Guides for Principals, Chief Instructors and centre managers
Running the staff side of a sailing school or club
Straight answers to the questions that come up every season: how many instructors a course needs, how to collect availability, how long qualifications last, what an inspection wants to see, how to keep track of licences and safety boats, and how to build a rota or club duty rota you can run. Free to read, and free to use without our software.
How many instructors do I need for an RYA course?
How to work out instructor numbers for an RYA course from your ratio and supervision, with worked examples and the things that change the answer.
6 min read
How should a sailing school manage instructor availability?
A simple system for collecting instructor availability at a sailing school: usual week plus exceptions, a fixed window, a deadline, and silence counted as busy.
5 min read
How to track RYA instructor qualifications
What to record for every RYA instructor qualification, first aid certificate and vetting check, how to verify them, and how to stop expiries slipping through.
6 min read
How to build a sailing school staff rota
A step-by-step method for building a sailing school staff rota: sessions, staffing needs, availability, senior roles first, checks, publishing and changes.
7 min read
How to manage freelance sailing instructors
Practical advice for sailing schools working with freelance instructors: terms, rates, availability, onboarding, qualifications, briefings and prompt pay.
6 min read
How to manage safety boat cover
How sailing schools plan safety boat cover: what decides how much you need, why the instructors usually drive, the qualifications to check, and getting boats ready.
6 min read
How to prevent expired qualifications being rostered
Why expired licences end up on sailing school rosters and how to stop it: a mandatory list, a lead time, checks at the moment of rostering and recorded overrides.
5 min read
Sailing school staff scheduling spreadsheet template
A free Excel and Google Sheets template for sailing school staff scheduling: weekly rota with staffing checks, availability grid and a staff licences tracker.
Free download · 4 min read
RYA sailing school compliance checklist
A practical staffing and rostering compliance checklist for RYA sailing schools: before the season, every roster, every day, and the records to keep.
6 min read
How long do RYA instructor qualifications last?
How long RYA instructor awards, first aid certificates and vetting checks stay valid, where to find each expiry date, and how a Principal runs renewals for the whole team.
5 min read
How to run a sailing club duty rota
A system for a sailing club duty rota that volunteers keep to: which duties to roster, how to collect availability, licence checks for safety boat, swaps, reminders, and a free template.
Free download · 6 min read
RYA recognition inspection: the staffing records to have ready
What an RYA recognition inspection looks at on the staffing side and the records to have ready: qualifications, vetting, rosters, ratios, supervision, safety cover, overrides and incidents.
6 min read
Software for RYA centres
Looking for how to use ActivityRoster itself? See the Learning Centre.