Itinerary 

Crew arrive 6pm Thursday evening in Ipswich and depart Sunday afternoon/evening. We may leave as early as on the Thursday night. The crossings are approximately 100 nautical miles and take between 14 - 20 hours each way. Our itinerary will be governed largely by when the weather stipulates suitable crossing times, however our broad aim will be to cross on the first day, spend Friday night in a marina in Oostende, head off into town (perhaps even up to Bruges!) on Saturday morning before setting off again to spend Sunday at sea crossing back to Ipswich.

Pre-requisite experience

Before applying to this trip, please make sure you have filled out your CUYC Crew Register detailing your experience (editable via your account pages). We strongly recommend that you have at least some basic yachting experience for this trip. At minimum: you should have been on board a yacht for a weekend or more before and played an active role in sailing the boat. We’re heading a good distance offshore, and will be sailing through the night on a watch pattern (sleeping in shifts), so are likely to prioritise people with experience equivalent to Day Skipper Practical or above for at least one additional crew space besides Callum and Florence, the skippers. 

Crew

This trip is co-skippered by Callum and Florence. Callum is a former Commodore of CUYC and RYA Yachtmaster Instructor. Florence is a commercial Yachtmaster Offshore and former Blues race crew for the Club. Together we also jointly own our own 1977 sailing yacht, Eliza, which he have been restoring over the past year before heading off on an extended bluewater cruise together next year. Your remaining crew will comprise varied members of the Club. As ever, crew places are allocated as per the Club Sign-Up policy, which allocates first-come, first-served, whilst prioritising Junior Members (current students). There will be 8 crew members on board in total - you should expect to share a cabin with one other.

Expenses

All on-board expenses are chargeable to crew. This means on-board food, diesel for the boat and any marina fees will be split between the 8 crew at the end of the trip. This will be organised via the app SplitWise and settled up before departure on Sunday. Expect around £50 of expenses. Restaurants and pubs ashore are separate to this and at your own expense. 

Victual (on-board food)

Food on board will be planned in advance by the skippers. A grocery delivery to the boat will be arranged. Callum and Florence will contact you about dietary requirements once the crew is confirmed.

Expectations for you

Your skippers are there to help! They are very knowledgeable and will endeavour to answer all your questions. The trip is a fantastic learning opportunity so make the most of it.

Please note this trip is highly weather dependant. If the weather conditions are such that the original itinerary is not safe, we will endeavour to run an alternative itinerary with a similar passage distance elsewhere. We will be in contact with crew the week of as we monitor weather.

Expectations from us

All crew will be expected to helm (steer), wake up for a night watch (typical sleep pattern might be ‘3hr on, 6hr off’ - you will be briefed before departure by the skippers), contribute to every aspect of sailing the boat physically, moor, cooking, housekeeping and cleaning at the end of the trip.

Smoking and drinking alcohol are prohibited whilst underway (when not moored up) and smoking is prohibited at all times on board.