Why you should put a sailing resume together
If you don’t own a boat, these tips will help you get onto boats for day sails, racing, blue water passages and deliveries. If you’re lucky enough to own a boat, this article may be of interest to you if you’re looking for crew and what best practices you might already be implementing.
Why do you need a resume? Simply put, putting together a one pager will let skippers and boat managers know your skill set and whether you might be a fit for their program. If you’re asking someone in the sailing community for a recommendation or referral, having a sailing resume shows your level of commitment. Recommendations work both ways, nobody wants to recommend someone and have it come back to bite them. So if you’re asking for a recommendation, make sure you’re buttoned up. Do not assume just because you’re friends with someone that it means they will automatically guarantee a spot on their race team. Sailing is a tremendously fun sport but it comes with inherent risks so recommendations carry consequences.
BASIC DETAILS: Unless you’re putting together a professional resume, sailing resumes should reflect your personality and the types of boat situations you’re looking for. Your resume should state the obvious: name, contact details, sailing credentials, classes, skills and experience. Please include any yacht club memberships. Any details that reflect your personality are helpful. If you’re a casual person, great, state that. If you’re highly competitive and looking for a performance race team, make that clear.
For example, if you’re looking to get on a race team, your objective should reflect that with past regattas and boats raced on with an action shot or team shot, but if you’re looking to cruise for months, your resume should reflect that with skills like singing, provisioning, cooking underway, diving and any photo of you in a tropical locale on a boat. Ladies, it’s important to remember that bikini shots might be fine for social media, but unfortunately, photos on your resume should reflect your skills. For example, if you’re in a bathing suit while cleaning fish is great but a photo of you in a bikini sleeping on the net on a catamaran says something else. There will be plenty of captains who think that’s great but you’ll have to decide for yourself whether that’s the type of situation you want. Plenty of fish looking for captains to sail off into the sunset with.
DAY SAILS: if you’re just learning to sail, getting on day sails will greatly improve your comfortability around boats and ease your way into advanced sailing like cruising, racing or blue water passages, including deliveries. For day sails, basic etiquette is, don’t overstate your skills. Many people will say, yeah, I’ve been on lots of sails before, my parents used to have a boat when I was a kid, yada yada. If you don’t know points of sails, names of boat parts, start with basic sailing classes to get up to speed before asking to crew on boats. At this point, you’re a bathing guest, not crew. That’s fine for many people. But if you want to crew, you need to level up your skills, especially being able to help with lines getting on and off a dock. Article I wrote on Twelve Steps to Becoming A Sailor. Do ask whether you can bring any snacks and what the drinking policy is. Some captains only do happy hour once back on the dock. And definitely dress appropriately, like wear white soled shoes and layers. For your resume, you can write down what your goals are, especially if you’re new.
RACING: your resume should include any regattas you’ve done in the past and on what types of boats. For example, Wednesday Night Beer Cans or Long Distance Races like Delta Ditch in the Bay Area is more casual compared to the Cal 500, which is more competitive. You’ll also want to list any regattas like Women on the Water and what positions you know. If you’re a bow person, or mast, put that down as those tend to be highly valuable skills. If you don’t have any experience yet, but you’ve been to some racing clinics, write that down. What captains and boat managers are looking for are your abilities and types of boats you’ve been on. If you’ve only raced in the cruiser classes, it’s quite different from racing in performance classes. Make sure if it’s applicable, to list yourself on crew sites and check the calendar on Regatta Network or local yacht clubs. Introduce yourself to your local race chairs and send your racing resume to them with what kind of boat you’re looking for. And go to the club on race days. Volunteer for Race Committee and any local regattas. Knowing the racing rules is a big bonus. Networking will get you onto boats.
BLUE WATER CRUISING:
If you’d like to start sailing long distance, doing deliveries is a great mileage builder. Make sure you’re listed on crew sites like Latitude 38 and try to get a spot on the Baja Haha. Read the article I wrote called “How to get on a boat as crew.”
Write down if you’ve done any long distance overnighters, especially if you have stood night watch or you’re able to cook underway. Do NOT say you can do something if you don’t know how to do it. Eagerness and Experience are two different things. Again, do not overstate your skill set. There’s nothing worse than being stuck on a boat with someone who said they can do something because they thought it would be easy but then once underway, you find out they have never done that task. It doesn’t mean you’re not eager to learn, but one should state clearly that you’ve never cooked underway and you don’t usually get seasick and would like to try is very different than knowing how to use the propane and solenoid and have cooked hot foods with the gimbaled stove and what your go to recipes are for stormy weather.
Each captain and boat will have their own method of compensation. Some boats offer the experience itself as compensation, thus the crew member is responsible for their own travel to and from the boat, including international flights. Some captains will opt to sponsor the food and drinks and others will want contributions. Boat expenses like fuel and mooring fees are generally paid for by the Captain. On professional deliveries, your compensation should generally be paid for plus day rates. The most important aspect of deliveries is whether you’ve done any night watches. If so, you should convey what types of night watches you’ve done, for example, whether you can stand watch alone and feel comfortable adjusting sails at night. You should know that deliveries, especially if a delivery skipper is delivering a boat to a new owner, that they do not know the boat and do not know the condition of the boat, other than what was on the disclosures of the sale. So you should be prepared for ANYTHING. Make sure your passport and any vaccinations are up to date. Bring your own medications and disclose any major health issues. And be prepared to step off the boat if it seems unsafe. Otherwise, have a great trip. Deliveries are challenging learning experiences unlike other sailing opportunities because it’s mostly upwind bashes under time constraints.
For blue water cruising, captains want to know that you have a good attitude, will remain calm in emergencies, and won’t get seasick. Generally speaking, captains who have been cruising for a long time, can single hand but it’s nice to have crew for longer passages. So don’t fall asleep at the wheel, literally.
If you’re a beginner, don’t worry about it. Include any skills from your life that may be pertinent. Above all, no matter how much experience you have, you will gain so much more by sailing with different sailors. Good luck and have fun!
Here’s a link to my resume. Jan 2024.
