Ten people, one ship, an ocean at a time.
Ide Min, our sailing cargo ship, sails with a crew of ten professional seafarers, and carries up to four paying guests, shipmates, alongside them. They sail as working crew and learn the trade the only way it can be learned, at sea.
Bowsprit photograph by Emily Harris
Life at sea
Life aboard Ide Min runs around the clock. The crew stands day watches and night watches, handles the sails by hand, carries out docking manoeuvres in port and works the cargo operations when the hold is loaded and unloaded. A cook takes care of the meals, and every crew member has a berth aboard for the duration of the voyage. Fresh water aboard is limited and is used consciously, for drinking, cooking and washing in that order.
A crossing takes weeks, and that is part of what makes it worth doing. Distance gets a meaning again: you feel the force of the wind in the rig and the sea under the hull, you steer by the stars on a clear night, and you watch the weather arrive instead of reading about it. The ocean sets the pace, and after a while so do you.
The work is shared, and that is where the learning happens: hoisting and trimming sail, standing a watch, navigating, stowing cargo, keeping the ship in order. Nobody does any of it alone. Experienced sailors hand the craft on to those who are newer, and every crew member arrives at the far side of the ocean able to do more than when they left. Making landfall after weeks at sea, with the cargo intact and the ship in good order, is a feeling no other work provides.
Crew for the coming voyages
For the transatlantic voyage of 2026 to 2027 every professional position aboard Ide Min is filled; only shipmate places remain open on that voyage.
For the voyages after that we are always looking for good crew. If you are a professional seafarer and would like to sail with us, use the button below to introduce yourself, and we will get in touch when a place opens up.
Sail with usThe positions we sail with, and the certificate each one requires under Ide Min's minimum safe manning certificate. Two Able Seafarers Deck are required to sail. Every paid crew member also holds a valid medical certificate.
Sail with us as a shipmate
From the moment you step aboard you are not just a shipmate, you are a crew member with real responsibilities. You will work alongside experienced sailors, help hoist the sails, adjust the rigging, steer the ship, and take in views that are impossible to put into words.
Whether you have never set foot on a deck or you have been sailing for years, Ide Min is a good place to grow. Along the way you will discover more about yourself, build skills you never knew you had, and find out what you are truly made of when things get tough.
This is also how the craft survives. Square-rig and schooner seamanship is not learned from a book. It is handed from one pair of hands to the next, on watch, at sea. Every shipmate we carry is a little more of it kept alive.
Depending on the length of your stay, you will get hands-on experience with:
- Basic safety and maintenance
- Sail handling
- Steering
- Watch keeping
- Rigging
- Traditional cargo loading and unloading techniques
- Celestial navigation
- Provisioning and preparing the ship's meals
It won't always be easy, but that's exactly the point.
Want to sail with us?
Tell us which position or which voyage you are after and what sea time you have, and we will contact you.
Get in touch