Would you make a good crew member?

 

Findacrew.net does an excellent job of allowing boats and potential crew to get in touch with each other. Before you get on a boat however, this is just a short survey to find out if you will do well at sea. I've seen from Brian's point of view how hard it is to know what makes a good crew member based only on a profile, when the crew has no experience and idea of whether they can do it or not. It can be a frustrating experience for crew too, if they travel a long way only to get to the boat and realise they are not so well suited to the nautical life. Hopefully, this questionnaire will help you and potential boats from making any commitments if this isn't really your thing. Write your answers on a piece of paper (scores are at the end). And no cheating!

1) Have you ever worked in a bar or restaurant (and been good at it)?    

2) Can you read a book in a moving vehicle? (Don't try this while you're behind the wheel!)  

3) Are you allergic to fresh air or sunshine?  

4) Can you swim?      

5) How many miles, on average, do you like to run every day?
a) Less than 1        
b) between 1 and 3 
c) More than 3

6) What is your opinion of books?
a) I hate reading, unless it's Cosmo.        
b) The only reading I do is this blog while I'm connected to the internet.
c) Reading books is my favourite hobby

7) Which statement is most true of you:
a) A quick wash once a day is enough
b) I shower when I notice that I'm starting to smell
c) I shower three times a day if I have time.

Plus some questions specific to this boat - 

8) Which of these mugs can you not use, ever, on pain of death?
a) Furthur Adventures (left)
b) Best Crew Award - Sam 2013 (middle)
c) Breakfast in the Buff, Boulder Colorado (right)

9) When is the best time to play a prank on Brian?
a) when he is sleeping     b) I would never do that!            c) Anytime.

10) Which statement best suits you:
a) I enjoy watching tv and get angry if someone disturbs my concentration.
b) I fall asleep during anything I watch.
c) I have no short term concentration at all. I have to constantly be doing something. 

The results:

1) Yes = 10     No = 0 (I've noticed the crew we've had who have previously worked in a small bar/restaurant/close team atmosphere are much better at looking around and seeing the jobs that have to be done, and getting on and doing them. It's a nicer environment for everyone if they can all work together and do some jobs without needing to be told)

2) Yes = 10     No = 0 

3) Yes = 0     No = 5 

4) Yes = 200 No = - 50

5) a) 5 
    b) 0
    c) - 5 
Although it's good to keep fit, if you're a gym junkie you'll struggle to find enough exercise room on a small boat. Yoga would be a good thing to take up before embarking on that month long passage. 

6) a) - 5
b) 5: You get points for having excellent taste, but you might find it difficult being in remote areas with little connectivity - and not knowing when you will have a good enough connection to look at all those cat videos on Youtube.
c) 10

7) Which statement is most true of you?
a) 10
b)  20 (unless you smell so much that everyone else can notice it)
c) - 10
Water is a limited resource, especially on a boat!

8) Which mug can you never use?
a) 20
b) 0
c) 0

9) When is the best time to play a prank on Brian?
a) 15  
b) - 10
c) 50

10) Which statement best suits you? 
a) 10
b) 10 (as long as you don't snore)
c) 0 (fidgets don't want to hang around while Brian is getting his daily t.v. fix. Go upstairs/downstairs and clean the boat, or read a book).

Well done for finishing! 
Top score: 340 : Congratulations if this was you!
bottom score: - 80: Maybe you shouldn't go near the water.

If you did well and have decided that being on water is the place you need to be, there is a key question you should ask your captain before you embark.

Your trip sounds incredible and nearly too good to be true! I hope you won't be offended by me asking this: Do you have the funds to complete this trip?

A good captain should not be upset by this question - it shows you're an intelligent person, aware of the dangers of getting on an unknown boat. I've heard some horror stories of crew being stranded in a really remote place when the boat has needed to be fixed, the Captain has run out of money, and asks the crew to give financial assistance or to email their parents if they don't have enough. Although you might have an agreement with your captain that you'll cover your costs for food etc, you probably don't want to be in a position where you or your parents are asked for hundreds, or thousands of dollars just so you can get to the next port. It's worth asking, just to avoid future difficulties.

