Sailing club to dinghy instructor – as a pathway – is easier than you think. Many sailing clubs within the UK (and other countries) give a good grounding for ‘driving boats’. And this is great for those wanting to turn their hobby activity into a career.
The sailing club experience.
Sailing clubs generally have an on-point kids and youth dinghy programme implemented. Parents are usually into sailing themselves and pretty quickly nudge their offspring into the sport too. Being a club, plenty of equipment is often available for kiddy sailing.
Optimist boats are possibly the most popular – being very stable and relatively easy to pilot. RS Tera’s are another choice – albeit more applicable to older and heavier kids. Of course, the option to chuck your wee ones in a double hander with mum and dad is an excellent way to give them experience and a taste for the sport. Particularly the youngest of kids. Later, lessons and coaching will get sailors up to speed and able to go it alone.
Dinghy club racing.
Most sailing clubs aim their dinghy sailing at racing. And the coaching kids receive is grounding for this. Children may not want to actually race per see but if they stick with it they’ll be given all those dinghy racing skills needed to take it on.
Club racing – for juniors and youths – can be pretty competitive. Many clubs run a full programme of youth dinghy racing through school holidays. Some of this can be national level racing – as shown in the vid above. It can all be intense but still good fun and helps bolster those more advanced skills.
Heading further down the dinghy sailing path – options.
Some dinghy sailors will perhaps reach a stage where they want to compete and take their competitive campaigns as far as they can. Others, however, may contemplate what other options are available.
One such route is to become a dinghy sailing instructor. This can open up lots of opportunities, including working overseas with one of the many watersports holiday companies. Having already nailed down your personal dinghy skills over the years getting qualified is the next step.
Waterports Nomad dinghy sailing instructor courses.
Watersports Nomad offers a variety of watersports instructor courses – all run from our Greek base in Vassilki. For sailors coming from clubs, and already able to sail confidently, the fast track course could be for you. You can find more info about that by hitting the button link below.
Alternatively, you may fancy spreading your wings further and gaining qualifications in other disciplines – such as windsurfing and paddle boarding. In which the Watersports Nomad ultimate watersports instructor course may be your port of call. You can see more details of that via the button link below.
Whatever your route choice there’s no question dinghy sailing clubs are a great way to begin your career. Even if you don’t realise this at first. What started as just a hobby could turn into something else entirely. With Watersports Nomad this could mean a career in the sailing industry that could last a lifetime. For more info on becoming a watersports instructor check out the following articles.