Volunteer to crew on a sailing boat

“Each morning began with a muster circle, where we gathered as a crew, introduced ourselves, shared intentions for the day, and grounded ourselves in purpose. Standing in that circle, feet planted on deck, surrounded by brilliant young educators, activists, and sailors, I felt both humbled and held. This was community in motion. I laughed as I ate things I rarely eat—peanut butter, pancakes, pasta, rice, bread, sugary snacks—because out here, every calorie is earned. Every bite carries the day’s wind. I was surrounded by youth—bright-eyed, fierce-hearted, full of skill and grace. Most of them are half my age, but they taught me with humor and patience: how to tie a bowline, raise the jib, read a nautical chart, shout “Hold the peak!” before we tacked. Every rope (sorry—line) had a name and a purpose. I learned to say halyard, sheet, port, starboard. I learned to listen for the sails’ song/ Sea shanty.”

“This opportunity came out of the blue for me and my partner at the time, Graceie. I received an email one day from an Alaskan guy looking for crew. He had bought a yacht on the east coast of the USA and needed to sail it back to Alaska. Being an adventures guy, he wanted to sail across the top via Greenland and the North West Passage rather than the warm easy way through The Panama Canal. His friend pulled out last minute and he needed crew. He saw my advert on Latitude38 sailing blog that I had made previous and reached out to us. He managed to find 4 young crew members in the last month before we left. After 48 hours flying from New Zealand to New York we arrived at the yacht near Baltimore. In the next 3 months we sailed from Baltimore, through the icebergs of Greenland and across the very top of Canada through the sea ice of the notorious North West Passage all the way to Alaska finishing in Kodiak.”