We are Australians living in Rio de Janeiro. From time to time I check out the Lonely Planet Thorntree website (http//:thorntree.lonelyplanet.com) for South America to answer peoples queries about Rio and Brazil and also to see what everyone else is saying about the various parts of South America.
A few months ago, I saw a post there from Will Hegman talking about taking his boat, Fuga, up the coast of Brazil and looking for people interested in crewing. He said it was a perfect place to find crew as you have backpackers who are looking for something different, something that doesnt cost much–and backpackers arent normally too time-pressured. We dont fall into that category, as we live and work here, however we still managed to hook up with Will for a day on the harbor in Rio.
We met him at the Rio Yacht Club in the morning and then headed out for the day with him and some Brazilian friends of his on board. It was more of a “coffee cruise” than anything else, although we dispensed with the coffee in favor of beer. Some home-made sandwiches appeared for lunch, followed by a good stiff breeze picking up in the afternoon. And on the way home, we even managed to pass ourselves off as Good Samaritans: We passed some guys on a daysailer with a broken rudder so we towed them back into the yacht club and then parted ways.
Wills boat is now docked in the llha Grande area just south of Rio, so we still hope to be able to catch up for some sailing in that marvelous area of the world from time to time when he is in town. And all because of his brief post on the Thorntree. Seems like a pretty useful connection.
