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Frequently Asked Questions

 

Check the most commonly asked questions below, or send us your feedback with the form below. Alternatively you can also contact us by calling one of our over 20 phone locations nearest to you.

About Find a Crew™

Find a Crew™ is the World's largest online Boat & Crew network, providing a point of introduction for mariners around the world.

Find a Crew™ is NOT a crew agent but a global public online portal that is designed to help members to find a crew or to find a crew position on a boat, a yacht, or a ship directly by themselves without a third party in between.

Find a Crew™ is suited for people who are able and prefer to make their own decisions about what is best for them and Find a Crew™ is not a party to any of those arrangements. Find a Crew™ doesn't facilitate any of those arrangements as members facilitate that directly between themselves.

Since Find a Crew™ launched in December 2004, it's been using the same methodology and business model to assist its members to find a crew. This makes Find a Crew the longest consistently running interactive crew portal in online marine crew history out of any of the past or present crew websites ever online. This also makes Find a Crew not just the most popular, but also the most proven, most consistent, most reliable, and most secure crew network available around the world.
(Source: web.archive.org/web/*/findacrew.net & google.com/trends/explore)

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No, Find a Crew™ is not a crew agent and we do not act on behalf of another person, organization or company.

Find a Crew™ doesn't know its members personally and does NOT facilitate or negotiate any arrangements between members! Unless a member reaches out or responds to a member themselves, nothing will happen. If you require facilitation you will have to contact a crew agent who usually interviews and screens the crew and the boat when they facilitate the arrangements.

The Find a Crew™ network is a global public online portal that is designed to help members to find a crew or to find a crew position on a boat, a yacht, or a ship directly by themselves without a third party in between.

Find a Crew™ does NOT charge any commissions, no placement fees, and no recurring charges to its members, hence there is no allocation for personalised support or facilitation. Any agreements made are between the crew and the boat member directly and Find a Crew™ is not a party to those arrangements.

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Find a Crew™ earns its revenue from Premium memberships only – no advertisements, no contracts, no kickbacks, no commissions, no placement fees, and strictly no recurring periodic payments for anyone. We also charge a PIV fee (Personal Identity Verification), which is included in the Premium payment. However, the cost in checking the provided details by our staff exceeds that revenue.

Free members are those who are not Premium, and that means it is 100% free for Free members to use our network for as long as they like. Free members can sign in as many times as they want, and they can create and manage their profile the same as Premium members can. Free members can reply 100% free with unlimited personal messages to any request or reply from matching Premium members for up to 45 days from when they received the last message from that current Premium member.

And best of all: We don't have any advertising, we don't sell or share your personal data with any third parties and we don't accept payment or pay for favourable comments!
Find a Crew™ doesn't link or post any of our members' information to any social media platforms, and we don't submit your profile information to any search engines.
We never have, and we never will!

Find a Crew's business model has always been designed to help protect all of our members' privacy, rather than exploiting it. Exploiting means that neither you nor the website that publishes your personal information provides you with any control over who can access, view, or further distribute your personal data without your knowledge. Find a Crew is 100% committed to protecting all of its members' privacy.

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Find a Crew™ is NOT a crew agent – it is a global online maritime crew network and hence does not do background or reference checking for members. This is the member's responsibility. Find a Crew™ is not involved in the negotiations, agreements or decisions made between members.

Find a Crew™ does not guarantee or investigate a member's ability to deliver on any agreements made. On Find a Crew™, you decide the validity and worthiness of a member's profile and whether you decide to connect with each other.

This requires you to be mindful and take full responsibility for your own decisions and actions. Just like meeting new people in any situation, YOU are the best person to decide what feels right for you and how much background checking you want to do or have someone doing for you, before taking it further. Your personal experiences and instincts will play a large part in your decision once you have established direct contact.

Our portal gives you the freedom to connect with other members directly, without someone making this decision for you, or someone telling you who you should or shouldn't be connecting with. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, you should seek the services of a crew agent.

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Find a Crew™ is generally considered a safe platform to use for finding crew members or joining a vessel. Find a Crew™ has been operating for quite some time and has implemented several safety measures to protect its users.

Find a Crew™ takes various steps to ensure the authenticity and trustworthiness of its users.It requires members to create profiles with detailed information, including personal and sailing experience, and verification documents. This helps establish a level of credibility among users.

