Opportunities & Pathways
Opportunities & Pathways
Discover the many opportunities and pathways available to women and girls throughout the sailing community. Whether you're looking to get involved on the water, develop your skills, pursue a new role or explore where sailing could take you, there are a range of opportunities to support your journey and help you take the next step.
Contact your club's Commodore or President to see what's available. Explore the range of opportunties and pathways below.
View more of our Women in Sailing Series
Volunteering at Sailing Clubs
Many sailing and yacht clubs are powered by volunteers and are always looking for people to get involved. Whether you have plenty of time to give or can lend a hand occasionally, there are opportunities to suit a wide range of interests, skills and experience.
There are many different ways to contribute to making sailing happen. Perhaps you're an administration superstar, enjoy driving support boats or have accounting or bookkeeping skills you would like to use to give back to your community. Maybe you have a passion for photography and would love the opportunity to spend time on the water, or you want to experience racing from the sidelines before getting involved yourself by helping with timing or processing race results.
Like other sports, sailing also relies on people with a diverse range of skills behind the scenes. Clubs and events need commentators, journalists, social media experts, event managers and people with knowledge of databases and membership systems. Whatever your skills or interests, there is likely a way for you to get involved and become part of your local sailing community at your local club.
Specific Roles
There are many different ways to get involved in sailing, both on and off the water. Explore the roles below to learn more about what each involves and discover an opportunity that matches your skills, interests and experience.
This is the biggest opportunity for women and girls to make an impact. Getting involved on your Club Sailing Sommittee or Management Committee is as easy as contacting the current committee and asking about future opportunities.
If you are interested in becoming an Official, Australian Sailing has the resources to assist you with gaining qualifications or increasing your current level of officiating knowledge, skills and judgment.
Taking an Officials pathway can lead you to international opportunities and even the Olympics!
At the core of sailing competition is the Racing Rules of Sailing which all participants abide by.
The Judges role is to offer a range of services (related to these rules) to competitors and organising authorities, including:
- the hearing of protests
- requests for redress
- appeals
- equipment compliance
- on-water judging (watching for rule infringements)
Complete an online course aimed at educating the basics to conduct consistent procedure and fair protest hearings at a club level.
This entry level course equips new Judges to be members of a club and regatta level Protest Committee, and be a valued member who can contribute to protest hearings at local sailing events.
Being a Race Officer places you at the heart of sailing competition. The role requires the ability to perform an entire day on-water, displaying a range of skills such as race equipment preparation, on water race management and monitoring course safety.
Becoming a Coach appeals to those who want to work with participants and athletes who have learnt the basics and want to develop their skills further, so that they can enjoy competing at Club, State and National events.
If you are an experienced sailor who wants to develop their skills even further, why not become a qualified instructor to pass on your love of sailing to others.
We have a full instructor pathway offering qualifications at all levels and across all of our learn to sail and powerboat programs.