Crew finding app

[MartinJohnstone]

Hi all, I design and build phone apps and websites for a living, and am new to sailing and am looking for experience by crewing on other peoples boats. I've noticed that there are a few websites and apps that allow boats to find crew, and crew to find boats but there doesn't seem to be much activity on them (obviously COVID won't have helped with this). I was wondering why this is?

Would it be useful to have an app/website that someone looking to crew can create a profile with their experience and availability, and a skipper can list their boat and any trips/races/social cruises they will need crew for? This would let skippers see local available crew, or crew to see boats that are needing their help.

For those of you with boats, how often do you need to find crew and how difficult is it? What would be useful to you?

Just a brain fart - let me know if you have any thoughts!

Cheers
Martin

 

[TernVI]

Around here, a lot of the clubs have a facebook page, a lot of people arrange crew via those.

Several sailing forums have or have had crewing sections, never very much used as far as I can tell.

Possibly lots of people are over-estimating the desire of boat owners to go sailing with complete strangers on their boats?

 

[mrangry]

I agree with TernVI, having people you have never met onboard doesn't appeal to most people

 

[TernVI]

I did get a few people from Crewseekers (IIRC) maybe 15 years ago.
Mixed outcomes.
Obviously, these sites are commercial, so you only get punters who don't have access to the sailing they want by other means.
Myself, if I was looking for a crewing spot for say the ARC, I wouldn't mind paying a few quid to an agency site that made that happen.
But if I just want to do a weekend jaunt along the coast or cross channel, then I'd look at the clubs locally.

Generally people only want crew if they are planning a trip outside their normal 'comfort zone' and then, you can't have crew you cannot depend on.
So you either look for other experienced people like fellow boat owners or ex-boat owners, or you want to invest time in trying someone out sailing locally first. There are exceptions, like Club Rallies, where it's common to take a guest from the club.

It is a lot of commitment and responsibility to take a stranger on your boat, people turn up with all sorts of expectations and strange ideas about how things work. On the one hand it can be fun to sail with new people and rewarding to give them experience, on the otherhand it's more work for the skipper on top of managing the boat. Although they may not be paying the skipper, the weekend has cost them money in fees to the website, travel etc, possibly buying kit, so maybe it's not unreasonable they expect the trip to happen as advertised.

The other side of the coin is racing, where there are often more people on the boat and an extra inexperienced one can be added.

 

[Deleted member 478]

www.crewseekers.co.uk or www.findacrew.net
Most of those sites are full of dirty old men looking for hot 20 something bikini-clad eye candy.

 

[MartinJohnstone]

Thanks for the replies gents - doesn't sound like there is much need for anything.... unless I make a tinder for dirty old men looking for boats filled with hot 20 something eye candy

 

[rib]

www.crewseekers.co.uk or www.findacrew.net
Most of those sites are full of dirty old men looking for hot 20 something bikini-clad eye candy.

I must have a look ?️??

 

[Deleted member 478]

I must have a look ???

Why would you want a dirty old man?

 

[sails_02]

There is activity, but supply demand skews in the favour of boat owners. A new inexperienced crew is abundantly available on the apps, and like others mentioned, probably a huge liability.

Others not mentioned
1. https://tendrr.co/ (awkard name.. how did you two meet, on Tendrr...)
They seem to have let their SSL certificate expire, sign of their lack of traction maybe? Exactly what you describe, I always wondered what they saw as an opportunity in a crowded space.

2. Crewbay.com another not mentioned.

3. Otherwise Facebook for the vast majority of "ad-hoc" last minute crewing requests, seems to work well

What I'd consider as a niche yet to be filled is a "race boat crew management" app. Every boat I've crewed on results in a mash of email threads, whatsapp groups and facebook pages trying to coordinate availability and positions for a specific race/series/season, and last minute replacements. Probably over-engineering to build an app, but possibly something that software could help.

 

[Jungle Jim]

Thanks for the replies gents - doesn't sound like there is much need for anything.... unless I make a tinder for dirty old men looking for boats filled with hot 20 something eye candy

Please post the joining instructions

 

[sails_02]

@MartinJohnstone you should speak to @TheShawnBarron who is also looking to build something
Peer-To-Peer Renting

 

[boatiebert]

Most of those sites are full of dirty old men looking for hot 20 something bikini-clad eye candy.

Where do I apply? Now if that's the kind of app he's going to develop, I'm in.

Actually, I had to rescue one terribly sincere Eastern European lady from one them who didn't understand how posting, "I will always answer 'yes, master' to you" in her profile would probably attract the wrong sort of skipper. An auto-translation error apparently.

Serious response from personal experience, lots of boatie types are older & don't keep up with the latest tech. I know from my own experience that my "new" phone is so obsolete that I can't actually install any app onto it. Apple seem to be the worst at this, not even allowing independent app-itising. Screw having to spend £500 pounds every couple of years just to do the same as the old one did.

Speak to the Sailing Anarchy crowd and see if they are interested.