To enhance user safety, Find a Crew™ allows members to leave recommendations for each other. This feedback system helps in building trust and enables users to make informed decisions before engaging with potential crew members or boat owners.

While Find a Crew™ has safety measures in place, it's important to exercise caution when interacting with unknown individuals online. It's advisable to thoroughly read and review the profiles, and recommendations of other users, as well as communicate extensively before making any commitments.

Ultimately, the safety of using Find a Crew™ or any similar platform also relies on individual judgment, communication skills, and general awareness of potential risks. It's crucial to trust your instincts and take necessary precautions while engaging with others online.

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Registration

A member can register both a Boat and a Crew profile with different email addresses, but a Boat profile cannot be converted into a Crew profile or vice versa because the profiles are different. A Boat profile is about a boat, while a Crew profile is about a person.

If you have a Crew and a Boat profile and are Premium on one of these accounts, the Premium membership cannot be transferred or shared between these accounts.

The username (which is your email address or member ID) to sign in must be unique to recognise the account. This is why you cannot use the same email address for different profiles.

If you do not have two email addresses, you can set up an address with any of the free email providers such as Gmail, Outlook by Microsoft, Yahoo! Mail, iCloud Mail by Apple, AOL, etc.

Note: Gmail allows you to have multiple email addresses with the one email by using the '+' before the '@' character and some text in between such as username+any.alias@gmail.com to receive messages.

For example, messages sent to jane.doe+notes@gmail.com are delivered to jane.doe@gmail.com. In addition, you can set up filters to automatically direct these messages to apply a label or star, skip the inbox, or forward to another email account.

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Yes, you just register individually as Crew members and then click 'Add your Crewmates' in your profile under the 'My Team' section. Boat Members can then search and find your profiles and see details about each crew member of the team. 

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Age is not a constraint on Find a Crew™. Whether you are young or well-seasoned, we welcome you aboard the Find a Crew™ network as we can't check how old you are anyway unless you complete the PIV (Personal Identity Verification).

For your own safety, we suggest that you always provide your real age rather than pretend to be 21 when you're 14, or 65 instead of 85. However, you are certainly allowed to write in your 'Dear Shipmates' section if you are 80 going on 25!

Important! Boat members who take crew members under the age of 18 aboard should be sure to have parental permission!

If you are under 18 years of age and wish for an opportunity to go day sailing, we encourage you to do so – provided your parents know you have registered with Find a Crew™. Some of the youngest 'round the world' sailors were under 15 when they started out!
We think it is much safer to use the Find a Crew™ network where members are registered and there is evidence of making contact, rather than browsing forums or social media or simply go dock walking and ending up on a boat where no one ashore knows who you are with or where you are going.

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Duplicate Crew profiles

We do not allow a crew member to maintain two or more crew profiles as this opens up the network to identity scams or fraud. Other people, such as a disgruntled ex-partner or scammers, may pretend to be a person they are not in order to harm someone they may or may not know.

If we detect or receive reports that crew members are intentionally registering and repeatedly creating duplicate crew profiles on our network, we may lock them permanently or even report them to the authorities if we suspect unlawful activities.

Duplicate Boat profiles

We do allow a person to register several boat accounts if they own the boats or are permitted to represent them, provided they are not duplicate profiles of the same boat, whether listed by the same person or by other people.

If we detect or receive reports that boat members are intentionally registering and repeatedly creating duplicate boat profiles on our network, we may lock them permanently or even report them to the authorities if we suspect unlawful activities.

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Profile

Yes, you can link any listed Crew member on Find a Crew who you know as a crewmate, or add a crewmate who is NOT yet a Crew member on this network, and with whom you're planning to find a boat with. The second option is not as good as linking a listed Crew member, but much better than simply not saying that you are a team, a couple, or a family.

SUGGESTION  You can also share your Premium status with all of your PIV crewmates with whom you're planning to find a boat with at no extra cost!
This means that all your linked crewmates who have their Personal Identity Verified (PIV) and confirmed your team request will automatically share the Premium status, at no extra cost, while at least one of your linked crewmates is a Premium member.

