How to make a career in yacht racing

No not required.  I'll give you 2 examples. 1. Lad learns to sail quite well then gets RYA qualified.  He then spends a summer teaching at Minorca or similar, does well and so is asked to do it again.  Next year they ask him to manage the facility, which he does.  Following year they ask him to manage new facility in Caribean, facility gets bigger and he earns more. 2. Lad learns to sail quite well, gets RYA qualified and teaches at Minorca or similar.  Following year does it again but at a facility in Caribean.  Meets rich american who like sailing so buys small criuser and lad crews for him at big events around Caribean for the summer.  The following year the rich american buys bigger boat and asks lad to look after it and deliver it to various regattas on eastern seaboard.  The following year american buys even bigger boat and lad looks after it, except he has it built in Europe so lad has to take delivery and sail trans Atlantic.  American now has 80 footer and lad has girlfriend and sister on board as cook and crew and spends most of his time sailing between regattas on either side of Atlantic.  When owner is not using boat the lad invites his parents for Caribean cruises.

Both are true stories.

Originally posted by Flint I would like to no how to make a career in yacht racing.? what should you do.?

Well a glib answer would be "be an attractive woman". They clearly are finding it easier at present to gain sponsorship than men. That is because both male and female consumers are more likely to identify with a woman than a man and the marketing people who control sponsorship budgets understand this.

But more seriously..... 

One traditional route has been as a sailmaker. Racing yachts which spend a fortune on new sails often like to have a sailmaker's representative onboard to help the trimmers.

Alternatively, many of the sailor retained by AC campaigns established their reputations in Olympic dinghy classes. But the number of people actually paid to race is tiny. There are a lot more who make some kind of living while moving between regattas by looking after race boats, managing the maintenance required and organising the crew and logistical requirements for the rich but busy owners. The people who do that are invariably the kind of people who good at making contacts and building networks.

 

WELL SAID dr clifford shes hardly the best looking girl esp with her hair cut short

I'm an admirer, I've read her book and she's quite something - but she must be hell to live with.

i have read her book too and the bit where it talks about her changing the broken center board over in the southern ocean amazed me. when i actually was on kingfisher i could'nt believe the size of the board, most grown men would stuggle with one. She is one strong woman!!!!