Are you a desperate sailor?

All over the world, there are men and women in office cubicles, apartments and internet cafes making a living via the internet. Some program websites, some do tech support while others trade stocks. There are, in fact, countless jobs where people can now telecommute, or work on their own, with nothing more than a laptop computer and access to the web. With the huge number of W-Fi signals available these days, present location excepted, it should come as little surprise that there are numerous live-aboard cruisers who are doing exactly the same thing but from their boats.

EDIT  March 8, 2018: I’m sad to report that the Desperate Sailors website was taken down by the owner earlier today.

As an example, some time ago I became aware of a website called Desperate Sailors. No, not a dating site, Desperate Sailors main thrust is to connect those in the boating community with the people and services that they need. For example, if you need crew for a passage or a race, you may find it there. Conversely, if you are looking to crew on a boat, Desperate Sailors could put you in touch with a boat owner with such a need. Need to have your sails repaired (that’s our job today)? Need a diver to work on your boat? Need a delivery captain? Putting people together to deal with any of these things, or countless others is what the website is all about.

So, as I said, I found out about Desperate Sailors some time ago and even became “friends” with the developer John Perry via Facebook. Although we had communicated on multiple occasions over the past couple of months, I had forgotten that he and his catamaran were currently in St. Martin. That is of course until, while enjoying a happy-hour beer at Barnacles the other day, I was surprised by someone calling “Mr. Sweeney.” Yes, it was John, and it was cool to finally make the bridge from Facebook friends* to real-life friends.

John and I talked quite a bit about his site Desperate Sailors, the name he confessed was a bit of a joke between him and some of his friends. The concept is no joke however and he is putting a lot of time and effort into growing the boaters’ resource. In fact, just yesterday he put online a valuable new feature allowing people to place free classified ads on the site.

In many popular cruising areas (Grenada, St. Martin, St. Lucia), cruisers can advertise the stuff they want to sell, their “treasures of the bilge,” on organized VHF radio nets. This works very well if you happen to be in one of those spots however it is extremely localized. What about people outside your immediate geographic area who might have a need for the items that you wish to sell or the opposite, have that special something that you need? Enter Desperate Sailors. Given the ease of shipping items these days (just think of the amount of commerce that gets done on Ebay), this could take off and I hope it does.

The site is a great idea and although it’s still in its early growth stage, I have high hopes for it. For those whose internet “job” has a marine slant, like John, I would bet that working on the water gives them a special take on the whole thing. At the very least, they sure get to have a nice view from their “office!” When you visit Desperate Sailors and create a profile (remember that you need not be an active cruiser to do so), do a search for Zero To Cruising. You’ll be sure to find us there. Perhaps we could even be “friends!” 🙂

*Speaking of Facebook friends, I suggest that all those on FB check out the movie Catfish that Rebecca and I watched last night. FYI, that attractive model that you’ve been chatting-up every night might just turn out to be a Dude!

The nighttime view from our “office” in the Simpson Bay Lagoon, Sint Maarten.