Yes, all members (Free or Premium members) can provide personal recommendations to each other by simply completing the following steps:

1. Bring up the profile of the member you wish to provide a recommendation to.
2. Click the 'thumbs up' icon in the top bar on the member's profile.
3. Provide the recommendation and click 'Send'.
It will then be checked by a staff member (to avoid scams or abuse, etc.)
To make sure you know each other, the member will be notified to also approve.
Once all approved, your recommendation will be shown to visitors and members.
For the integrity of a recommendation, it cannot be edited or deleted once published.

Please observe the following basic rules for recommendations to respect people's privacy:
DO use the first name only of a person you're writing about.
DO NOT disclose any personal or intimate details about people!
DO NOT include any boat names, contact details, email addresses, or web links!
DO NOT publish product advertising or promotions in your recommendation!
DO NOT name & shame individuals as defamation laws extend online. You are responsible for such content and any associated legal liabilities by writing or sharing hurtful or untrue content!

It's acceptable to write a negative online review about a product, service or experience, but certainly not about a person who can't defend themselves to any allegations made about their actions or character.

If you provide a recommendation, follow these suggestions:
• Keep it relevant, factual and brief.
• Stick to the highlights of your praise about a person.
• Refer to specific periods, tasks, or responsibilities.
• Avoid negativity – how you publicly talk about other people also reflects on you.
• Avoid personal opinions about issues such as personality conflicts.

If you provide a negative recommendation, follow these suggestions:
• Keep it relevant, factual and brief.
• Refer to specific periods, tasks, or responsibilities.
• Negative recommendations will not be published but recorded and available to moderators only. If similar complaints are recorded it might lead to the account being further investigated or locked.

NOTE:
• We reserve the right to edit or remove recommendations.
• Members giving false or fake recommendations will be locked from using the network.

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On Find a Crew™ your Crew profile is your digital resume. You can write (or copy and paste) information about yourself, your experience, and your expectations in your profile. Once you make contact, exchange a few emails and feel comfortable with the people you have connected with, you can then forward your regular CV directly if necessary.

We don't recommend uploading your regular CV online for several reasons:
• Your CV or resume is a personal document, often with your personal information and contact details as well as other people's (e.g., references) – who may not appreciate having their details online for all to see.
• You should be in full control of your CV and know who is reading it!
• By not permitting any attachments on Find a Crew™, we can ensure that all of our content is free of viruses. This is because in order for viruses to be unleashed they must either be contained in programs or documents that are downloaded and run, executed directly or via macros.

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Find a Crew™ is not a dating site! We are here to connect members unknown to each other, unlike social media platforms where people generally connect with others they already know (directly or through others). We aim to make your new connections with total strangers as efficient and as safe as possible. Your Find a Crew™ personal profile is designed to be tailored to the experience that YOU are seeking – whether it's your preference of diet or the type of Boat or Crew you are looking to find – and yes, whether or not you are looking for romance.

By having this option, we can show profiles of members who may be seeking romance only to like-minded members and not to others. This, of course, gives the impression to members seeking romance that everyone else is also looking for romance because those are the profiles they are seeing. So if you see comments on forums saying that Find a Crew™ is a dating site, you know that they have enabled the romance option, as otherwise they wouldn't see any members seeking romance.

The 'romance' option is not a search option! You either are or might be looking for romance, or you're not. Therefore, unless members are honest about their true intentions, they will not be able to find like-minded members. The best way for our personalised profile matching system to work is if members are genuine and honest about what they are looking for. So if you're looking for romance, be honest about it and please respect members who aren't, and if you're not looking for romance, then please also respect those who are.

IMPORTANT Anyone who is reported to have selected 'no romance' but then asks members for romance will be locked and blacklisted from the network!

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Yes, when viewing the profile of the member you wish to block simply click on the '' 'Follow' icon and select ' Block (don't follow me)' from the options.

IMPORTANT  The block option is only available from the actual profile of the member, not the summary in the search results, so members don't block members whose profile they've never looked at.

What's the difference between the 'Stop' and 'Block' options?

Stop (don't show to me): This will stop a member from being included in your search results, including your QuickFind™ and your notification emails. Your 'stopped' members may still see your profile in their search results and can send you a request. This is so you don't have to keep viewing their profile, but if they may have an interesting offer they can still message you.

