All roles/Shoreside/Yacht Training Instructor
Shoreside
Yacht Training Instructor
You teach the safety, deck, engineering and interior courses that crew need to join and progress on superyachts. Your standards decide how well crews handle fire, flooding, medical emergencies and guests.
- Department
- Shoreside
- Reports to
- Head of Training / Training Centre Manager
- Yacht size
- Shore based
- Contract
- Permanent, shore based, or freelance
- Starting pay
- €38,000 a year
What the job is
A Yacht Training Instructor delivers the courses crew need to get hired and promoted. That can mean STCW Basic Safety Training for new deckhands and stewardesses, Advanced Fire Fighting and Medical Care for officers, RYA Powerboat and Yachtmaster courses, or MCA officer and engineering modules. Most instructors work at approved training centres in Antibes, Palma, Fort Lauderdale, Southampton, the Solent, Auckland or the Gold Coast, where the yachts and the crew are.
Almost every instructor has spent years at sea first. Students trust someone who has fought a real engine room fire drill at 03:00 or brought a tender alongside in a swell. You teach to a syllabus approved by the MCA, RYA or another body, so lesson plans, assessment records and attendance logs matter. Auditors check them, and a sloppy file can cost the centre its approval.
The work is part classroom, part practical. You run pool sessions in immersion suits, fire ground exercises in breathing apparatus, first aid scenarios with mannequins and boat handling on the water. Classes range from nervous 19 year olds on their first course to captains revalidating their tickets. Good instructors adjust their pace, keep people safe during practicals, and fail candidates who are not ready, even when it is unpopular.
What makes a good one
- Clear, calm teaching style
- Real seagoing experience
- Safe control of practical exercises
- Accurate assessment records
- Fair, firm marking
A day in the life
- 07:30Arrive at the centre, check the pool is open and the liferafts, immersion suits and lifejackets are laid out and serviceable.
- 08:30Register 14 students, check passports and ENG1 certificates, and run the safety brief for the day's practicals.
- 09:00Classroom session on abandon ship procedures, survival craft equipment and the effects of cold water, using real cases from yachts.
- 11:00Move to the pool. Students don suits and lifejackets, jump from height, form a huddle and swim a chain.
- 12:30Lunch while you update the attendance log and note which students need extra attention on the liferaft drill.
- 13:30Liferaft practical: righting a capsized raft, boarding from the water and running through the equipment pack.
- 15:30Back to the classroom for the written assessment, then go through answers and correct any gaps.
- 16:30Sign off results, complete assessment records for the audit file and log any equipment that needs servicing.
- 17:30Brief tomorrow's fire fighting instructor on the group, then answer emails from crew agents booking places for next month.
Pay by country
Annual gross salary for an experienced instructor employed full time at an approved training centre. Freelance instructors are often paid a day rate instead, and senior instructors who hold a Master or Chief Engineer ticket earn at the top of each range. No tips.
- France and Monaco
- €38,000 – 55,000
- Spain
- €32,000 – 48,000
- Italy
- €32,000 – 46,000
- United Kingdom
- £35,000 – 52,000
- USA (Florida)
- US$55,000 – 85,000
- Caribbean
- US$45,000 – 70,000
- UAE
- AED 180,000 – 300,000
- Australia
- A$75,000 – 110,000
- New Zealand
- NZ$70,000 – 100,000
Required
- Relevant MCA Certificate of Competency or equivalent sea time
- IMO Model Course 6.09 (Training Course for Instructors)
- STCW Basic Safety Training
- ENG1 medical
- Approval from the relevant awarding body for each course taught
Recommended
- RYA Yachtmaster Instructor
- RYA Powerboat Instructor
- IMO Model Course 3.12 (Assessment, Examination and Certification)
- Advanced Fire Fighting
- Medical Care
- Level 3 Award in Education and Training
Visas
- Right to work in the country of the training centre
- EU citizenship or work permit for France, Spain or Italy
- US work authorisation for Florida centres
- Australian or New Zealand work rights
Where it leads
- Deckhand
- Bosun / Boatswain
- Second Officer
- Chief Officer / First Mate
- Yacht Captain
- Yacht Training Instructor
Yacht Training Instructor jobs open now
Questions crew ask
Do I need to have worked on yachts to become an instructor?
For almost every course, yes. Awarding bodies expect relevant sea time or a Certificate of Competency, and centres hire people whose experience students respect.
Can I instruct between contracts at sea?
Many do. Freelance instructors often teach in the winter off season or between rotations, paid by the day, once they hold the right instructor approvals.
Which courses are always in demand?
STCW Basic Safety Training and its refreshers fill every month, as do PDSD, Advanced Fire Fighting, Medical Care and RYA Powerboat courses. Instructors who can teach several of these get the most work.