Career change

[Bathfanjim]

Does anyone have any ideas as to a suitable career change into the sailing industry for me? I am currently an account manager in the food industry and have many sales/marketing skills that could be transferrable to a boat manufacturer, charter/holiday company, sailing school etc.

Any ideas/opportunities please?!! Polite ones only.....!

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[Becky]

Is it wise to turn your hobby into your main source of livelihood? It could cease to be a pleasure and turn into a chore- after all, work is work, and very different from what you do for recreation. Just a thought

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[StephenSails]

Do not expect to earn big money, unless you are lucky enough to have lots of capital to invest in a existsing or new business that does well.


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[Bathfanjim]

Good points the both of you - I think to be honest they are the answers that I knew already but just hoped that the reality had changed a little. I did a sailing course 18 months ago and the skipper was the same age as me (30), I could not believe what a paltry amount of money he was paid for doing the job.

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[paulrossall]

I have just turned 50 and I am looking for an interesting challenge for the next 10 years, however I have a finance and commercial background. There are well paid jobs in the marine industry, just like any other, but the sailing jobs are to be done for the love of sailing rather than maintaining a good level of income.
With your background in sales I would have thought there are similar jobs, perhaps selling products to chandlers. I would write to manufacturers looking for sales/marketing positions. Travelling round all the ports, marinas and harbours in the UK, and getting paid for it would not be a bad start and who knows what opportunitites you might then discover. Good luck. Paul

<hr width=100% size=1>" there is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats".

 

[snowleopard]

like so many others, i too fancied a change to a marine-based job, hoping to spend my time working by or on the water rather than commuting to london. in the end i dipped my toe in the water by buying a charter business which was run for me by an agent.

it very soon became apparent that i was losing money and getting stressed out by the pressure to get down to the boats and fix problems all the time. in the end i decided to keep working at a boring but lucrative job long enough to get my own boat, then go sailing for my own pleasure rather than someone else's.



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[jamesjermain]

The good-income jobs in the marine industry are just like good-income jobs anywhere else - probably a bit boring and have very little to do with the end-product.

The interesting jobs are either very low paid or involve very long hours which mean you don't get to actually sail as much as you used to, or are rare as hens teeth, or it's mine and you are not having it!

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