Block (don't follow me): This will block a member from viewing your profile altogether and stop you from seeing them. Your 'blocked' members will no longer see your profile in their search results, their 'Following' list, or their message list and cannot send you any requests or replies.
Only block members if absolutely necessary, such as those who are unfriendly or rude. However, report any members who use foul, inappropriate, or offensive language as this might be a reason for them to be locked out from the network.

NOTE  From your '' QuickFind in the top menu you can remove 'stop' or 'block' listed members anytime in your ' Blocklist' or ' Stoplist'.

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L5   native
speaking natively like a local without a noticeable foreign accent
L4   fluent
speaking fluently with an extensive vocabulary, but with a foreign accent
L3   competent
speaking competently with a solid vocabulary on almost any topic
L2   elementary
speaking enough to get by, but may get lost in a conversation
L1   learning
not speaking the language, but learned enough to say simple sentences
L0   not proficient
may know a few words, but cannot form sentences or ask questions
Privacy & Internet Safety

At Find a Crew™ we call our PIV members VIP members because they have their Personal Identity Verified to make sure they are who they say they are. This is optional for all members, but it ensures that every member profile showing a PIV icon has had their personal identity details reviewed by a staff member.

PIV members display this icon PIV on their profile and have following details checked:
• legal name
• gender
• date of birth
• a photo that clearly shows their face
• a legitimate online transaction

In addition, here is some further information that may interest you:

Our PIV members have their Personal Identity Verified and agree to accept and follow these terms:
• complete the PIV process of:
    - accepting the terms
    - uploading a valid PIV photo
    - making a valid online transaction
    - uploading a valid PIV document, which is a government-issued ID
• to use the account only under their own and true identity
• not allowing others to access or use their account
• not to provide misleading or false personal information to members
• not to use the Find a Crew™ network if convicted of a serious crime
• keep information accurate and up-to-date, many privacy / visibility settings are available
• not to do anything that compromises the security of any accounts
• not to transfer their account to anyone
• respect the privacy of all members and not to share anyone's personal details with anyone
• be respectful with all members
• the PIV status will be lost, including possible closure of the account, if any of our terms are breached

Confirmed PIV members have their Personal Identity Verified and display this icon

Their legal name, date of birth, gender, and photo are checked against a securely uploaded government-issued identity document as confirmation of the member's identity and the integrity of their profile.

Additional Safety Option: PIV members have the option to accept non-PIV members to contact them. This creates an even safer and more trusted network within the network because non-PIV members cannot send any requests to PIV members without the PIV member specifically allowing that to happen.

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The PIV payment is a one-off payment to complete the optional Personal Identity Verification which includes the visual checking of an uploaded PIV photo, a valid payment transaction and an official photo ID.

The PIV payment is not a Premium membership and is only for the Personal Identity to be verified without upgrading to Premium. However, a PIV payment is not required if any valid payment was made within the last 12 months.

An uploaded PIV document is checked by our staff only, and is usually reviewed in under 6 hours, but please allow up to 24 hours, subject to our workload.

Only clearly readable documents are confirmed, and once the Personal Identity is Verified the PIV status will not expire unless terms were breached, or a PIV payment is rejected at a later date.

For the Personal Identity Verification document any valid, non-handwritten government-issued photo ID, clearly readable in Latin-based characters (A–Z alphabet, 0–9 numbers) is accepted such as a:
• Passport (most popular by our members)
• Driver's license
• Identity card
• Proof of Age card

To be confirmed as a PIV document the submitted identity document must contain:
• full legal name (including other middle names)
• date of birth (including day, month, and year)
• photo (the person must be clearly recognisable)
• gender (the photo might be sufficient proof for that)
• expiry date if applicable (for passports or visas)

We don't recommend emailing an identity document. By directly uploading the identity document via our encrypted connection will automatically store it on our highly secured and dedicated servers, which are not shared with anyone, as proof and validity of the member's identity and the integrity of their profile.

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Uploading a document is not required, it's optional – but by doing so, we can confirm the uploaded document and display a 'Document confirmed' icon.

This allows members to prove they have documents such as passports, visas or qualifications without having to email them to complete strangers.

Uploading a document via our encrypted connection will automatically store the documents as proof of validity on our highly secure and dedicated servers.

Uploaded documents are checked by our staff only and are usually reviewed in under 6 hours, but please allow up to 24 hours, subject to our workload. Only clearly readable documents are confirmed, and once confirmed can no longer be accessed or viewed when signing into to the account.

