FindACrew unites the world's motivated crew and interesting sailors

by Jeni Bone on 21 Jun 2011 A Seattle native, Brian Calvert has been on his world tour for two years, following the sun, and swearing he will never wear long pants again, onboard his Selene 48, 'Furthur' – named after a famous hippy bus from the 60s that went across America with a bunch of famous hippies onboard which was immortalised in the book, 'Electric Coolaid Acid Test'. He is also the poster boy for FindACrew, to which he attributes the best parts of his adventure, the people he’s met.

'For me, it’s been a huge asset, to find people to do different legs on the boat. They all have varied experience, some are seasoned travellers and divers, and some have no sailing experience. But I am a safety nut, and it’s a well equipped boat. So people who join me can be sure to learn a lot, see the world and it’s a very inexpensive way of doing so.'

A single sailor, Brian says he could quite easily make the trip by myself, 'if I wanted to prove something'.
'But I want to have some fun. Without FindACrew I am sure finding interesting and motivated people would be a lot harder,' he says from his tropical mooring in Cairns. 'There’s no doubt, the people I have met along the way and those that will still come along for the trip are one of the highlights of this experience.'

The other highlights include living among and experiencing the cultures of the people he meets along the way. 'Since leaving Seattle in September 2009, I have had over 30 crew and they’ve all been involved everywhere we go. We’ve been to jungle feasts with primitive tribes, I hosted a radio show in the Cook Islands, we met the Chief of a Village, learnt to dance, went diving off the Great Barrier Reef and plenty of shark dives in the South Pacific.'
Brian is in Cairns for three more days, before heading off to Darwin to join around 100 boats for the Sail Indonesia Rally.

'I am about to have three more FindACrew people come aboard, and I just found out my neighbours here have four FindACrew people onboard!'

Brian’s Selene 48 will be the first Selene motoryacht to circumnavigate the world. He fell in love with these boats over the decade he was distributor for them in the US (Sales Man of the Year for eight years running), and he had 'Furthur' customised for the journey.

He also enjoys the support/sponsorship of Cummins and Wesmar stabilizers.

His journey began in 2009, when he left Seattle for Mexico, then crossed the Pacific to French Polynesia, Cook Island, Niue, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Australia. He will have travelled from Sydney to Darwin, before beginning his Asian odyssey in a couple of weeks.

'I plan to sail Indonesia, to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Borneo, Philippines, then in 2013, cross the Indian Ocean to the Med, then the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. I will happily take five or so years to do that.'

His aim? 'To go around the world, safely, no mishaps, no harrowing stories to tell. To meet as many people as I can and experience their lives.'

So far, Brian’s blog Blog, furthur.talkspot.com, has reached around 80,000 people, with about 1000 hits per week.

According to FindACrew, Brian’s story is just one of thousands. Queensland based business Find a Crew has been in operation for six years, revolutionising online marine recruitment. Over 54,000 members from around the world have signed up during that time. Find a Crew caters for professional and recreational boating, and for boats of all types and sizes, all associated crew positions from passengers and deckhands to chefs and Captains, and in every country of the world.

More at www.findacrew.net