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"X.25" wrote in message
om...
I am looking for a career change, and all I want to do is sailing.

I have no experience whatsoever, and I would really need some
experienced input.

Few questions related to this:

1. It is my understanding that the RYA schools are the best choice.
Could someone be able to recommend a good RYA approved school
(course), outside of the UK (preferrably Greece, Spain, Turkey, etc.).

2. What would be the best approach, in order to gain experience?
Should I start with a day-skipper course, and then try to find
experience through "Crew Seeker" (or something similar), or should I
go for a longer course and then go for the experience?

3. I did search a bit on the web, but the information is very
confusing (and sparse). Could someone recommend a website which would
be suitable for someone like me?

4. It would be really nice to find out more about the problems you
have experienced when you were starting (or even the problems you are
encountering now .

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks.

Don't despair over these replies. 18 years ago I taught a friend how to
sail. He had a pretty traumatic indoctrination as we raced offshore in all
weathers every weekend, but he stuck it out and persevered, became very
proficient, and also took his Yachtmaster exams at all levels, over a period
of about 5 years, eventually becoming a Yachtmaster/instructor. He is now
employed as skipper on a yacht owned by a very large and well-known company
in the FTSE 100. He runs their team-building courses for their apprentices,
managers, and even directors, and is employed full time, winter and summer,
with a substantial annual budget for maintenance of the company yacht.

There must be other major companies who have seen the advantage of this kind
of training to supplement their in-house commercial, technical and
scientific training, and I would think that so long as you start at the
bottom and learn all there is to know about the sailing game (if that is
possible!), you should be able to break into the profession, although it may
take some years.

My friend's determination to suceed in the sailing world has to be admired,
the only problem is, we can no longer sail together as he is employed
full-time during the season and has little, if any time off! I do however,
get to sail his own 50-foot Beneteau on delivery trips etc., so life hasn't
treated us too badly eh?

Keep at it son, even a dustbinperson can make it to the top, given the right
attitude! I wish you luck!