(2020)
Well the last time I updated this section was prior to the Pacific crossing, looking for a ride out of French Polynesia. Now I have an additional 3500nmi, a few more weeks and an ocean crossing under my belt and I'm in the same spot again. Actually not quite. I moved to northern Germany to find a place to put down roots...for the time being.
So far I've been deck-crew on two boats. That may not sound like much but behold, one of them is a historic steel 24m 19th century Dutch gaff ketch where I was trained on and still sail as bosun every now and then. It was pretty traditional training with a lot of old-school line handling. The other one was a Lagoon 470 catamaran on which I crossed the Pacific from Cabo San Lucas (MX) to Rangiroa (PF) as sailing crew. With the combination of the almost two different worlds of the modern yacht and a traditional/historic ketch I feel like I'm well equipped for a wide range of ships. That does not mean I feel like I know it all. Hell no. Every ship is different and I learned that for the crew it's less about the sailing and more about the ship. But I'm eager to learn how it's done on other ships and see for myself why and what's best.
(2023 update)
The above is still true but I can add a little to the aformentiond experience:
2021: 10 day / 700nmi delivery style sail, Stockholm to Cuxhaven with only 2 stops, Mamba 31 (9.5m mono hull). Crew of 2-3, watch keeping & single hand operation
2021: 3 weeks / 190nmi cruising, Mediterranean (Sicily area), Fountaine Pajot Belize 43 (13m cat). Crew of 2 plus charter guests, first mate
2022: Promotion to first mate on the historic gaff ketch
(general)
I'm an open and relaxed guy who doesn't mind close quarters and hard work as long as you're rewarded with a sunrise at sea after a tough night watch. Right now I'm spending most of my free time playing the guitar or outside with my wife's dog. There are also a few side projects like editing fantasy novels for a friend back home and making up rules for a wind-powered car race.
Non-smoker but I don't judge others as long as it's lee-side. I enjoy the occasional beer or scotch but I'm definitely fine without them, too. Vegetarian but of the nice kind that doesn't preach. If you, however, start the conversation on whether or not to eat animals be prepared to lose this argument ;) I'm a decent cook with a European/Indian background. Can be quite creative if I have to^^
Oh and I'm a mechanical engineer (M.Sc.) and professional photographer in case that can be of any use. (Let's hope I don't have to MacGuyver the watermaker in the middle of nowhere^^)
Now this is way more than I planned to write and if you made it to here: thanks for your time! If you have any questions, message me!