This is to protect the member's privacy in case they allow someone else to access the account, which of course, is never a good practice!

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The risks with emailing an identity document are that the recipient may save the document on their computer, and even if deleted it could still be recovered from a discarded device.

In addition, the email with the attached identity document might be forwarded to a third party without the sender's knowledge, or if an email address is mistyped the identity document may end up with an unknown recipient.

These days, an email account might be checked on multiple devices simultaneously, making it questionable who has access to those devices. Those attachments could be automatically downloaded or cached without the device user even realising it; for instance, many phone apps may have automatic access to those attachments.

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If you are worried about it DON'T DO IT!

Practically, however, it's fine to give a copy of your passport or driver's licence, provided it is only a copy and never the original. Still, be sensible about it and don't just start handing out copies at the docks! Whoever you are providing a copy of such a document should also have an identity – someone you can look in the eye or an entity such as a registered business or university.

Realistically, there are no secrets in your passport – just your name, gender, birthdate – all of which are public information and usually readily available on social media (if not on yours, on others), newspapers, government notices, sporting events, etc.

The difference is that your identity documents are official proof of your identity, while other publications are not. Your identity documents do not have any bank account or credit card numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, work history, etc., therefore identity theft is unlikely to be an issue with such information alone. Identity theft often occurs in conjunction with recent personal transactions or events, such as bank statements, electricity bills, phone call records, online search history, traffic fines, insurance records, employment history, etc.

Most people are not able to produce an authentic identity document such as a passport, driver's licence or maritime certification. Those who do risk criminal prosecution and severe penalties, while anyone can pretty much write whatever they like on their CV or application form and are unlikely to expect any jail time for it.

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Uploading a document is not required, it's optional – but by doing so, we can confirm the uploaded document and display a 'Document confirmed' icon.

This allows members to prove they have documents such as passports, visas or qualifications without having to email them to complete strangers.

Uploading a document via our encrypted connection will automatically store the documents as proof of validity on our highly secure and dedicated servers.

Uploaded documents are checked by our staff only and are usually reviewed in under 6 hours, but please allow up to 24 hours, subject to our workload. Only clearly readable documents are confirmed, and once confirmed can no longer be accessed or viewed when signing into to the account.

This is to protect the member's privacy in case they allow someone else to access the account, which of course, is never a good practice!

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The risks with emailing an identity document are that the recipient may save the document on their computer, and even if deleted it could still be recovered from a discarded device.

In addition, the email with the attached identity document might be forwarded to a third party without the sender's knowledge, or if an email address is mistyped the identity document may end up with an unknown recipient.

These days, an email account might be checked on multiple devices simultaneously, making it questionable who has access to those devices. Those attachments could be automatically downloaded or cached without the device user even realising it; for instance, many phone apps may have automatic access to those attachments.

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If you are worried about it DON'T DO IT!

Practically, however, it's fine to give a copy of your passport or driver's licence, provided it is only a copy and never the original. Still, be sensible about it and don't just start handing out copies at the docks! Whoever you are providing a copy of such a document should also have an identity – someone you can look in the eye or an entity such as a registered business or university.

Realistically, there are no secrets in your passport – just your name, gender, birthdate – all of which are public information and usually readily available on social media (if not on yours, on others), newspapers, government notices, sporting events, etc.

The difference is that your identity documents are official proof of your identity, while other publications are not. Your identity documents do not have any bank account or credit card numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, work history, etc., therefore identity theft is unlikely to be an issue with such information alone. Identity theft often occurs in conjunction with recent personal transactions or events, such as bank statements, electricity bills, phone call records, online search history, traffic fines, insurance records, employment history, etc.

Most people are not able to produce an authentic identity document such as a passport, driver's licence or maritime certification. Those who do risk criminal prosecution and severe penalties, while anyone can pretty much write whatever they like on their CV or application form and are unlikely to expect any jail time for it.

