So, you have enjoyed the website, you feel we are a special boat and that you would fit right in, and now you want to get in touch with us to apply… Not so fast, please read on.
Well, first of all, we won’t hide the fact that we have loads of applicants, and that it is hard to pick the right people, especially since so many new ones write to us all the time… We regularly have to turn some (a lot actually) people down, so please consider whether this is something you really really want to do before writing to us, of course, but also if you are turned down, just try again another time, it might work out under different circumstances. By the way, we try to answer to all the mails we receive, so if you do not hear back from us right away, it is just that we’re out of internet reach for a while.
That said, sometime we will not answer some mails that are too obviously out of touch with what we offer, so keep in mind that it will reflect badly on you if it is apparent from your message that you haven’t read the website carefully. All this information is there for a reason: we have better things to do than to answer the same questions over and over to all the people who want to come sailing on Karaka. If you haven’t done so already, please go back and read at least the following pages :
Now that we are clear on all that, the best way to convince us to pick you as part of the next crew is to send us a nice email with a short biographical sketch so we can have an idea of your background, abilities, and interests.
Also write a short description of what attracts you to sailing on Karaka and what you feel you’ll be bringing to the crew, as well as what your expectations are for your stay with us on Karaka. What do you expect to do, learn, see, etc? How is it in your mind? If you can articulate those, that is a great way for us to get a deeper feel of what you have in mind.
Reality of the life on the boat will invariably be different than what you expect but it is good to think about it anyway and we can also correct some misunderstandings if there are any.
We also like to have a few recent photos of yourself, or even better, a short video with just you introducing yourself in a few seconds. That will give us a good feel about you. Just something along the line of : “ Hi, my name is —- and I would really like to come join the crew on Karaka between September and march (for example).” You can get creative with the video but please keep it short (and low res, internet is not always very good where we are).
Here are a few of the things that are not a requirement, but definitely a plus and could play in your favor and give you an edge in being selected:
- Sailing experience (or at least a full understanding of what it is like to live on a sailboat in the tropics)
- Skills and abilities related to maintenance (even if you never applied them to fixing a boat)
- Being a waterman/waterwoman with a love of water, diving, spearfishing, kayaking, surfing, etc…
- Special skills and talents : Do you play music, paint, perform, build, carve, forge or anything else like that? We like to have musicians on board for example and really enjoy an artistic streak on board. Being on the boat is a good time to get creative, and it is more rewarding that spending all your free time watching TV series on a laptop.
- Being able and keen to eat anything. After trying very hard to be tolerant and open minded about it, we are now strongly biased against vegans and to some extent against vegetarians too. If the idea of catching, killing processing and eating a wild ocean fish is repugnant to you, Karaka is probably not the right boat for you. Unfortunately it is also difficult to accommodate people with special allergies like gluten or lactose. We’ll make exception for exceptional individuals.
You are still reading? Well, good for you, here is the email address : crewkaraka@hotmail.com
We also have a Facebook account for the boat, and you can find it by looking for “Ketch Karaka”. One thing about this though, we don’t accept just anybody as “Facebook friend” so if you send us a request please send us a little message as well, to let us know who you are.