Tombendy

Incredible crew, finally I can sleep off watch

I suspected from the first time I read Tom's profile on here that he could be good crew and I was absolutely right. Tom helped me cross the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to French Guyana with 2 other crewmates and I asked him to stay on double-handed from French Guyana to Trinidad and Tobago. Not only is Tom a great sailor and good crew but he has the kind of personality that is really needed on ocean passages, he helped me worry about all types of possible problems. Tom was always thinking ahead and considering the "what ifs" while on passage so it was a great relief to have someone else onboard who was also looking out for crew and boat safety, changing conditions, and keeping an outstanding watch. It has been hard for me to find crew that I grew to trust so much that I could get good rest while not on watch and Tom provided that trust. After a few days I enjoyed letting him trim all the sails to his heart's content, he had learned all the boat systems quite well. His experience on Volvo ocean race boats was interesting and quite useful, as a liveaboard cruiser, I hadn't gotten into the minutiae of trimming for upwind sailing but he coaxed a bit more performance out of our sails and we had a great time just sailing. On the French Guyana to Tobago passage, we had a few 200nm days, a wonderful run. He was also eager to teach other crew about knots, several we hadn't used yet. Additionally, Tom is a great guy and a joy to have around as crew. I now consider him a cherished friend and will seek out opportunities to sail with him again. I can't think of better crew to have onboard an ocean passage.

10th Nov 2023