A big consideration for us, thus far, for our ocean passages has been whether we use crew and, if so, who they are. It’s no small thing. Having crew is, without a doubt, our preferred option for any passage over 3 days. But, like most things in life, our expectations complicate things.

You see, we demand that the crew is experienced, friendly, considered, and kind. Our budget has also forced us to stop paying for any help and we are no longer able to cover expenses either. Additionally, for our longer passages, the potential crew must have a mimimum of 3 weeks of free time, probably more, when one factors in the weather and a distance greater than 1,200 miles. As you can imagine, this narrows the pool of potential crew tremendously!

So, it was with this conundrum, that Melissa and I were enjoying a rare quiet, adult chat in our cockpit, discussing our upcoming passages of 2023 while we were in New Zealand. We both mentioned seeing an “ad” appear in our Facebook feeds and it, separately, grabbed our attention. A young woman was looking for a ride to Indonesia from New Zealand. She wanted to visit New Caledonia and Australia as well on the way. That was exactly our route. She was willing to pay her expenses and contribute a small amount, daily, to our food expenses. She had already sailed from France to New Zealand by hitchhiking across the oceans. We didn’t even know this was a thing!

The fact that we were even considering someone like this was foreign to us as we’re not one to pick up hitchhikers and we had only used friends, or friends of friends (or, once, a paid captain) to help with our passages. But our finances were now necessitating a different approach so we reached out to this woman, Astrid.

She replied promptly with a very professional CV and asked to have a video chat with us. So far, so good. At the first video chat, she grilled us, politely, but relentlessly, about our boat, its condition, the safety gear, and our approach and philosophy while sailing offshore. Very impressive. We ended the video chat with a request, from each other, for references. After a week of reference checks on both ends, we arranged for another video chat for further questions. Intense but reassuring. We loved how careful this woman was! We finally arranged to meet, in person, aboard Atlas while we were anchored at our favorite island, Waiheke.

To say we were impressed is an understatement. This woman was so intelligent, so thoughtful, and considered. And so experienced. Her confidence allayed any concerns we had about taking a stranger aboard our boat. We enthusiastically, though not without some underlying trepidation, asked her to join us and she accepted. We now had a crew member who would join us over 2.5 months, helping us sail Atlas from New Zealand to Indonesia. Want to know the best part? She insisted, from the beginning, that within a day of arrival to any new country, she would step off the boat to go travel. She had no interest in living aboard the boat with us. Uhhhh, ok! Done!

About a month after we agreed with Astrid, she messaged us to ask us if her boyfriend could join us. Our hearts sank. Melissa and I were not eager to have a young couple join us, we were concerned about any destabilizing behaviors between them and, honestly, we worried a young male could negatively impact the group dynamics. But we decided to continue to push our boundaries and interview Astrid’s boyfriend, Pierre.

I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the man Astrid would choose to pair up with was delightful. Pierre was a wonderful balance to Astrid, an incredibly calm soul, but equally intelligent and considered. My goodness, how lucky were we?! We eagerly agreed to have Pierre join us.

What transpired over the next 2.5 months was a true highlight of our adventure. Astrid and Pierre were incredible people. They decided to hitchhike around the world, pledging to not use airplanes and working hard to minimize their carbon footprint. Melissa and I simply haven’t spent much time with people like this. We learned so much from them and they are incredibly inspiring people. They were so kind to both Oliver and Elliott as well. The boys loved them both.

Their sailing experience was, frankly, greater than ours. But they handled suggestions of improvement so deftly, that it often seemed like it was our idea. From our perspective, at least, the group dynamics were harmonious, and I think they would agree. 2 months is a long time and there were only a few encounters that required a bit more conversation than usual, but they were handled well by all of us. I can’t speak for Astrid and Pierre, but Melissa and I felt like we were a team of equals, all offering different skills and experiences, and working together to make the team stronger and better. It was a truly wonderful time.

Our willingness to take a risk and step out of our comfort zone, borne of necessity, opened up a world of discovery and learning. Astrid and Pierre brought us tremendous joy and helped us with 3 big offshore passages. We will never forget our time with them and hope that we see them again in our lifetime.