Sailing instructor

In your day-to-day duties you could:

• prepare and present lessons
•  teach safety on dry land and drills on water
•  demonstrate boat handling and sailing techniques
•  assess your students' abilities
•  keep attendance records
•  record and report accidents or boat damage
•  inform students of changes to lessons due to bad weather
•  help to maintain the boats

• knowledge of teaching and the ability to design courses
• the ability to teach pupils how to do something
• leadership skills
• the ability to come up with new ways of doing things
• thinking and reasoning skills
• patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
• to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• excellent verbal communication skills
• to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

You'll need to be a member of the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) to qualify or revalidate as an RYA instructor.

You can get into this job through:

• a college course
• an apprenticeship
• specialist courses run by professional bodies

You could move into a supervisory or management job within a sailing club.

You could also become an instructor for other types of sailing vessels, like yachts and powerboats.

Sailing instructors can work on a contract or freelance basis.