Getting Started
Roadmap — Nine
If
you are experienced racing crew, your objective is to get the right
number of crewing jobs in the boat or boats of your choice. The
better a small boat racer you are, the more skilled a skipper will
be attracted to giving you a regular ride. There is more racing
available than you have time for: the club races about every other
weekend in the year, and the various classes have district circuits
that fill most of the holes in that for April through October.
a)
Join CSC as an Associate member
and participate in Club events. An Associate membership is a
low-cost alternative for non-boat owners, which will enable you
to build contacts and visibility among other knowledgeable racers.
The membership includes access to all Club services and events,
including the newsletter and members-only portions of CSC's Web
site. So join and participate in the racing, the socials, the meetings.
Join a committee or task force and get to know the club members.
b) Register on in the crew-finder.
(The list of available crew is visible only on the members-only
side of the web site. You can do your registering there if you are
a member.) Reliable and experienced racing crew, particularly ones
whose racing is in small boats, or even know the details of racing
a particular class in the club, are in high demand.
c)
Crawl though the web site (carolinasailingclub.org) to get
a feel for club activities. (For later use, note that in the members-only
side there is a Rogues Gallery of names and pictures of all members
to help you put faces with names and vice versa.)
d)
Go to the next Third Thursdays
Social to start meeting members and get the lay of the land.
e)
Identify with a CSC Fleet. You
would be attractive as a crew, but you need to become known among
the skippers. A good way to do this is to focus on a particular
CSC fleet. Get to know the fleet members. Ask them to tell you about
their class. The Fleet Captain can be a helpful first contact. The
more fleet members you talk to, the more they will recognize your
experience and look for you when they need crew. As you gain experience
on that class of boat, demand for you as crew will grow. Learn how
best to rig and tune that class of boat. Consider joining the class
national class association as an associate or crew member. Many
of these associations have Web sites, newsletters, or other publications
that provide tips & techniques for rigging, tuning and sailing
that class of boat. (If the class association is not active, sometimes
the builder has a Web site.) The CSC Fleet Captain is likely to
be able to tell you how to find written or on-line resources for
learning special sailing techniques for that type of boat.
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