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For a long time Jon Ronson revelled in the fact that Twitter gave a voice to the voiceless; the social media platform gave us all a chance to speak up and hit back at perceived injustice. But somewhere along the way, things took a downward turn. In this passionate, eloquent talk, Ronson explains how too often we end up behaving like a baying mob and that it's time to rethink how we interact with others online.
TED | Published on 20 Jul 2015 (17:11)

Writer Jon Ronson tells Jon Snow people get torn apart on the internet.
Channel 4 News | Published on 17 Mar 2015 (5:31)

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Many, but it doesn't matter what option you choose - unless you apply a reasonable effort in presentation, communication, your personality and make the most of the opportunity on hand, not much might eventuate.

However, there are many alternatives to finding a crew or a crew position and we recommend you explore every possible avenue to fill your needs. Find a Crew™ is not the only option for every person.

Depending on location, time frame, season, or your experience, some methods work better than others, like hostels, pubs, agents, forums, dock walking etc. There are many alternatives around, and Find a Crew™ is just one of many available.

Whichever option you choose, make sure there is some proof or trace of how you met someone in case you end up in a situation being interviewed by police or coast guard if your fellow crew were up to some mischief. Also beware when publicly displaying your CV, resume, or other personal details, that not only employers or boat owners have an interest in them, but scammers, spammers or criminal operators. The chance of identity theft might be small, but if your identity is stolen or used by someone else it will affect you.

The Find a Crew™ network is the most effective online option to address these concerns and we have had crew members released from custody early because Find a Crew™ could prove their connection, while other crew members were remanded for a long time because they could not prove how they met the crew that got them in trouble.

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Personal Safety

Meeting new people online is not a lot different from meeting people in a pub, through a friend, or by answering a newspaper ad – your life experiences, personality, mental and physical abilities, as well as your instincts should guide you as to whether or not you feel comfortable.

To help your instincts, we cannot stress enough to ask lots of questions to establish your Plan A (Action plan)! It is surprising how often people just commit without knowing basic things. The more you know from the start, the fewer surprises there will be.

For your own safety, we strongly recommend to NEVER exchange personal contact details with strangers online straight away, or with people who don't provide credible information.

This is why our network is designed to view profiles and engage with members without having to exchange personal identity or contact details upfront until you feel comfortable to do so.

If you contact people directly via email to ask questions and build your relationship, make sure you save all the emails so that you can refer to them in case of any confusion later on.

It is a good idea to meet the person for the first time somewhere public, rather than having them pick you up from the hotel, or going straight to the boat. Meet at the airport, local cafe, or bar. Spend some time having a chat. This also enables you to see how they treat other people – waiters, strangers, receptionists, etc. – are they rude and demanding, or friendly and relaxed?

Always have a Plan B (Backup plan)! If you find you are feeling uneasy around someone, there is usually a reason for it. If something sounds too good to be true, it often is! There are great and generous people out there, but not everyone is, so always be sceptical when you receive offers too good to resist and ask yourself what the catch might be.

It is important to have thought through what you will do if it does not work out. It is a good idea to discuss this with the other person as well if you do decide to sail together. This gives you both the reassurance and protection that there are options available to go your separate ways fairly quickly if things don't work out.

Before you meet in person with a stranger ...  Ask Questions! (see Example list of Questions to ask)

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We can never generalise about what members expect from each other as every person and every single situation is different.

When you register your profile on Find a Crew™, think about what you are really after. When you are contacted by someone, be ready with questions and details of your own situation. The more questions you ask, the less surprises there will be.

While most of our members report fantastic experiences, it can be very distressing if things don't work out how you would like. Many of these situations can be avoided just by asking more questions from the beginning.

Questions such as:

Boat Info
• What safety equipment does the boat have, and has it been surveyed (inspected and rated)?
• What condition is the boat in, and what is in need of repair?
• Who does the maintenance on the boat?
• What communication tools are onboard (email, sat. phone, etc.)?
• Who is responsible for any expenses related to the boat (fuel, mooring, etc.)?
• Who owns the boat?
• Are there any crew from a previous trip that I can talk to?

Position description / expectations / responsibilities
• Financial commitment from either side?
• Is it a paid position? What are the rate and conditions of pay?
• Expenses while onshore?
• What will be your responsibilities?
• What do you expect from the other party?
• Is there smoking / drinking onboard?
• Physical / emotional relationship expectations?
• How much free time will you have?
• Expectations from both sides of free time activities – onboard and onshore.
• Who does the cooking and daily domestic duties?
• Must a uniform be worn? Who provides the uniform?
• Travel expenses – who covers them?
• Travel to and from the boat – how, how much, where?
• Where will you meet for the first time?
• Must the crew pay a fee or contribute to any other expenses?
• What skills, qualifications, and experience are required by crew?

