bobdmighty asked:
Hey Folks. I’m an amateur sailor with some experience on small boats. I live in the Pacific NW (Portland, OR). I’ve got a HUGE fascination with tall ships and would love to sail one. How do I get into this?
Jacquelyn
Hey Folks. I’m an amateur sailor with some experience on small boats. I live in the Pacific NW (Portland, OR). I’ve got a HUGE fascination with tall ships and would love to sail one. How do I get into this?
Jacquelyn
Try to find some on the net and see if you can get on as a crew member–eastern ports seem to have lots of them and some are resto jobs that look for donated time and labor and crewing.
Comment by paul h — October 19, 2008 @ 10:07 am
Most of the tall ships hire volunteers off the dock. There are several tall ships around both the east and west coasts of the US. Get down to the docks when one is around and strike up a conversation with the crew. Most likely you’ll be working for room and board, but the good news is that after you get a year of seatime on one you can apply for an Able Seaman’s document and a Mate 200 ton license. After you get the license in hand you stand a good chance of getting hired on for pay.
You don’t need it to work on most tall ship’s, but it wouldn’t hurt to get a Z-card. This is a merchant marine document issued by the USCG. Here are a couple of websites with information on getting merchant marine documents and licenses.
Comment by Dennis — October 21, 2008 @ 5:09 pm