Update : July 20th, 2023
Karaka is now in Brazil after a beautiful Atlantic crossing from Namibia via Saint Helena. We landed in the vibrant city of Salvador de Bahia and we are now exploring the beautiful anchorages along the coast.
In September we will sail north toward French Guyana and Suriname before heading up to the Caribean for the end of the year 2023.
For those who are wondering, we gave up on our plans to head to Patagonia for now, things just didn’t line up for that trip.
We will have room for new crew members at various stages of our trip, so please contact us if you would like to join us along the way.
Email us or follow us on Facebook “Ketch Karaka” if you are interested.
Karaka is a sailing ship that has been sailing as a co-op since 2004.
The boat itself is an old school steel ketch, big, tall, wide, heavy, black, gnarly, full of character. She was found abandoned in Hong Kong, bought for 1$, and has circumnavigated since with a crew of sea vagabonds.
But Karaka is not simply a ship, it is also a concept.
In an effort to share, learn and grow, we take as crew anybody motivated to join with an open mind, a willingness to become part of the team and a deep craving for this lifestyle.
The boat is operated as a non profit cooperative. We run on limited funds from crew contributions, and so we are more concerned with keeping the ship functional, strong and seaworthy, than in keeping her shiny and overloaded with gadgets.
The crew is usually composed of a healthy mix of nomadic wanderers and non-conforming individuals, regardless of nationality, age, gender, worldview, background, or financial status. Most anybody is welcome, attitude is what matters.
This makes being part of the crew something more than just a cheap sailing opportunity. What this is, really, is a chance to experience what being a feral sea gypsy on a nice ship is all about.
Somehow, because of our exotic alternative lifestyle and eclectic past crew, plus a reputation gained in our younger and wilder past, people sometimes get the impression we are a full-on hippy boat. We’re not.
We’re down to Earth, practical, no nonsense and responsible sea gypsies. We try to select crew with those attributes also.