How much for a professional Instructor?

peterb26

peterb26

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 Aug 2006
Messages
1,094
Location
Lagos, Portugal
www.theblundells.co.uk
I recently saw an advert in the Home Counties which had the following requirements:-

Essential Requirements

•RYA Yachtmaster Offshore (Sail/commercial)
•RYA Powerboat Instructor
•RYA Cruising Instructor (Sail) or ready to qualify
•RYA Shorebased Instructor or ready to qualify
•RYA SRC Assessor or ready to qualify
•Experience of skippering and/or instructing in the Solent
•Full UK driving license
•Experience of maintaining small craft

Desirable requirements

•RYA Yachtmaster Instructor (Sail)
•RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructor
•RYA PWC Instructor
•RYA Dinghy Senior Instructor
•RYA Yachtmaster Offshore Power (or Instructor)

And the starting salary was between £15.5k and £17.5k p.a.

Now it may well be that this is the "going rate" and this is no attempt at belittling the company looking for the applicant - but I'd be very interested in what other folks think about this.

To me its like the poor old Coastguards being paid less than the lads and lasses at McDonalds......

Those qualifications are by no means the bottom of the rung - most folks here who read them will probably think "yep - I'd like to have that lot".....

Yet they will only generate 17.5k per annum in exchange for a 40 hour week...... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
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........ but I'd be very interested in what other folks think about this.

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It's a market. If the company doesn't get any applicants they will have to offer more money, otherwise..........
 
Of course, instructing afloat is not a 40 hrs a week job. The £75 (ish) per day is for possibly 12 hrs + of preperation/instruction and certainly 24hr responsibility for the care and safety of your students. Its a terrible rate of pay if you look at it on an hourly basis. You have no continuity of work and you only have the summer months to earn your living. You need to find an alternative for the winter. You have the cost of renewing your qualifications, medical examinations, insurances, waterproofs etc etc. No mater how much I would like to instruct, I simply need to earn more money than this to support my family. I guess I need a lottery win to put a few quid in the bank before I can do the job I would really enjoy.
 
Before running off and getting a proper education and job I did dinghy instruction - totally voluntary so no pay, but I found that being on the water all day in teaching boats meant that I didn't want to do the evening or sunday races at my club .... so rather than doing the sailing that I really enjoyed doing (blasting around in a Fireball ...) I ended up plodding around in Wayfarers ...
so for me - I'd rather not teach as a profession ... I'm quite happy to help out or do informal instruction when we're out sailing, but certainly not as a career ... as for the pittance they are offering ... hmm ... you'd need 2 jobs just to make a living!
 
The RYA one day shorebased courses are much more viable if you can get enough of them, but sailing instruction whether on the water or the theory is poorly paid. Its the usual problem when too many people want to opt out of normal work and try to turn a hobby into a living
 
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Yet they will only generate 17.5k per annum in exchange for a 40 hour week......

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An instructor doing Yachtmaster preperation may get on the boat Sunday night then not get off again until Friday night when the candidates start their exam.

During the week they have to do night passages on at least some of the nights. All adds up to lots of hours (way over 40)for not much pay.
 
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too many people want to opt out of normal work and try to turn a hobby into a living

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I think you are right in one thing, too many people opt out of normal work, I did, but trying to turn a hobby into a living, at £17.5k I for one can't live off of that, the people that retire and do instructing are still doing it for a hobby, but they ask for little money, so the schools pay the market rate, this makes it impossible to make a living from instructing IMHO.
 
I suppose it depends on what you want in life. A younger member of my old club went off to Sunsail in the med doing instruction / skippering. The pay was poor but all was provided, he got bought lots of beer by the punters and he got a fresh delivery of young women every flotilla turnaround.

It was a way better option than working in his fathers business, so when the flotillas shut down in the autumn, he went off to the ski slopes as an instructor and with the same rewards.

Never did join the family business, but messed everything up by getting married!
 
