For more ideas go to Gap Travel or Gap Year

I was in the middle of the Atlantic on a 62-foot wooden ketch more than a 1,000 miles from land and it was dark all around me with only the stars to light up the ocean.

I had wanted to organise my own gap year and wanted it to be different – which is easier said than done. I planned to backpack around South America, from Venezuela in the north to Argentina in the south and I needed cheap places to stay on my way. So I searched the internet for other Danes (I am from Denmark) living in the countries I wanted to go to. One of the people I got in contact with told me about a boat, Roselina, that was sailing around the world for the next five years and that young and old could jump on and off if they worked on the boat.

I had never sailed before but I decided to look it up and contact the owners. Four months later I was steering the boat across the Atlantic together with nine other people.

My reasons for taking a gap year were to learn about myself and become more independent. On the boat everyone had to catch fish, cook, clean, and steer the boat, day and night. The trip was organised by a few people that wanted to sail across the Atlantic, so everyone was on equal terms.

Generally people start working as deck hands either in the Caribbean - most likely Antigua - or on the other side of the Atlantic in the Canary Islands. That is where I started, sailing from there down to Cape Verde. We then spent two weeks crossing the Atlantic before sailing around the Caribbean for a month.

On the way I met other people who worked as deckhands aboard big yachts. Most of them had no further education, many of them had no sailing experience and still they were working onboard some of the biggest boats I have ever seen in my life and for some of the richest people in the world. A deckhand can earn up to $700 a week, but it's had work, with plenty of cleaning and polishing.

I had to pay for my trip, to cover fuel and food but I also had a lot more freedom than deckhands who work for money.

Seeing dolphins swimming alongside the boat, jumping into the Atlantic with 3,300 meters of water below you, snorkelling next to a turtle near St. Lucia, celebrating Christmas on Antigua and arriving in Barbados after two weeks at sea are all experiences that cannot be paid for.

It is relatively easy to arrange a gap year as deckhand. It just takes courage - and the internet. Many boats are sailing around the world and most of them are looking for crew for anything from a few weeks to a whole year. Some crews have a lot of experience and are very safe but others are young daredevils with no experience who sail around without a plan. I heard the most incredible stories about crazy captains and people sailing in the wrong direction for months. This can happen when a person without experience tries to sail around the world alone or for the first time, so it is always a good idea to ask around about the reputation the boat has.

I would normally have found it very frustrating to lie in a tiny, hard bed, next to a person who had not showered properly for 10 days, listening to the waves in the background before going to sleep using my backpack as a pillow. I would also have found it very tiring to be woken at three o’clock in the morning to be told to take the helm, maybe in the rain, for the next two hours. Nevertheless, I enjoyed all these experiences more than anything else. To be there on deck in the night with only with one other person next to you listening to the flying fish landing on the deck and watching Orion following me was an amazing experience.

One of my friends onboard Roselina sailed around with her for a whole year. After I went ashore to explore South America, he continued through the Panama Canal, over to Galapagos and down to the Easter Islands. On a boat one can go almost everywhere for a relatively low cost – however it is also at a low speed. When people today tell me that the world is getting smaller and smaller, I encourage them sail around the world. When then they say that it is impossible I explain them how easy it is, even for a student.

A soft backpack is essential when working on a boat, so it is easy to store – and to use for a pillow. You can pack light, as you will rarely wear more than a polo shirt and swimming things. And check out what insurance you need, as the rules are different when you are in the middle of the Atlantic on a little boat.

You can travel alone or you can travel with a friend, often the boats look for more than one crew. It is easier to get a job if you have any special skills, like a diving certificate, first aid, sailing certificate or maybe just the ability to cook.

For information: https://www.crewseekers.net/ or like many others, just ask around in different harbours.

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