The Season Workers Guide: Outdoor Sports Jobs
As a complete novice, without any previous sailing experience, you can still find suitable positions on private yachts where the employer will teach you the basics. These types of positions are usually low paid or non-paid, but remember you have food and board included, and you get to travel, and gain valuable sailing experience and sea miles.
Working as an outdoor instructor is so much fun. You get to work within a team, that love the same things you do, live with you, work with you and share their laughs and troubles with you. For the past season (April-August), I have had the pleasure of working within a team of people like the above. We worked long days but put our all into everything we did. We had school groups on camp every week since we started in April and this was were the fun was. We worked in groups of three instructors, going up to forty, depending on our site and school group.
To participate in training under a regional board (MLTE, MLTNI, MLTS and MLTW) you need to first be a member of a club that is affiliated to the local regional MC (Mountaineering council). You can then contact your regional training board and get your log book (which is the basis of almost all outdoor qualifications). Your club will also be able to help simplify the process and help you on your way to a career in outdoor sports.