No Boat? No Worries

Herb Mccormick

Veteran offshore sailor Hank Schmitt has turned his pleasure into business with this Swan 48, Avocation, and his business, Offshore Passage Opportunities.

So you want a taste of offshore sailing? But there's a small problem: You don't own a boat. Actually, had you ponied up a mere $199 to join Offshore Passage Opportunities (OPO), an organization founded by veteran voyager Hank Schmitt that pairs hopeful, eager sailors with skippers looking for the same, it wouldn't be a worry at all.
    
Here are some examples of the types of trips we're talking about, taken directly from the message board on OPO's website (www.sailopo.com) for the month of November. There's a two-month gig from Spain to the U.S. East Coast aboard a Shannon 47 via the Canary Islands, the Cape Verdes, and Puerto Rico. Or you might choose one of three passages to the British Virgin Islands from, respectively, Newport, Rhode Island (Swan 46); Bermuda (Swan 56); or Annapolis, Maryland (on a 48-foot catamaran, with an invitation to enjoy a Christmas cruise of the Virgins if you'd like). Or maybe you'd prefer St. Maarten; get yourself to Bermuda and you have a choice of vessels to take you to the island, either a Beneteau 43 or an Outbound 44.
    
But here's my favorite. How about, next summer, a circumnavigation of Newfoundland aboard a 40-foot monohull, starting from Virginia? Sounds like fun, eh?
    
And the most amazing thing of all? Apart from the membership fee (remember, we're talking less than two-hundred bucks), and your own airfare and incidentals, the majority of these fantastic voyages are scot-free. As in, zippo. Nothing. Nada.