"X.25" wrote in message
om...
I am looking for a career change, and all I want to do is sailing.

Do you want to do racing or cruising crewing? Racing is harder to break into
and you are unlikely to succeed unless you've been racing dinghies since
very young. Crewing on the yachts of wealthy cruising people is marginally
easier to break into.

The two principal centres for career cruising-yachties in Europe are Palma
(Mallorca) and Antibes (France). If you turn up in either at the beginning
of the season (Mayish), even if you have virtually no qualificaitons, you
can usually find something on the bottom rung within a week or so. In
Antibes there are lots of crewing agencies which are all centred around the
port. Palma is much bigger and more diffuse - so Antibes is better if you
are starting from scratch with no contacts. You might have to be prepared to
work on stink-boats at first, but if you persevere youshould eventually find
something on a sailing boat. But you really need to be there, pressing the
flesh, to get a job - you won't get anything over the internet from the
well-known crewing agencies unless you have experience. If you are dedicated
enough (and most aren't), and work your way into a good boat, you can make a
nice living - a mate of mine is captain (and his wife cook, brother first
mate, brothers' wife stewardess) on a huge schooner which they are currently
sailing to Caribbean for the owner. The owner stays on the boat for
Christmas in the Caribbean, Easter in Bermuda, two weeks in August in
Sardinia, and that's it - the rest of the time the crew just sail the boat
around. They earn enough to pay the mortgages on their permanent homes in
France.