No Experience Required – Become Part of the Crew
You don’t need sailing experience to crew on a tall ship. You don’t need qualifications, certificates, or years of yachting behind you. What you need is curiosity, reasonable fitness, and the willingness to get stuck in. The more you put into the voyage the more you will get out of it, that’s what happened to me!
Every year hundreds of complete beginners join traditional tall ships as working crew members. They handle lines, steer vessels, climb rigging, keep watches, and discover they’re far more capable than they imagined. By voyage end, they’re proper sailors with genuine skills and stories worth telling.
This isn’t a cruise where you’re a passenger watching others work. This is hands-on sailing where you’re an active crew member from day one. The professional crew teach you everything as you go, breaking tasks into manageable steps and ensuring you work safely within your abilities.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to sail a tall ship, here’s your answer: it’s exciting, challenging, sociable, and surprisingly accessible. And yes, you absolutely can do it.
Great experience, will definitely be doing it again. ‘First time’ sailor. John M
Join the Tall Ship Crew: An Adventure of a Lifetime
HOW IT WORKS
Learning by Doing – The Traditional Way
We believe in teaching through participation rather than classroom theory. Within hours of boarding, you’ll be handling lines and helping set sail. By day two, you’ll likely be steering and standing watches. By voyage end, you’ll have genuine sailing skills that transfer to any vessel.
The professional crew demonstrate techniques, supervise closely, and adjust the pace to match your confidence. Simple tasks come first – coiling lines, securing gear, understanding the layout. Then steering, sail handling, navigation basics, and gradually more complex work as your skills develop.
What You’ll Learn:
- Sail handling – Raising, trimming, and striking sails on traditional rigging
- Helmsmanship – Steering by compass, following courses, responding to conditions
- Watch-keeping – Standing proper watches, lookout duties, ship routines
- Rope work – Essential knots, line handling, securing gear properly
- Safety procedures – Man overboard, fire drills, emergency protocols
- Navigation basics – Chart reading, position plotting, passage planning
- Seamanship – Anchoring, coming alongside, working as a crew
- Please note it may not be possible to do all these activities on shorter voyages.
The learning happens naturally through doing rather than memorizing. You’ll remember techniques because you’ve used them repeatedly in real situations, not because you passed a test. Formal RYA Coures are also available.
My First Voyage.
WHO SAILS WITH US
Everyone From First-Timers to Old Salts
Our voyages attract an incredible mix of people. Office workers on career breaks sit alongside retired teachers, university students, tradespeople on holiday, healthcare professionals needing a complete break from their demanding jobs. Ages typically range from 16 to 80+, with most falling somewhere between 45 and 65.
First-Time Sailors
Most people booking their first voyage feel nervous beforehand. Will they cope physically? Will they look foolish? Will everyone else be experienced sailors making them feel inadequate? These worries evaporate fast once you’re aboard and realize everyone’s supportive, the crew are patient teachers, and nobody expects perfection. Lets face it the professional crew want to help you – without you they would not have any ships to sail on!
Solo Travelers
The majority of people join individually, not as couples or groups. Solo travelers often find sailing voyages easier socially than land holidays because you’re working together toward common goals. Shared watches, communal meals, and mutual support during challenging moments create friendships that often last well beyond the voyage. I have friends from 35 years ago.
Couples
Sailing together gives couples shared experiences and stories, plus you’re both learning new skills simultaneously. Some couples love standing watches together; others prefer different watch systems so they experience different aspects of the voyage.
Experienced Sailors
If you’ve already sailed modern yachts, traditional tall ships offer something different – authentic sail handling, working rigging that responds directly to your input, and the satisfaction of sailing beautiful heritage vessels. Your experience helps but doesn’t give you special status; everyone mucks in equally.
TYPES OF VOYAGES
Find What Suits You
Taster Voyages & Short Breaks (1-4 days)
Perfect for first-timers or people with limited time. Weekend breaks, mid-week sails, or extended long weekends let you try tall ship sailing without major commitment. Prices start from £69 for half-day sails in Devon, with most short breaks ranging £200-£600 depending on duration and vessel.
Coastal Exploration (5-7 days)
Week-long voyages give you time to properly develop skills and settle into ship routines. Popular routes include Cornwall to the Isles of Scilly, Scottish island exploration, Channel Islands, or cruising the English south coast. You’ll visit multiple ports, go ashore to explore, and experience varied sailing conditions.
Longer Passages (1-3 weeks)
Extended voyages to destinations like Norway, Iceland, the Baltic, or Atlantic islands let you experience longer passages and watch rotations. You’ll develop more advanced skills and truly understand what blue water sailing involves.
Ocean Crossings (2 -4 weeks)
Atlantic crossings, trade wind passages, or repositioning voyages between sailing grounds offer the ultimate traditional sailing experience. These voyages welcome complete beginners willing to commit to the duration – the passage itself becomes your training.
Arctic & Antarctic Expeditions (2-4 weeks)
Polar voyages to Greenland, the Northwest Passage, or Antarctic Peninsula combine serious sailing with wilderness exploration in some of Earth’s most remote waters. These expeditions typically welcome motivated beginners willing to commit to the duration, though Arctic voyages generally require less experience than Antarctic ones due to better rescue infrastructure and shorter distances from civilization. Polar Voyages
Specialist Voyages
Some voyages focus on wildlife watching, photography, walking and exploring ashore, yoga and wellbeing, or specific sailing skills development. Others coincide with maritime festivals or tall ship races.
The Vessels You Can Sail
Traditional Tall Ships of All Sizes
Square Riggers & Large Schooners
Three-masted tall ships like Oosterschelde, Eye of the Wind, and Santa Maria Manuela carry 20-40 crew and offer the full tall ship experience. You can go aloft to handle sails on the yards – volunteers only, work as part of a large crew community, and sail vessels that turn heads in every port.
Two-Masted Vessels
Brigs, brigantines, ketches, and schooners ranging from 30-90 feet offer more intimate crew communities (typically 8-16 people) while still providing authentic traditional sailing. Vessels like Morgenster, Provident and Tecla combine manageable size with serious sailing capability.
Pilot Cutters & Classic Yachts
Gaff cutters like Tallulah and yawls like Moosk represent the pinnacle of working sail design. These beautiful vessels (typically 50-70 feet) sail fast, respond quickly, and give smaller crews (6-12 people) genuine influence over how the boat performs.
Each vessel type offers different experiences, but all provide authentic traditional sailing where you’re working crew rather than passengers.
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Free Tall Ship Guidebook when you join our NewsletterBeautiful ship, professional and very kind crew. Absolutely lovely experience!
Alex T
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Sail a Tall Ship – Yes you can be Tall Ship Crew, look at the smiles here.
