Most people qualify as an RYA instructor on a cold reservoir in April. There is another way: train at our Lixouri Bay Beach Club in Kefalonia, where the water is warm, the wind arrives on schedule most afternoons, and your accommodation, meals and kit are part of the course. You fly out with a bag of shorts and fly home an instructor.
What RYA instructor courses do we run?
Two four-week courses take you from keen amateur to qualified instructor, and shorter courses upgrade people who already teach:
- RYA Dinghy Instructor: four weeks. You need the RYA Adult Level 1 Sailing certificate, or to sail to that standard.
- RYA Windsurf Instructor: four weeks, open to anyone 18 or over. No prior qualification needed.
- RYA Wing-Surf Instructor: one week, for confident wingers who hold the RYA Level 2 Powerboat certificate and a first aid certificate.
- RYA Advanced Dinghy Instructor and RYA Intermediate Windsurf Instructor: one-week upgrades for qualified instructors. The intermediate windsurf course asks for 50 logged teaching hours first.
What is included in the course fee?
Everything you need to live and train: airport transfers, shared accommodation at the beach club, full board meals, all the boats, boards and safety kit, and professional RYA training six days a week. Kefalonia is around a three hour flight from the UK with a 60 minute transfer at the other end. Contact the team for current dates and course fees.
Why train in Greece rather than the UK?
Time on the water. A four-week residential course in reliable wind and warm, sheltered water means you sail or ride every day instead of losing weekends to weather. You also train inside a working beach club, so you watch real lessons being taught to real guests all day, which is the job you are qualifying for.
What happens after you qualify?
Many of our trainees go straight into a season. Beach clubs, ours included, hire newly qualified dinghy and windsurf instructors every summer, and the RYA ticket is recognised at centres worldwide. See our seasonal jobs if you want to put the qualification to work with us, or read how to become a sailing instructor for the whole path.
Not looking to teach?
If you want to learn or improve rather than instruct, our guest RYA courses run through the season at the beach club, from first-time starts to advanced clinics, and a learn to sail holiday gets a complete beginner sailing in a week.
