Sailing Ida

We are currently sailing in the Caribbean sea and we are seeking crew to sail with us to Panama and from Panama to French Polynesia.

Before you apply to be crew on Ida, please read this page carefully. On this page we have tried to describe life as crew on Ida, and if you can see yourself in what is written here, the chances of a match between you and the life on board Ida are better. 

WHO ARE WE?

We are a family of five who have set out to complete a circumnavigation of the earth over the next two years. Whether we make it all the way around isn’t the most important part as long as we get to see and explore the nature and culture in various parts of the world.      
Our family consists of dad, Martin, aged 41, mom, Farrah, aged 39 and our 3 children; Anton at 19, Elliott at 15 and Victor at 12 years old. At some point in spring 2023, Anton will be leaving Ida, and we will be four persons on board in the pacific and on.

WHO ARE YOU?

You are preferably a couple or two or three friends, who know each other well, between 20-50 years old and dream of seeing the world from the water side. You would like to go on a long distance ocean crossing and sailing to unique destinations and are prepared to give a hand on all the tasks on a boat, e.g cooking, cleaning and ship maintenance etc. You want to experience new cultures, learn how to navigate them and learn more about them. At the same time, you want to be part of a crew consisting of a family with homeschooling and everything else that comes along with family life.

You are adaptable – things don’t always go as planned, partly because wind and weather interfere with our sailing plans and things on board will be needing fixing. We expect that you have sailing experience and are able to do both day and night shifts during long distance sails.

You’re good at keeping your spirits up when things sometimes don’t go as planned. Our experience is that all the experiences on board at sea, both the sweet and the sour, help to create a very special and unique bond on board, as every person has an important role.

SAILING EXPERIENCE

As crew on Ida, you don’t need to be a world champion sailor. But you do need to have some experience in sailing. When we sail, there is always someone at the helm, day or night. So you have to be ready to take responsibility, and to have your sleeping rhythm disturbed on the longer stretches.

CREW CONTRIBUTION

As crew you pay a fee of 36 USD per day(250 Dkr) for bunk money, which goes to maintenance and operation of the ship and a fee of 15 USD per day to cover ongoing expenses for food, fuel, port fees, cruising permits and clearance. The latter can vary as some places are more expensive than others. Sometimes you will need to pay a little less than 15 USD and sometimes a little more.

In addition you will need to calculate spending money for activities and trips ashore. This could include a restaurant visit, a hike, a trip to a museum and much, much more.

When joining a trip, you reserve a place by paying a deposit equal to half the price for the whole trip and pay the last half before boarding the ship.

Once the boat has received the first half of the price at the time of signing the agreement, you are assured a place on the boat.

If you, as a crew member, cancel a trip or choose to disembark early, the deposit will be refunded only if a new crew member  is found for that trip. Skipper approves of the new crew member.

If the skipper asks a crew member to leave earlier than paid for, the guest contribution will be refunded from the day you are dismissed. This does not apply if the reason for your dismissing is a criminal offense such as bringing drugs on board or being under the influence of drugs.  

Once we have agreed your participation on a trip, we have agreed the date and port of embarkation and disembarkation. We make every effort to reach the agreed port at the agreed time, always. However, we may still be delayed. In that case, we cannot cover any unforeseen costs.

GENERAL RULES

You must never have drugs on board or be under the influence of drugs!

You must have travel insurance that covers medical treatment and repatriation. A copy must be provided before you embark. 

Upon embarkation, you must bring a passport valid for at least six months after your planned departure date.

In the event of illness or accident, we must have a contact person on board who we can contact if necessary.

JOINT CONTRIBUTION

Everyone contributes to the tasks on the ship. This includes common household duties such as cooking, provisioning and cleaning – but also lending a hand with any repairs to the best of your ability. We’ll agree a plan together upon your arrival.

When you’re on a ship, there’s not as much privacy as at home. Therefore, you have to be prepared that most of the time you will have people around you, and you have to be open in the company of others. But naturally everyone needs time to themselves, and we will try to respect people’s need to be alone for a while. For example, in their bunk or at the bow.

SAFETY ON BOARD

On Ida, we put a lot of emphasis on safety and make sure the equipment is always working. We will go through emergency procedures such as man overboard and fire with you. Even small accidents can be very tricky far from shore, and help is far away.

Ida is equipped with a modern AIS transmitter and a life raft for 10 persons with more than 24 hours provisioning. In addition you have to bring a life jacket. we recommend that you bring a life jacket for blue water sailing with sprayhood and an AIS transmitter on it, and a safety line with at least 2 carabines. We use safety lines with 3 carabines ourselfs. There are some spare old life vests on board without sprayhood or AIS transmitter with 1 carabine safety lines. 

It is always the skipper who decides what safety equipment to use. I.e. when to wear a life jacket and carry a safety line. As a rule, safety lines are always worn after dark and in bad weather when on deck and in the cockpit.

You must have a travel insurance. Ida has an accident insurance that covers everyone on board in matters related to sailing or the boat. But in all other matters on land, it is essential to have your own travel insurance, otherwise illness or accidents can have incalculable financial consequences.

EQUIPMENT

Anyone can use the equipment on board Ida i.e. dinghy, fishing gear, SUP board, etc. However the spare snorkeling gear is a bit old and you should consider bringing your own. There is no equipment for scuba diving on board.

APPLY FOR A CREW SPACE

If your interest has been piqued and you would like to join us on an adventure, we look forward to hearing from you! The process for joining as crew is fairly straightforward. To start, please send us an email describing the following to the best of your ability:

A short story about yourself.

When would you like to embark and how long would you like to sail with us?

What kind of previous sailing experience do you have?

What are your expectations of being a crew, and of us as skippers?

Do you have any illnesses, allergies or special diets we need to be aware of?

Before you are assigned a crew space we will invite you to an informal zoom meeting where we can meet and say Hi to each other.