Journey Details
• What is the expected route of travel and how long do they plan to be underway?
• Who are the other people on board, and how often and why do they change crew?
• Who will be on this trip with you?
• Any special luggage requirements – climate conditions?
• What is the time schedule of the trip?
• Will you have your own quarters?

Insurance / Visas / Passports
• Is the boat or crew insured, and who is responsible for this?
• Do you have the correct visas for the areas you will travel to?
• Is your passport valid for longer than the time you will be away?

Other questions
• Have they had crew / found a boat through FAC or a similar site before?
• Can they provide personal and / or professional references?
• Can you swim?
• Are you familiar / comfortable with first aid procedures?
• Do you get seasick?
• What is Plan B if things don't work out?

There will be many more questions to relate to each situation, but the more time and thought you put into this side of things, the better your experience will be!

638 people found this useful in the last 3 months
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Yes, absolutely. It would be great if a simple handshake seals a deal, even if it does sometimes. However, a little time and some fine print at the beginning can avoid a lot of grief, wasted time, confusion, and unnecessary cost further down the track if things don't go as planned.

A crew agreement or an employment contract are two different things, nonetheless, both are legally binding. Most commercial ships require by law to have a signed crew agreement. For that, we highly recommend contacting the respective authorities or seeking legal advice for commercial vessels.

Most private, recreational, or non-commercial vessels usually don't require a contract or a written agreement with their crew members. However, as in nearly every case, there is often some sort of verbal agreement. We strongly suggest writing it down to minimise any possible disagreements at a later point.

7 people found this useful in the last 3 months
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It depends on what the issue is. If you are being harassed by a member with repeated messages through our system, you can block that member from seeing your profile or sending you further messages.

If you have come across a suspicious profile that may be a scammer or a spammer, please let us know straight away so that we can investigate further.

In the rare and unfortunate event that things don't work out on a journey, you can let us know. However, be aware that we can not judge a situation or a person based on another person's comments alone. We cannot lock a member profile just because you didn't have a good time, but we can do so if there is sufficient evidence or we are notified by relevant authorities.

We suggest that if you feared for your or other people's lives or have been abused in any way that you report this to the local authorities ((harbour master, coast guard, police, fire brigade, medical or mental health practitioners, family services, etc) as soon as you can.

Find a Crew™ is not above the law and we work with authorities if there were any unacceptable incidences, however, those who attempt to take matters into their own hands could face harm, or in some cases could themselves face legal recourse dependent on their actions.

More importantly, before you connect with any new people or strangers you meet, please ask a lot of questions, discuss all arrangements in detail, get some references, and always have a Plan B in case things don't go as planned before making any commitments.

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No, absolutely not! Such a list would be illegal in most civilised countries. We lock members who are reported and proven of unacceptable conduct. However, illegal or dangerous behaviour must be reported to the authorities. We are not above the law, and neither are you. Taking the law in your own hands is likely to create more misery than good.

You can write negative comments about a product, service or an experience, but certainly not about an identifiable person who can't defend themselves to any allegations made about their actions or character.

Be aware that defamation laws extend online. If you're naming and shaming individuals by writing or sharing hurtful content (whether it's true or not), you might be held accountable for such content and any associated legal liabilities.

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What is Free and what is Premium

Yes, of course! All matching members can send a wave request to ask for a 'please reply' and send a wave reply to express your interest level with a 'yes, very intereset', 'maybe, interested', or 'decline for now'. This is to check current interest between each other first, without having to expose your privacy or contact details to total strangers, and to avoid upgrading to Premium if interest is not mutual.

During any 24 hours cycle, Free PIV members can send up to 50 requests and Free non-PIV members up to 10 requests to any matching members. However, only one request or reply can be sent to the same Free member within 15 days.

Free members can also reply with a wave ('yes', 'maybe', or 'decline') to all members who have contacted them and send unlimited chat replies (personal messages) to Premium members who have contacted or replied to them during the last 45 days.

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No, upgrading to Premium is a personal choice and anyone can stay a Free member for as long as they please.

