How to Go Sailing for Free

The wind is free, but sailboats and boat maintenance can be expensive. Fortunately, there are some free ways to go sailing without incurring the expense of a boat.

Photo by Ankalole [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

The wind is free, but sailboats and boat maintenance can be expensive. However, there is an inescapable reality that makes it easy to go sailing for free. It takes people to safely run a sailboat. Typically, a sailboat needs at least one crew member to handle the front sails on the boat (jib and spinnaker), and to help during docking. If you know how to sail and are willing to volunteer as a crew member, all you have to do is find a boat and skipper in need. 

Of course, before you can sail for free, you need to acquire at least some basic sailing and seamanship skills. Sailing classes are offered by a variety of organizations. A couple of weekend classes from a local recreation department or sailing club should be sufficient for sailing in confined waters of a lake, river, or bay. For open-ocean sailing, more advanced coursework and experience should be acquired. You'll also want to take a basic seamanship class from the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary or U.S. Power Squadron to understand the basics of safety, seamanship, marlinspike skills, navigation, and communications. These classes will equip you to contribute aboard a boat and can also be valuable places to make connections with boat owners.


Once you have the rudimentary skills, you'll need some basic sailing gear and attire. First, you'll want to have some boat shoes from a reputable company. While some department store shoes may look like boat shoes, you'll want the grip of genuine boat shoes like Sperry Topsiders. Conventional sneakers can leave marks on boat decks and will also mark you as a beginner. You'll also want suntan lotion, a good hat, a water bottle, and sunglasses. If you always bring your own bottle of water, you'll be prepared if your skipper offers drinks that you don't like. You should also get foul weather gear and some safety equipment as your sailing career progresses.


After you've learned to sail and gotten a minimum of appropriate gear, you'll need to scout out sailing opportunities. You can use the internet to find sailing clubs and sailing marinas in your area. You can also find many websites dedicated to matching skippers with crew. A simple search on "sailing + skippers + crew" will yeild a treasure trove of crew matching opportunities.

To pursue the sailing club option, if you find a sailing club, find out what kinds of activities they sponsor. Many clubs sponsor sail boat races in the evenings or on weekends. You may be able to join one of these racing-oriented sailing clubs as a crew member. They'll make your name and number available to skippers needing crew. Alternatively, you may also be able to help the club out on a race committee boat. These opportunities will help you make the connections needed to secure a crew position. More casual recreational sailing clubs may sponsor group sails, cookouts, and even own boats that they will loan out to qualified members.

If you find a marina with sail boats, but without clubs, you may still be able to secure a crew position by visiting the marina and looking for bulletin boards. Many marinas and boating supply stores maintain bulletin boards where people can look for crew or offer to be crew. You could post some contact information and see if you can find a skipper through a bulletin board. If you are visiting the marina, you can strike up conversations with various boat owners that you meet and scope out the sailing community in the area. They may be able to point you towards clubs that are poorly publicized or towards skippers who need some help. Sailing is a community. To go sailing, you simply need to become a part of it.

It takes a little time, but once you have the skills and the connections, it is easy to go sailing for free.

(This article is a republication of an article that I originally posted on Yahoo Contributors Network.)