Learn to Teach Kite Surfing

Spain is home to Sangria, lots of sunshine and plenty of excellent spots to go sailing, kite surfing, and windsurfing! The bustling area of Costa Brava is an outdoor sports Mecca, providing both an awesome work atmosphere and a perfect opportunity to gain experience (and qualifications) in your chosen sports. Dragon Kite School, in Tarifa, Spain, consists of a school and a shop to support and teach the sport in the area. Each year they employ individuals to take up the post of Kitesurfing Assistant Instructors, who get accommodation and a small (varying) salary. These are IKO (International Kitesurfing Organisation) recognised positions, therefore look great on your CV! In order to get this job you need to be confident in the sport, i.e. able to travel up wind and do a little jump. You will learn everything you need to know about teaching the sport and then finish off with a course to get your foot on the instructor level ladder.

On a different note, if you fancy an insight into the National Governing Body side of Kitesurfing, the IKO HQ is based in the Kitesurfing capital Dominican Republic, offers jobs to those with an interest in the sport and enthusiasm to help with office work, whenever there is an opening in job vacancies. This is a great opportunity to train up in a different area of the sport, as well as gaining contacts that may help you with work in the future!

RESOURCES

www.pgl.org.uk
www.dragonkiteschool.com/
www.internationalkiteboarding.org/

Teach Sailing with RYA Certification

Australia is home to the gorgeous Whitsunday islands, Cairns, Sydney harbour and many other hotspots, which are in turn home to hundreds of boats taking large or small groups of people out for trips. Almost every one of these needs a deckhand to help out, so by taking up this role you gain lots of experience and confidence with your sailing skills. The entrepreneurial approach of walking into boat yard or company shops, asking if they need help and being flexible to meet their needs is often successful. Make sure you express your love for sailing and enthusiasm to learn more and develop your skills, as it increases your chances of sorting yourself a place on a boat or in a sailing school. Your chances of finding work at a beach resort area are increased as well.

Sailing schools and centres in various spots, especially those where the tourists flock to, often hire individuals to help out as general maintenance staff or as customer relations, but then provide them with opportunities to train up and increase their level within the sport. You are then able to become an assistant instructor, or take a course (paid for by the company) and continue working for them. If you already have enough experience, RYA Assistant Sailing Instructor is a recognised position, and many centres need individuals to take up this post.

If you want a fun and sun-filled adventure closer to home, islands along the Mediterranean such as Minorca and Gibraltar host many companies that require lots of enthusiastic staff due to the thousands that flock there throughout the year. The Greek islands are a world-renowned paradise for sailing and windsurfing. Many companies work by the sea, both larger international outfits and smaller local set-ups that still require staff. With on-shore winds and thermal breezes in the summer months, Costa Brava (the Bay of Roses) is another perfect location for hurtling across the sea on a windsurfer or laser as well as surfing with a kite. So if a mixture of water sports in one location is what tickles your fancy, then head down there as you will be able to put your hand to anything, and there are jobs aplenty when the peak season comes around.

Essential Websites:

www.rya.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspx
www.nationalcentrecumbrae.org.uk
www.asa.com
www.sail-world.com

Become a Surfing Instructor

European destinations and English speaking countries are generally easier to find work as the language barrier or visa issues are not so big. However, Morocco has a huge intake of surfers every year, and many of the companies that work along the coast are really open to employing staff from around the world.

The most important thing to remember when you are finding this kind of work is that you must ensure that the employer is genuine and their promise of qualifications is not a ruse to ensure cheap or free labour. This is extremely rare, but sadly is not unknown.

If you need 8 hours sleep a night, plenty of rest, and no funky tan lines, then these jobs may not be for you. You need to be prepared to work hard, sometimes not doing the specific job that you have asked for. This is part and parcel of the experience – every minute spent cleaning the toilets or serving snotty customers is made up for with an awesome atmosphere of fun and supportive teams all in it together. Despite often minimal pay, you come away with hugely worthwhile qualifications which may not last a lifetime, but the memories and friends you make certainly do. It opens your eyes to what else is out there, (beyond the daily grind on the motorway) and what you are able to achieve when you put your mind to it. Go have lots of fun, see amazing places, meet remarkable people, and work like you’ve never worked before!

