South Seas Crewing

Ever wanted to sail offshore as crew? After several boat exchanges of our Cal 39, I decided to volunteer instead of swapping yachts in exotic places. No more worries I thought, as someone else, the Skipper, is responsible for a happy and safe ship. Not always the case as a recent misadventure in Asia proved. So with some trepidation I flew to Fiji to help a family sail Freeranger, their Beneteau 50 to New Zealand in November – and a famous family among the BCA community to boot.

Ian aboard Freeranger

The web has made crew-seeking easy. I had three offers on Crewseekers from Uruguay around the Horn to top of Chile for three months (too cold even in their summer); from Tonga to Indonesia via Solomon Islands for two months (tempting but not easy to jump ship if we didn’t get along);  or with the Copelands for two weeks, allowing a rendezvous with Kathy in New Zealand to explore its north island by car.

The Copeland family.

Fiji was a wonderful jumping off point. Perhaps the world’s friendliest people, greeting you with a boisterous “Bula!” (Hello!) and genuine smile. The nation is about two thirds the size of Vancouver Island with hundreds of anchorages and a handful of marinas scattered among the archipelago.

The Copelands with Fijian community members; leaping from Freeranger

It’s a favourite spot to leave your boat on the hard during cyclone season. The Copelands decided to sail theirs to New Zealand, returning a few month later for more adventures in the South Pacific and then Southeast Asia. They often invite an extra crew member on longer passages to help with watches and the daily routine at sea

We first met up for pizza at the modest Royal Suva Yacht Club, established in 1932. Duncan had already visited the island over three decades ago with his brothers and parents, Andy and Liza, on their six year circumnavigation. (Liza’s memoir Just Cruising became a best seller.)

Now, Duncan and his wife Larissa, with kids Eden and Skye, were collaborating in a workshop on reef restoration while anchored at a nearby dive resort. They have created Free Range Ocean, a small not for profit dedicated to encouraging cruisers and others to contribute to ocean research. Check out their Ocean Citizen Science Project and read about their work in Citizen Science Adventures at Sea.

Collaborating on developing a workshop on reef restoration.

Unlike previous skippers I had crewed with, Duncan gave me a through walk-thru of their yacht and a briefing on its safety gear and procedures. All of us wore PFDs at sea, and were hooked to safety lines even while in the cockpit. Weeks earlier he had e-mailed me a Pre-Departure Crew Brief and a Float Plan of the voyage (also sent to their ”trustees” back home). Very reassuring as it detailed:

• Voyage overview and milestones with alternative ports in case of emergency
• Communication details about the EPIRB, Starlink, PLBs, AIS, Satellite phone, etc.
• What trustees should do if we “don’t arrive on schedule”

The nine day voyage was pleasant and uneventful, a few days of motoring in light airs at 5 knots (to save fuel), the rest flying along at up to 9 knots. Almost all the trip run on auto-pilot. Occasionally we had to reduce sail in pitch black. I admired their careful steps: tighten boom sheet, reef genoa, start engine, motor into wind, reef main, fall off, kill engine. All slow and easy.

Top Left: Underway; Top Right: Keeping a good log; Bottom: Freeranger’s Salon

Watches were staggered four hours during day and three at night. On the hour, the watch keeper wrote in the logbook: the GPS coordinates, boat speed, true and apparent wind direction, heading and mileage. It seemed overkill but what happens when you lose all the electronics to a lightning strike? This did happen in Duncan’s childhood.

It took me a few days to adjust to napping at odd times. When sleepless in bouncy seas, I would escape my forward berth and curl up with a lee cloth on the sofa midships, the most comfortable spot. The experienced hands seemed fine in their aft berths impervious to the sporadic engine noise, Skye and Eden especially.

The kids’ cabin was a cave crammed with games, toys and homework. Their parents set aside several hours a day for home schooling based upon the BC school curriculum.

Sleeping underway is an acquired skill; Ryan and Skye’s cabin

Twice on the trip we slowed to a crawl so Duncan could launch a plankton net. They would trawl it for a half hour then the whole family would examine the microscopic catch. Their photos and samples would be sent to fellow marine researchers worldwide.

Examining plankton

Arriving in New Zealand can be daunting, not just fickle weather but the Biosecurity “Police”. Customs cleared us quickly, but a friendly officer searched high and low for forbidden fruits, vegetables, grains, even packaged goods. Although Larissa had tailored our last meals to use up any suspected food, the officer collected a big black garbage bag of contraband for disposal. She was complimentary about the underwater photos of a clean hull Duncan had taken, the result of four days of scrapping off barnacles with just brush, mask & fins in Fiji.

Ian with Duncan, Larissa, Eden and Skye; Inset: NZ is very careful about what they let into the country

Leaving Freeranger was a bitter-sweet moment. Despite the seemingly endless watches and sleepless nights, it was a memorable time to learn new skills and meet a truly remarkable family.

PS. If you’re interested in crew opportunities, I recommend subscribing to a site such as Crewseekers. Because it charges a membership, the postings seem more serious than those listed on Facebook. Usually crew members share voyage expenses unless it’s a delivery. Best to agree on expectations with the Captain in a video chat then put it in writing.

Eden photographs a lovely sunset.