Who’s that crew? (ARC 2023 Edition)
It was back in July this year when David and I found ourselves thinking seriously about who would join us for our first major passage aboard Pure Joy. There’s lots to consider, but as our top priorities emerged, it became clear that our ideal crew for the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) would be:
- Experienced sailors. (Ideally one crew member would have done the ARC before.)
- Available not just for the ARC, but for the weeks leading up to it to help us get Pure Joy to the start line in Las Palmas
- REALLY. GOOD. FUN.
We posted an ad on oceancrewlink.com that shared a bit about us, Pure Joy and the kind of crew we were looking for. Within a few hours of posting, we had over 30 responses. (For a lot of sailors, the ARC will fall somewhere on their bucket list!) Feeling the pressure to share this special trip with people we could trust and really enjoy, we set to work in analyzing responses. Several hours of crunching the sailors’ profiles, followed by a handful of zoom calls later, we were feeling super excited about who would join us on this journey.
Today, we are even more excited. This crew has already sailed 1500 nautical miles together with David in delivering Pure Joy from Tarragona (near Barcelona, where the freight ship from Singapore dropped her off) to The Canary Islands. They’ve gotten to know Pure Joy pretty much inside out and have had really great fun along the way. While we are technically only at the start line of this journey, David and I are already feeling super lucky to have found such awesome people to join us on this adventure. What can we say, we’ve got great taste in friends!
In addition to being highly skilled sailors, each of this crew has adopted some ‘special duties’.
Marissa 🇺🇸
Chief Organization Officer. (Her spreadsheets put my measly lists to shame!)
Why the ARC? I took off a year from work to do some sailing. I’ve never done anything really serious or offshore and I’ve always heard that if you get the chance to cross an ocean, you should try it. It’s like nothing else – you find different corners of your mind that you didn’t know existed. And then you find that all the corners are actually rounded and you run around in circles until the end.
Tell us about your first sailing experience. I went out with the University of Texas sailing club. They had a deal where it was $10 a sail and if you went 6 times, you were a member of the club. They would match students up with old, cranky sailor men who had their boats on Lake Travis. I remember my guy was nice on land but very mean and shouty on the water. It was really stressful and I thought maybe it wasn’t for me. But when I actually got into sailing was in New York on the Hudson River. I would see people sailing from my office window and thought, ‘That’ looks like freedom.’ So I joined a club and had non-cranky people teach me everything they knew.
Sailing experiences of note.
Best: When the boat is heeling (on a monohull), maybe just a little too much, and you dangle your feet over the edge and you feel like you are flying.
The best part of sailing for me is that it has taught me so much about what I am capable of. It’s accessible – you don’t need to be especially talented in any specific way, you just have to be willing to put in the time, effort and understanding.
Scary: When I first started skippering, I was on a J24, it was my second time out. I had two inexperienced crew and I was still learning how to manage people on a boat. There were storms but they were passing to the north but then these 40 knot gusts of wind came up and I could see it coming at us across the water because all the boat ahead of us were getting knocked about. We just let everything out, flapping and ran from the storm as best we could. It was just 10 minutes but it felt a LOT longer. Afterwards the crew mentioned how calm and composed I was…I wask like, ‘Really?!’ It didn’t feel that way at all.
Martin 🇬🇧
Chief Engineering Officer. (The man can tinker and fix just about anything!)
Why the ARC? I’ve done the ARC twice and worked for the World Cruising Club and you can’t beat the atmosphere. This time around - I’ve just spent the last two years renovating my daughter’s farm – so this is about taking a break for me. To enjoy what I love doing, which is sailing. This crossing is so much fun and you meet so many great people, I just wanted to do it again.
Tell us about your first sailing experience. It was a girl. I was 15 and fancied a girl and she told me, “I go sailing every Saturday.” I said, “Oh yeah, I love sailing!” even though I’d never been. Sadly, the relationship didn’t flourish, but the love of sailing did.
Sailing experiences of note.
Best: I remember one trip when the wind was on the beam, the perfect wind, dolphins, good friends, the whole lot.
Worst: $5000 for not entering Puerto Rico properly. (Boating is often an expensive endeavor!)
Scariest: Bay of Biscay – 70 knot winds, the boat was handling it very well until we went into one of the cabins and saw that water was pouring in like a fountain.
PJ 🇳🇿
Chief Utilities Officer (A good person to be friends with – he tells us if we can shower.)
Why the ARC? It’s always been on my bucket list. I had the opportunity to take some time out and go sailing. The ARC is fun and well-organized so I jumped at the chance.
Tell us about your first sailing experience. I moved to Auckland when I was 14 and I bought a P-Class (a kids beginner boat). My parents would put me in the water and off I’d go! I started racing when I was about 15. Then I got into keel boat racing from there.
Sailing experiences of note.
Best: Amazing sailing – ‘champagne sailing’- happens from time to time. We had some of that from Lanzarote to here. Good angle, good speed, when the boat is just humming.*
*Author’s Note: This recollection came with a twinkle in PJ’s eye. Here’s to wishing Pure Joy a lot of THIS kind of sailing over the coming weeks.