Essential Website:

www.wannasurf.com

Become a Dive Instructor

BSAC offers training for members through a branch, or intensive courses through a BSAC school. Click on the BSAC website (www.bsac.com/) to find the nearest course and dive centre to you.

The second, PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), is highly renowned in the underwater industry, and most dive resorts abroad use PADI to register their courses. You will have to go through a series of stages to get to Instructor level, from Open Water Advanced, to Rescue Diver, to Divemaster and then finally Instructor Development Course (IDC). This can become expensive, yet once you have logged enough dives and achieved your dive card, who can complain about diving every day into tropical waters of exotic coral and a biodiversity of marine life? PADI courses are scattered around the world – you only have to shack up at a dive resort such as Koh Tao in Thailand, Caye Caulker in Belize or the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and you will be inundated with dive resorts offering the opportunity to find more instructors (see www.PADI.com for a list of locations).

You can also check out ScubaSkool, a third branch of SportSkool Ltd. They offer a seven-week programme to train people from beginner to PADI Divemaster. Crystal International Academy also offers range of European scuba diving courses in partnership with PADI Career Development Centres, located in Egypt, Cyprus and Malta. As for working abroad, salaries are difficult to determine, it hugely varies depending on which country you decide to work in. Salaries are never particularly high; nevertheless, diving all day long for free, and free accommodation and often food and drinks in local bars and restaurants means the lifestyle and perks are second to none. Once qualified as a PADI professional, a whole host of opportunities opens up for employment worldwide: from a dive centre or beach resort, to the polar opposite of a live-aboard boat, where you can continually explore the depths of fantastic blue tropical seas and meet new people every day.

Teach Snowboarding this Winter

As a private family-run business, All Tracks Academy implies a more personal approach than some of the bigger organisations, promising small-scale groups that match students together according to ability. 4 – 11 week Instructor courses and 3 week Ski/Snowboard improvement camps are in a hassle-free complete package, including central Whistler accommodation, food, and extra modules in backcountry and avalanche safety training. Yet the prices are competitive, from £2995 to £7995, as the costs reflect Whistler’s notoriously high cost of living. The real perk is that if you learn in Whistler, you can indeed earn in Whistler, as successful students from the Academy are put in touch with an extensive list of contacts and qualified students with an enthusiastic attitude can use help from ski/snowboard directors to find instructor work in Canada or jobs at ski resorts elsewhere.

There are many smaller privately owned businesses that are being set up from certified powder nuts that have indeed been there, done that. RTM Snowboarding is a pertinent example of one of these organisations that concentrate on teaching snowboarding techniques in the simplest way possible. Based solely in Courchevel and Meribel in France, a group of highly skilled enthusiasts run far cheaper and also conveniently shorter courses from 95 to 210 Euros over 2 hours to 5 days. Learning with this company may not enable you to immediately become a qualified instructor – yet it is a perfect springboard for getting more into the sport and the background of instructing and taste the snow before making a commitment to take the examinations. RTM’s unique ‘LIFE’ program aims to identify ‘Learners’ from the ‘Explorers’ to ensure students feel at ease when learning the ropes.

Some independent companies appear to offer a more tailored program for candidates looking for a serious career in snow sports. Mountain Lodge is another such company that offers a BASI syllabus package for level 1 and 2 certification; you’d be trained by experienced BASI examiners that ensure that all study topics are relevant to the final exams. Furthermore, accommodation is organised through their ‘in house’ sister company, Skivolution, a Courchevel chalet specialist who ensures a high quality of food and comfortable service. Working potential after getting qualified varies. A Level 1 qualification allows you to work within the UK on dry slopes, snow domes or in a controlled environment like a kindergarten in the Alps. The second level opens up the possibilities of working abroad all over the world. Mountain Lodge also has an agreement with Interski in the Aosta Valley, Italy, where many successful candidates have been transferred straight away to work for the first time as instructors. Candidates from Mountain Lodge have been known to be sent to work far and wide, from Switzerland, Andorra, Canada, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Pay very much depends on the country and the ski school who employs you, but we are told that you are sure to greatly increase your level 1 salary if you achieve the BASI certificate level 2.