Getting Started in Yachts

Hi all
This is going to sound like the topic just below about
going from dinghys to yachts.

Nothing out of the ordinary here. I'm 19 years old and
i've been sailing since i was 11 and i've done a load of
laser and 420 sailing. At xmas i went on a big boat from
portsmouth to lyminton then back again over a weekend
and it was FUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. Over the summer
when i'm not at uni i'd like to do some crewing on big
boats.

Here's the difference from the below topic...
I was told by a friend (of similar background) that a
year ago he went to one of these volvo keelboat open
training sessions which eventually (if your good enough)
lead to the keelboat squad. Now i'm not going to get
into the squad and he didn't either but apparently what
happens is they give you an appraisal and set you up on
some crewsearch thing so you can get more experience. He
said he got an amount of emails from helms needing
crews.

So heres my plan. I thought i'd do one of these open
training weekends, get put on this crewsearch thing and
have some fun/racing over the summer with people who
needed a crew.

Does this sound good to you experienced fellows?

Adam

And a lot of people forget that this is free sailing.  No skipper will charge you for  crewing round the cans on a Sunday morning.

Plus if you're good enough you can get invited back and maybe bought a beer or too afterwards

In most cases you'll need your own kit

Decent yacht owners will have sufficient lifejackets and harness lines for all of the crew.  I wouldn't step aboard one that didn't!

As for other kit - that will be up to you

Originally posted by damp_freddie But as you're pretty experienced anyway in racing dinghies then just find a good OD keel boat fleet near you ...maybe hunter 707s?

Pretty much a dead class now except Burnham. Max 3 out in Warsash Spring Series http://www.warsashspringseries.org.uk/results/whitegroupcser ies.htm