Premium status is only required by at least one member interested to start exchanging personal messages, and it can either be a Crew or a Boat member. There are no commissions, recurring fees, contracts, or mandatory charges for either Free or Premium members.

The benefit of Premium is that only Premium members have exclusive access to talk with matching Free members. Because, if everybody could chat with everyone it would quickly attract people who wouldn't be here to find a crew or to find a crew position.

But Premium is also of benefit to Free members who have connected with Premium members to know that other Free members can't just join the conversation uninvited with those Premium members unless they want them to.

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No, the Premium status is mainly to exchange personal messages and to stop Free members from sending lengthy messages uninvited. Free non-PIV members can send up to 10 wave requests per 24 hours to check current interest with matching members first without having to pay anything, because we don't want anyone upgrading to Premium just to be told 'not interested'.

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Actually, you don't get that much more for your Premium because most features are already included in your Free account. This is because we want all members to be able to put their best profile forward and check mutual interest before considering upgrading to Premium.

In other words, Free members can do nearly everything that Premium members can do, except initiating a personal message. While that doesn't sound like much, it's the very reason why Find a Crew is the largest crew portal worldwide for nearly two decades.

If everybody could just chat with anyone then you might be wasting a lot of time with members reaching out just checking the waters, and you could possibly miss out on conversations with those who are actually serious about their endeavour.

This is also the very reason why free or very cheap crew portals can't compete (and most have gone out of business) because they cannot retain the members who use a crew portal for what it's for, and ours is to find a crew for boats and vice versa.

However, most importantly if you don't see any members of interest, or have not received enough interest, then Premium will not change that. Make sure you use the waves included with your Free member account to check mutual interest first before even considering upgrading to Premium.

9 people found this useful in the last 3 months
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Before your Premium membership expires you can renew it at a 20% discounted rate, or within a grace period of 15 days from the time it has expired.

You can see when your Premium membership expires and how long you have to renew at the discounted rate by clicking on the Premium button at the top of your profile. To renew your Premium membership, simply click on the green Premium button at the top of every page.

If you let it expire, your profile will revert back to a Free member account. You can upgrade to Premium member again anytime at the usual rate.

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The Premium status remains with the Boat or Crew member account it was paid for until it expires.

Premium is available for various fixed durations, which cannot be partially refunded, however the Premium status can be paused anytime if there are at least 10 days Premium remaining.

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Yes you can for any duration, although the 30 Days Premium is the minimum duration we offer, you can pause your Premium status anytime for free once for up to 18 months, provided you have at least 10 days Premium remaining on your profile.

When you have redeemed your Free Premium Pause and you have still at least 10 days Premium remaining you can purchase a Paid Premium Pause as often as you like for A$20.00, plus receive an extra 10 days Premium in credit, which will instantly pause your Premium for up to 9 months each time, or until you enable it again any earlier.

IMPORTANT  While your Premium status is paused your account returns to Free member status until your Premium is enabled again.

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Yes, you have two paid options to pause your Premium again after you enabled your Premium status, or if your Premium resumed automatically after your Premium pause duration expired.

Option 1 
$20.00 AU instant Premium pause for up to 9 months including 10 Days Premium credit
When you've redeemed your Free Premium Pause and you still have at least 10 days Premium remaining you can purchase a Paid Premium Pause as often as you like for $20.00 AUD, plus receive an extra 10 Days Premium in credit each time, which will instantly pause your Premium again once for up to 9 months, or until you resume your Premium again any earlier.
 
Option 2 
$60.00 AUD 30 Days Premium extension with flexible Premium pause for up to 18 months
When you've redeemed your Free Premium Pause and you are still Premium, or your Premium expired less than 15 days ago, you can purchase a 30 Days Premium extension for $60.00 AUD, including the 20% extension discount, and automatically receive a new Free Premium Pause, which you can activate again anytime once for up to 18 months provided you have at least 10 days Premium remaining.
 

IMPORTANT  When your Premium pause expires, your Premium will automatically resume again! There is no email notification for this, as it is constantly displayed on how many Premium pause days you have remaining while you're signed in, and it will show you the Premium pause expiry date when clicking on the blue 'Paused' button at the top of your page.

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NOTE  Before contacting us please read above on this Support page first. The answer you are looking for might already be answered here for you. Thank you

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