus you can listen and participate of you can either get on a boat with a radio or from a radio on land. They talk about all kinds of things they need, like where to get the bottoms of boats scraped and where is a good place to buy diesel fuel that is not watered down. And at the end of this broadcast you can generally say "My name is Wombat and I am looking for a ride to the Marcases and I can cook."
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| − | The four things that boat captains are most often looking for
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| − | 1) Cooks
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| − | 2) People with the capacity to repair diesel engines
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| − | 3) navigators
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| − | 4) people with medical skills, esp emergency medical skills
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| − | I choose navigation, because i am good with math and dangerous with cooking. Learning navigation is relatively accessible, by going to a course or getting a book (some link here would be great).
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| − | The navigator also turns out to be one of the easiest [[jobs]], because almost all sailboats going long distance have satellite navigation systems which make directing the boat relatively easy. Navigators, like medical folks, are to be able to deal with emergencies, specifically lightning hitting the boat.
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| − | I hitched from [[LA]] to [[Sydney]] over 10 months. I took 10 different [[boats]], mostly on the west coast of the Americas. Ten different captains and ten slightly different agreements for passage. Mostly, it was berth space, food and passage in exchange for some work around the boat and especially steering and adjusting sales. In one case a skipper asked me to pay 1/4 of the diesel fuel bill for the passage, so i would sail as much as possible. We sailed a lot, even with very little wind and when we arrived in [[Panama]] he declined my offer to pay my agreed share, saying he just wanted to cut fuel expenses which we did.
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| − | {{random roads}}
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| − | [[Category:Transportation]]
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