How To Become A Sailing Instructor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sailing instructor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a sailing instructor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.28 an hour? That's $29,696 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 19% and produce 57,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSailing InstructorUS Average

Salary

2.3

Avg. Salary $29,696

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.9

Growth rate 19%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.57%

Asian 4.76%

Black or African American 11.04%

Hispanic or Latino 12.41%

Unknown 5.61%

White 65.61%

Gender

female 34.98%

male 65.02%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

4.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sailing instructor

Explore sailing instructor education requirements

Most common sailing instructor degrees

Bachelor's

78.2 %

High School Diploma

7.1 %

Associate

6.9 %

Start to develop specific sailing instructor skills

Skills	Percentages
CPR	23.29%
Boats	13.66%
Role Model	11.39%
Lifeguard	10.27%
Course Curriculum	9.04%

Complete relevant sailing instructor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sailing instructors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a sailing instructor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sailing instructor resumes.

Research sailing instructor duties and responsibilities

Exercise leadership ability and time management skills by coordinating instructors, managing schedules and making coaching decisions throughout racing competitions.
Prepare, organize, and run sailing program.
Perform sailing and counselor leadership describe below.
Cover the fundamental concepts of chemistry and biology including cell biology, metabolism, microbiology, genetics, evolution and histology.

Prepare your sailing instructor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sailing instructor resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a sailing instructor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable sailing instructor resume templates

Build a professional sailing instructor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your sailing instructor resume.