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I did, but trying to turn a hobby into a living, at £17.5k I for one can't live off of that

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Any reason why not? Millions of people do in this country.
 
YM Instructors pay has always been poor and the turnover (burnout?) of instructors can be high. £100/day can be achieved from some sailing schools, but guess why I don't teach sailing for a living! Individual/private instruction works out a little better for the instructor but you still have to pay tax etc and somehow allow for a pension? You are never off duty and wind and weather adds to the stress of the job. Good instructors will ensure that almost whatever weather they get, the course will be enjoyable and appropriate for the candidates.

Some schools now keep the instructors on during the exams!! (I think this is a sign of a good school - the instructor sees the examination process and keeps his instruction relevant and appropriate.)

Powerboat instructors can demand more money - and for some reason owners of big powerboats are often prepared to pay more for instruction...
 
The more I think about it - the more difficult it becomes to resolve.

For instance, lets take a basic Powerboat 2 course. 2 days duration, typically over a weekend and only a maximum of 3 people can go on it as thats the RYA rules.

Typically people will pay around £250 for this course. You could probably get it for less if you searched around.

So the poor old RYA traing company has £750 in income. It has to provide a RIB - which could be a £35 grand investment and one that depreciates quickly. That RIB has to comply with Rya/mca requirements. Then they have to provide fuel - God help us!

They have to provide office accomodation, heat, light, tea, coffee etc etc..

And the whole lot (including RIB) has to be insured.

Plus they have to pay an instructor.

So there is NO WAY, that the instructor is going to get £200 a day for the two days work. He is going to be lucky to end up with half of that.

I can't do the maths on the Dayskipper/Comp Crew/ Yachmaster Courses as I dont know the figures involved, but I'd be surprised if the Training Companies are making a fortune out of these either.
 
I pay a MINIMUM of £100 per day!

Plus travel when required!

These are professional people that deserve a fair days wage for a fair days work. They are looking after my boats, they are representing my company, I feed them, provide them with clean protective clothing, branded I admit but they keep theirs clean.

24hrs a day when they're working, is £4.16 an hour!! But I feed them also and don't charge them lodgings when they stay at our houses.

£17000:00 pa eh?

If they work 22 days in the month, and they are there for 24hrs on those days, that is £2.68 an hour!!!!!!!

Theres a thought!

Al.
 
Likewise I pay a minimum of £100 day. All to often you see students who want to go for a pub meal but the instructor can't afford to do it. To do so often costs them a third of their wages. The instructor line is usually 'We have enough food onboard to eat but if you want to buy me dinner that's ok."
 
This is a mine field,

dealers want to keep costs down, and can be very slow payers.

schools need to cover their costs and put something away to replace boats etc, and carry the cost of slow payers.

instructors want, need work, but they have to be careful of burn out, mistakes are not easily forgiven on a £250,000 boat.

boat owners want to keep costs down.


I have spoken to loads and loads of peeps about this stuff. and have come to the conclusion, instructors ain't in it for the money. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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instructors ain't in it for the money. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

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Absolutely.

I deliberately let my cruising instructor qualification lapse to kick start me into doing something that pays me closer to what I think I'm worth!

There's a scratchcard being advertised on tele now that has as its top prize a £40k a year salary. If I won that I would consider going back to instructing!
 
First post I saw today was the following:-

"Instructor Vacancies for all levels of ability:
Senior Instructors
Keelboat Instructors
Assistant Keelboat Instructors
Powerboat Instructors
Theory Instructors

We are looking for seasonal staff between April & September on a freelance basis.
Pay is from £60 - £80 per day"
 
That is a despicable rate for freelance. It is similar in most outdoor activities though - there are so many young instructors who want to accumulate the logbook time and experience necessay to go further, that they will work for peanuts (and we know what you may get then /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif )

There is a reasonable living to be made later with permanent posts, or at the top end of the qualification scale, eg £200+/day for corporate work, and more for certain mountain guides.

Most of us in that industry started out being paid eff all for working with kids - the very group who require the most able instructors IMO.
 
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