The next adventure

The next adventure came sooner than we would have liked – sailing from Kudat towards Kota Kinabalu around the northernmost tip of Borneo in the South China Sea.

A small problem of the engine completely stopping, whilst in rough waters…also with a squall, giving us 45knots of wind to go against. And to make things even more interesting, we were drifting uncontrollably whilst perilously close to a pinnacle that jutted out of the water, some 50metres away. 

Honestly, I don’t make this stuff up. 

An image of the squall on the radar which we were right in the middle of. Everything yellow is lots of wind, rain and big waves. Plus the rocks to the left, of course.

Luckily for us, Furthur is installed with a ‘Get Home’ system – or APU which allows the propeller to be run by power from the generator, rather than the engine in situations like ours. In flat, calm waters it should manage around 4knots – or about half of what we’d normally cruise at.

In this mess, we found the system worked, although a bit slower than promised given the conditions. We quickly devised a system – as soon as the engine ignition switch light went off, the engine would stall, (despite our threats and pleas) which meant Brian would run down to the engine room to turn on the get-home while I waited to steer the boat as soon as we had power. Emily watched the small engine ignition switch light like a hawk, and would shout out the second the light came back on - the engine would run again. This happened somewhere between 15 and 20 times throughout the rest of our 70 mile journey to Kota Kinabalu. Every time the light came back on, we’d be back to battle stations – Brian in the engine room, turning off the get home (you can't run both systems simultaneously), and me at the helm, trying to avoid the worst of the 3-4m swells and re-starting the engine.

Emily decided that bed was the safest place to be in the rough stuff!

Some 14 hours later, we limped into the most beautiful marina I’ve ever seen – Sutera Harbour Resort, which is just what we need for a month of well-earned R&R. 

A spectacular sunset from the marina

If you need me, I’ll be at the pool.

Waking up at 3am: Not usually worth it

It's not often that a 3am wake up call is rewarding. As far as I'm concerned, 3am is a good time to be going to bed after a night on the town rather than getting out of it. Unfortunately, living on a boat means different rules apply - namely, whilst under way, someone always has to be on watch. We look out for fishing boats, cargo ships, icebergs, mermaids - you name it, we try to avoid it.

I have somehow landed the best/worst shift: 3-6 (that's AM and PM) which means yes, I have to wake up at 2.50am to get conscious before I start, but I also get to witness a beautiful sunset and sunrise...and it's not often I am awake for both of these in one day!

So I'd just finished my morning watch and I was dragging my weary self back to bed, when I heard this exhale noise from outside the back door. I looked out, confused, and saw a cloud of steam rising from the back of the boat. Worried, I ran out to see if the generator was producing smoke (bad news) and instead saw something that my sleep deprived brain struggled to make sense of: a dark grey mass, glistening in the light of the dawn, barely a metre from the back of the boat. My very first whale! His square head was out of the water, and as he dived again I got to see the rest of him; bony spine and huge body and a flick of his tail as he went back below. Eventually something clicked into place and I started shouting to get everyone's attention (opinions differ as to whether it was 'Holy shit!' I said first, or 'Woaaaaah!' but whatever it was, Emily and Siem came running, thinking there was some kind of disaster) and were quick enough to see it too - a small pod of Sperm whales, slowly crossing the path the boat had made in the waves. They surfaced every few metres and we saw lots of 'blow' - not steam! The animal I saw most clearly was at least 8m long, possibly a juvenile and most fantastically square headed - almost a right angle. He looked right at me and winked! Or maybe that was sleep deprivation...

 If you squint and turn your head to the side you can just about see where the whale was...and some blow.










I'm glad the girls were quick enough to come and see - it was a fantastic moment to see those  majestic animals up close, but it does make me wonder how much we miss because we're too busy to look out for it. If I'd have gone to bed a single minute earlier, those giant, graceful creatures would have passed us right by and we'd have been oblivious. 

 




It's not often that waking up at 3am is worth it - but today was definitely one of those days! 

A much better shot of some beautiful dolphins (who doesn't love dolphins?) that we saw frequently in Indonesia, as they ride the bow wave.