Looking for a Crew Spot – Block Island Race Week 2025 & Advice Needed

Posted by Wetzel_Pretzels@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 5 comments

Hi y’all,

I’m a little anxious posting this (probably dramatic, but bear with me). I recently graduated and moved to a new city, and I’ve been doing low-key, non-competitive racing 1–2 times a week in the summer just to stay on the water. I sailed in college and have experience in Lasers/420s/FJs, but I want to push myself and get into longer, more competitive races. I’m afraid my skills will just disappear, and I’ll become even more washed up and never sail again.

My yacht club doesn’t participate in the regatta, and I’m not too familiar with the class of boats used, but I’m eager to learn. Since sign-ups were a week ago, I’m not too sure what to do. If you know of any teams looking for crew or have advice on how to get on a boat, I’d really appreciate it!

Also, for anyone who started sailing later in life or transitioned from dinghies to big boat racing, how did you find your footing? I’d love any advice on staying involved in the sport post-grad and continuing to build skills when you don’t have an obvious path forward.

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pattern_altitude@reddit

College sailor here — I was connected with a crew spot on a big boat off campus through the team, and it’s honestly not too much of a transition. The big boat racing I do is pretty low-key and the crew has been great about teaching me, but it’s pretty straightforward. Just grinding, keeping things organized, and getting on the rail. I’d love to learn foredeck/bow work at some point but my regatta schedule winds up conflicting with big boat stuff a lot, so that’s a long way off.

It should also be noted that I had no real sailing experience before I got to college and I’m just wrapping up my first year here. You’ll absolutely be fine.

Wetzel_Pretzels@reddit (OP)

this eases my anxiety good luck w/ the rest of your college sailing career

x372@reddit

Check to see if there's a crew board on the registration site. Many times boats need crew for a day or two, maybe even the whole week. Make yourself available for the transport too.

I found their crew board! fingers crossed

sedatedruler@reddit

If we were doing it this year I’d invite you to join us but sadly we’re out this summer.

Honestly, most big boats need crew because something like a 35 footer with a symmetrical kite needs 6-9 people to sail it well in any sort of breeze.

Few ways to get on a boat: - spring events. There are events every spring that are aimed at getting skippers and crew psyched about the coming season’s racing. Some have the explicit purpose of helping match crew to skippers. - ask around. You’d be surprised how many people you know know someone who sails on some big boat. I’d mention your interest in sailing to coworkers and acquaintances and see whose cousin actually races every weekend. - feeders. Sailing centers sometimes have lists of people who want to get on bigger boats. Frostbite racing is another good way to get into a community (someone is ALWAYS looking for crew and those people either race big boats in the summer or know someone who does). - One design. See if there are one design fleets in your city and figure out where they’re based. Shoot the president an email and say “college sailor would love to get on a boat.” Our fleet is always looking for crew and basically if you show up they’ll find someone to take you out. - Smaller regattas. The big events are popular. People make time to do Figawi or New York or Block Island. Most boats struggle to crew the random Saturday regatta. I’m not sure the best way to connect with these boats but being on the scheduling side I know boats often need more people than they can find.