Talking Sailing From My Archives. Skippers and Crews – Some Sage Advice

by Richard Crockett

It’s all to easy to get caught up in the romance of going sailing, especially to cross an ocean or on a lengthy passage. It’s not always what it’s cracked up to be, and what one reads in magazines and sees in the movies.

Way back in 1980, this issue was addressed in Yachtsman RSA Magazine, and while written in a low key manner, the author unknown, the subject is one which all crew, especially those new to sailing, should take heed of.

Here’s how it kicked off: “For a prospective crew, sailing is many false visions of romance, adventure, bikini-clad blondes and an endless supply of chilled lager.

“Many skippers when selecting their crew fail to remember the ancient adage that ‘whatever a man has in him, the sea will bring it out.’ Whatever it is that ‘comes out’ the rest of the crew has to put up with, often in a very confined space in which there is no way one can disassociate oneself from this character even for a few minutes.”

As the final closing paragraph says: “Remember that aboard a yacht you cannot walk away from your problems or brood over them in solitude as there is nowhere to go. Even the top of the mast is not far enough away!”

For anyone contemplating a longish passage aboard a yacht, this article will answer some important questions.

READ IT HERE:  1980 06 – Yachtsman RSA – OCR – page 19

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