Delivery crew experiences

[Vid]

I'm thinking about being a crew member on a delivery trip from Cape Town to Southampton this summer. The vessel is a 47ft catamaran and there will be three or four of us on board.

Does anyone have any experience of what it is like to be a delivery crew member on long voyages, also any experience of this route would be interesting.

Many thanks

Vid

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Stingo]

Who built the catamaran - there are some VERY dodgy boat builders in South Africa as well as some good one?

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.stingo.co.uk>http://www.stingo.co.uk</A> <font color=blue>- still showing at a computer near you</font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

You will find that if there are going to be problems they will probably arise from the condition of the boat and the capabilty of the skipper.Your difficulty is that problems in either area often do not manifest themselves until you are well out to sea.Be very careful to ensure that the boat is capable of the voyage and has been adequately maintained and equipped.If you don't know the skipper well try and find out as much as you can about him/her and the other crew members.On 2 memorable blue water delivery trips I have been on the boat started to fall apart and so did the skipper.No matter how attractive the proposition be very circumspect especially if you are being asked to contribute towards the costs.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Paulka]

Yessss!
I had a similar experience, with the bonus that I was supposed to be the skipper.
The boat I meet was a wreck, engine, generator, sails, Gps, electonics, etc. were all out of order.
After 2 weeks trying to fix things, I finally refused the job, ... and had to pay my return ticket!

Try to find out why neither the owner, nor the usual skipper if any, don't themselves sail the boat. There must be a good reason.

Good luck.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[wpsalm]

Answered this question before guess it did,nt go through ...all the new cats being produced in S.A. are being delivered on their own bottoms, so called paid professional captains and unpaid crew...free trip to the west indies or where ever...see these guys here in the carribean all the time and the problems they experienced are always the same the professional captains lack leadership skills and the unpaid crew develope resentments when the capt. refuses to stop at St. Helina or Ascension or where ever the conflict of personalitys makes for an unpleasant time for all...one thing you should do is ask the captain how many trips he,s made and if as usual more than a few ask him what his volunteer crews were like if he complains they were useless bunch of whingers beware...he,ll be saying the same thing about you.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[penfold]

I agree with the earlier posts; speak to the skipper on the phone and or email him with all and any questions you have; all the skippers I had(I was lucky and never got a bad one) were happy to answer my dumb questions. If you aren't 100% happy that you'll get along with him, don't go! If it is organised by a crewing agency (reliance are usually good, they generally don't hire skippers who haven't already crewed on their deliveries) that is better, but no guarantee. If you have special dietary requirements, weird or otherwise, make sure Skipper knows this!

Take as many books as your baggage allowance will take, you'll need them! Also a walkman is good for those long night watches, but you'll need lots of batteries or a charger.

cheers,
David

<hr width=100% size=1>