Who we are

Behold: the happy crew!

We are the Happy Crew — a loose confederation of friends, accomplices, and well-meaning enthusiasts, most of whom were first spotted in the wild at the Geneva Hash House Harriers (HHH). For the uninitiated, the HHH is an international network of running groups, or — to use their own preferred and more anatomically honest description — "a drinking group with a running problem." You'll find them in virtually every city on Earth that contains both expats and a pub, which is to say: most of them.

The HHH formula is simple: expats meet to run a bit, socialise a lot, take absolutely nothing seriously, and treat self-importance as the only acceptable target of mockery. There is no dress code, no entrance exam, and no discernible hierarchy — which, frankly, is also the average state of a Royal Navy frigate after three weeks at sea and two barrels of grog.

Happy Crew was born from this same gloriously low-stakes spirit: non-competitive, friendly, open to all, blissfully fuss-free, and quietly devoted to looking out for each other. Where the HHH runs and drinks, we sail and drink — a meaningful nautical upgrade, we feel.

So every weekend, plus the occasional weekday evening when the wind and the calendar conspire favourably, we meet to sail. The recruiting process is rigorous: whoever pleases the commodore joins. That's it. No vetting committee, no probationary period, nothing. 

Our continuous thread is learning. We learn for fun. We learn from each other. We occasionally learn the hard way, but those tales are reserved for the post-sail apéro.

Happy Crew is not an organisation. It is a concept.

Our core principles:

• Be healthy — mentally and physically. (Mental health rebounds noticeably faster with a sea breeze; the physical kind responds well to not falling overboard.)

• Enjoy learning — shared learning is our modest, humble, slightly pretentious objective for all.

• Sail for pleasure — have fun every single day, and be uncompromisingly professional about safety. Fun is mandatory; safety is non-negotiable; pretending to know what a "preventer" is when you don't is strictly forbidden.