Finding and keeping crew

One of the most frustrating parts of owning a yacht is finding and keeping a regular crew. It is not uncommon for skippers every week to be making numerous phone calls and sending emails out desperately searching for people to make up the numbers.
It is an ongoing and very onerous task; remember we all sail for recreational purposes so who needs this hassle every week?
There are two facets to this dilemma, firstly how do we find the crew we need and secondly how do we keep them?
It is fairly well documented that a lot of sailors leave the sport in their late teens and tend to return again in the early to mid forties. Some of the reasons for this are obvious, as part of early adulthood most people are faced with quite a drastic lifestyle change, they are thrust out into the workplace or tertiary education takes over, for many of them they have their first pay packet in hand and have expendable income for partying and spending on themselves, not to mention the lure of the relationship factor.
So how do we recruit these kids to keelboat and mature age sailing and retain them on the yachting scene? Some of the social issues we can do little about and they will always take precedence over sailing. But it would be nice if sailing still remained a part of their life and we can go some way to helping this by following a few points.
One of the great attributes of sailing in my opinion is it is one of the very few sports that has no generation gap, you see a lot of sailors from a very wide demographic sharing time both on and off the water. I have seen fifteen year olds exchanging ideas with septuagenarians and each taking onboard the advice the other is offering, this just wouldn’t happen in a lot of sports and very rarely on any occasions for that matter!
It is so important to keep sailing interesting and exciting for the younger brigade, most of them come from quite a comprehensive dinghy development campaign and their knowledge base is extensive, so don’t treat them as a junior. Give them their due and ask for their advice, I have found they quite usually have a lot to offer both in talent and information, how many keelboat crew can read the flags and know the rulebook? Most kids are taught these basic skills as a matter of course.
As it is very easy for youngsters to become bored, make sure you try and give them an important role to play, one which is testing for them and presents a challenge, they will soon stop turning up if all they do is pack spinnakers and sit on the rail every race when they are actually experienced sailors with a lot to offer. Involve them in discussions pre and post race, take an interest in their observations and thoughts on the days sailing, they will surprise you with their awareness.
I am also of the view that in a lot of clubs the junior sailing program and the senior one are too far apart from each other. When kids finish up their junior sailing they drift away because they have had no contact with the other sections of the club, this is particularly prevalent in larger clubs. Smaller more intimate clubs tend to have a good crossover, so try to emulate this by having collective functions and non overlapping sailing times, try racing the juniors on a different day or time, this way they will be a available to have a sail on some larger boats and break the ice with older sailors, who knows it may well work both ways with the older keel boaters getting involved and taking an interest in the junior programmes. Another side benefit of a different junior sailing day from the traditional Saturday afternoon is that the sailing is not competing with other sports and as a result the junior ranks could grow.

On the other end of the scale we have the returning sailors or mature age beginners mentioned earlier, they are made up of former sailors who have found some life stability after a few decades of work and are keen to get back into the sport they remember and enjoy the camaraderie of being part of a crew or owning their own boat or they may be people to whom the idea of going sailing has a certain appeal. These more mature age returnees or beginners are generally much more content to simply play their part. Just always remember the reason we go sailing is to enjoy ourselves, so make sure they all enjoy the day, a skipper who rants and raves is going to have a much harder time keeping crew than someone who is more settled in their approach. As we all know there are days when tempers will become frayed and harsh words will be exchanged, after all it is a competitive sport, but make sure it is left on the water and even the odd apology will go a long way to a harmonious boat the following week. If we want to keep our crew, we need them to want to go sailing with us.
A strong sense of “Team” is always important and a few social events and some jocularity post race about the mishaps that occur will go a long way to a pleasant ambience the following week. Set up a weekly email to let everyone know the details of the next race and the time they are expected and any jobs that need doing. Sort out the roles on the boat and avoid any issues, it is a fact that some people will have to do the more menial jobs on the boat, talk to the crew and see if this is a problem, if it is sort out a structure that will help alleviate it, perhaps a roster system. Make a point of letting everyone know every role on the boat is important.
Several weeks ago I sailed on a boat where one crew member spent virtually the whole race down below packing the rather large spinnakers all on his own and they were always ready on time with no twists. I made the point after the race that he did his job on the boat better than anyone else did theirs and the crew were very lucky to have someone so competent in that role. So let people know you appreciate them.

Those yacht’s that are lucky enough have a regular crew should count their blessings.
It is an old cliché but remember “look after your crew and they will look after you”.