Would you ...

Tomahawk

Tomahawk

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Sitting on the boat this afternoon, a young couple came up asd asked if we could give them a lift to the UK..

As it happens we are not going in that direction for a while so I said no...
They seem veery pleasant, but one wonders? ae they strapped for cash and simply nitchiking or is there a. ore sinist explanation

So I wonder would you?


PS. we are in N Brittany so it is a possible one hop across the channel ...
 
Asked exactly the same some years back - two young Frogs who just wanted a cheap way of getting to uk, they offered to cook on the way over and do wash up and generally help sail across.

SWMBO asked if they had ever been below deck on a small boat in any sort of sea and had they the first idea of how to sail. Two very sheepish "No's" and they wandered off.
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
Well.... if you don't ask, you don't get; did worth a try I suppose; however, I wouldn't give them a lift; far too long to be with people you don't know.
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That last bit was one of my thoughts....
after all, it may get you into trouble if you simply put hem ashore on the nearest rock on account of their awful taste in music..
 
Charge them for their share of the 'expenses' and take them out for a trial sail. Tell them not to bring any drugs and that they can't smoke or drink alcohol on passage ..... and they've got to clean up after the passage. If they are still interested ... they may be okay ..... provided they don't puke to windward.
 
A friend's son made his way back from Greece a few years ago hitching rides on boats. I thought it was very enterprising of him. He'd spent the summer in Europe, supporting himself busking (he plays trumpet). He picked up a ride from Nice to Ag Nicholaos on a posh yot returning from a regatta (delivery crew), but found holidaymakers in Greece less generous than those in France and Germany and ran out of cash. Came home via Sardinia, Corsica, Gibralter, Portugal & France. I'd probably not do it for an Eastern European or a West African though. The Border Agency might just get stroppy about it.

I picked up an Aurignac from Cherborg and took hem to Bray one year, but I had met him on the island a couple of times.
 
Several years ago, during my uni holidays, I was working at the Southampton Boat Show and living on a boat in Hythe. After packing up on the final Sunday, the ferry had stopped running. No matter, I thought, I'll just wander down to the pontoons where a lot of boats are leaving. I'm sure someone will take pity on a fellow Show survivor and drop me off on the waiting pontoon on the way past, it's not exactly out of the way...

Nope. I asked every boat there, not one would even consider it and most were outright rude. I was frankly surprised and a little disappointed.
 
I'll buck the trend, and say yes I probably would; so long as they had a passport, enough cash, sign on as crew and happy to clear in why not?

I taken backpackers from Las Palmas to Banjul no problems, never been on a boat before and great company, blended in, took watches, entertained the kids and were really good fun to be around. I'd take them again as well. Simple rules, I insect bags, no drugs in bags on on person, enough cash to look after themselves (and or a plane ticket out ).

Too many scared people out there, of course you don't know what may happen, but good deeds/karma always pay back in some form; it's one of the reasons I got into sailing, being a beach bum and working my passage around the Med' with interesting people who had an interest in others and wanted crew or to meet interesting people form different places and backgrounds...
 
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I was sitting on my boat in Tangiers having lost my crew to illness when a young Dutch chap with a rucksack walked up saying he wanted to get to Suriname and did I need crew. We left 2 days later for the Canaries and then Barbados. A bit of a gamble as he had never been sailing but he was great. A quick learner and fun to have aboard. He paid his expenses. That was back in the 80's. Not sure I would do it now. Probably though.
Chris
 
Many years ago when I was a student, I hitched round Europe a couple of times. I had a Union Flag on my rucksack, always looked clean and tidy and was usually with a young lady(!) One thing I learned very quickly was that GB plated drivers NEVER stopped to give us a lift. We never waited very long and I took in most if France, Italy, Sicily Greece etc over two trips.
 
john_morris_uk said:
Many years ago when I was a student, I hitched round Europe a couple of times. I had a Union Flag on my rucksack, always looked clean and tidy and was usually with a young lady(!) One thing I learned very quickly was that GB plated drivers NEVER stopped to give us a lift. We never waited very long and I took in most if France, Italy, Sicily Greece etc over two trips.
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similar; in my teens I hitched around Europe, although I wore a kilt rather than a union flag. Great experience, lots of great memories, and no problems.

