Want to Crew? Longer Sailing Trips, and Schooner Races!
Schooner racing crew need those same skills plus gaff-rig schooner experience, plus a commitment to help prepare the schooner for the race, scrub her clean after, and honing their skills at reefing with the wind afore and abaft, handling the main tops’l and fisherman, working on the bowsprit, and helming.
Contact Mike Taber about crewing—check the Ports of Call and see where it suits you best. He can give you the names of other crew so you can find out more about crewing on Dove II.
Want to Crew? What’s your preference?
Welcome aboard! Crewing on gaff-rigged schooners is in some ways quite different from modern sailboats. The transition to gaff rig is quite smooth for most sailors. And almost everyone finds a week on Dove II to be an enjoyable and inexpensive vacation, especially on a boat where people get along well and enjoy pulling together.
Crewing on Dove II is a volunteer experience—crew contribute toward food , fuel and operating expense of a coastal or offshore sail, major schooner race or tall ship event. For the longer hauls, crew may report dockside a couple of days before the planned departure to acclimate to the boat and help make her ready for the voyage.
Schooner School.”Physically fit people with a couple of years sailing actively are usually ready to learn crewing on Dove II in a week of “Schooner School” on the Chesapeake or Penobscot Bay. These weeks were very popular last year and a lot of fun for everyone.
Longer trips. Crew on the longer hauls (between the Chesapeake Bay and Maine, or to the Caribbean or the Bahamas) require some prior offshore sailing and general sailing experience including:
- Tie basic shipboard knots with ease
- Some night sailing in large bay or coastal
- Tiller experience
- Participated in a 24/7 watch rotation while underway
- Sailed in sustained winds higher than 25 kts
- Experienced seas of 6 feet or more
- Congenial, “get-along” personality