If I've space in my car I'll usually stop to give a lift if I see a thumb, so I've no problem with giving folks a lift in my boat, though I'd do a bit of checking if it was across a national border.
 
I used to hitch hike everywhere (as recently as the 00's), but never on boats. I've met some wonderful people that way.

A lot would depend on my gut feeling about the individuals, but between France and England, I think I would. I don't think I'd give anybody a lift out of somewhere like Thailand though, in case they're carrying anything they oughtn't.
 
If I was going their way sure I would give them a lift. The checks suggested by Ariadne are similar to what I thought. My SWMBO picks up hitch hikers and has been a big hitchhiker in Europe, late 1980s, I'll stop for them occasionally.
 
A different view -

Many years ago I hitched a lift from Brest back to the Solent with an old singlehander ("Can't seem to get anyone to sail with me ...")
I jumped ship in Roscoff; when awake he never stopped talking, when asleep he never stopped snoring!!!

Ref. the later posts: I hitched to India in the 60s, through Afghanistan. A more generous people and culture I have yet to meet. So poor financially and so rich in every other way.
 
Topcat47 said:
A friend's son made his way back from Greece a few years ago hitching rides on boats. I thought it was very enterprising of him. He'd spent the summer in Europe, supporting himself busking (he plays trumpet). He picked up a ride from Nice to Ag Nicholaos on a posh yot returning from a regatta (delivery crew), but found holidaymakers in Greece less generous than those in France and Germany and ran out of cash. Came home via Sardinia, Corsica, Gibralter, Portugal & France. I'd probably not do it for an Eastern European or a West African though. The Border Agency might just get stroppy about it.

I picked up an Aurignac from Cherborg and took hem to Bray one year, but I had met him on the island a couple of times.
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We've been asked a couple of times if we're going to Turkey (when we're in Agios Nikolaos, Crete) and so have several other boats there. We've always said no, mainly because we weren't heading to Turkey that year, but it also worries me a little about the attitude my insurers and the authorities would take if one of these hitch-hikers was involved in a serious accident aboard, or worse, died. How could I explain that someone I don't know and have never met before is crew and not a charter customer?
 
I'm also an ex-hitcher, in fact I'll occasionally hitch from where my boat ends up back to my car if public transport isn't good.

Hitched all through Europe, round Australia, Mid east, Africa etc. Only way to do it when you're young.

Also hitched / worked passage across Atlantic, Red Sea, Med, Indian Ocean..

These days I'm always happy to see hitchers and will go out of my way to help them out.

I also like to take people out on my boat (no expenses required) and would gladly pick up sea hitchers if I've got enough space. Probably buy 'em a pint at the end too.

Pass it on!
 
agurney said:
If I've space in my car I'll usually stop to give a lift if I see a thumb
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I would in principle, but I rarely seem to see them nowadays. When I do, I'm usually not going their way. And on the rare exceptions, they always seem to wait in daft places where I can't stop.

I guess because they often don't drive themselves, they don't appreciate that I need to see them with enough warning, and I need somewhere to stop. Where I usually join the motorway, there's a layby on a straight section of dual carriageway just before the junction - if they would stand at the "upstream" end of the layby I could see them in time to slow down, and then pull into the layby to pick them up. Instead they invariably seem to lurk on the sliproad, just round a blind corner so there's no warning, where everybody is busy accelerating up to line speed to merge in, and with nowhere to safely stop and wait for them to catch up and get in. No wonder nobody picks them up!

I've only hitched a lift myself once, after falling asleep on a train and missing my stop. No trains running the other way, and no taxis willing to drive outside the city on a Saturday night when they have far more lucrative business ferrying pissheads around within it. I thumbed a lift with a kebab-shop owner on his way home, and very glad I was too.

Pete
 
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