The Greek Adventure of A Lifetime

Published 19:58 on 27 Jun 2024

Over the last few years, I have been fortunate enough to be able to assist on the sail training courses provided at Shotwick Lake Sailing. This was mainly with junior training on a Friday evening, and I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity. You might be wondering why, well the answer to that is quite simple. I got bitten by the sailing instructor bug! And that was it, at the beginning of May I took a giant leap of faith packing my whole life up into just 2 suitcases and I moved across the world, to a remote Greek Island.

Moving to a remote Greek Island might seem extreme but not if it is for your dream job, in an incredible location. In February this year, that dream job became a reality when I was offered the position of Assistant Instructor for Mark Warner, at one of their resorts.

On arrival to the resort and to our new home for almost 6 months we saw the hard work that was ahead of us all, and the waterfront team in particular. When packing the resort down for winter the previous season equipment was everywhere apart from the beach, with windsurf kit in childcare classrooms, kayaks and masts in the bike shed and boats nowhere near the water. The beach looked just like a beach with some wooden shacks, with the bare bones of a waterfront visible. Luckily hard work is no enemy of waterfront staff, and in just a few days the beachfront came together, a huge feat given the vast amount of equipment on the beach.

Just a week after staff arrived the first set of guests arrived on resort. This was my first week of properly working as an assistant instructor, and this week involved copious amounts of on the job training. So much so my head felt like it may explode from information overload by the end of the week! Week one will forever stand out in my mind though, I learnt so much; completed my first of many safety boat shifts and taught my first kids sessions.

I quickly became familiar with most duties I would be completing on the beach and what these duties entail. As an Assistant Instructor I spend a lot of time on shore break which is rigging, launching, landing and de-rigging kit. This includes the windsurf and winging kit neither of which I had ever even touched before landing in Greece. Shore break is the best way to interact with guests, with them getting to know you and vice versa.

In our first few weeks we have already experienced such a huge mix of weather, from the sea being complete glass, which revealed a small pod of dolphins which live in the bay. To the winds howling at force 6 on the Beaufort Scale. Forget perfect weather for ducks, that's more like perfect weather for windsurfers with the windsurfers shredding and bombing along having a whale of a time! We've even had a thunderstorm. We saw it building on the radar in the morning but it wasn't close enough to take action, so the day carried on as normal. It just so happened this particular morning I was on safety. The thunder was within earshot, but as there was no lightening kit headed out onto the water, I was out in the RIB. This was until the first flash of lightning was spotted. At which point a radio call came out to me from the beach boss to get all the kit in ASAP, that didn't take long. Then I was ordered to anchor the boat exactly where I was and told to jump in the water and swim back to shore to escape the lightening. That's certainly a safety boat shift I will remember for a while.

While the days are long and tiring it is great fun. Working on the waterfront there is never a dull moment, its quite hard for there to be dull moments with a team of 15 especially when each and every one of us are a bit mad! I've made amazing friends already this season, and have even made winter plans with a few of them. This camaraderie makes every day a brilliant day, even more so when people are so passionate about their sports, they are desperate to teach you and pass on their fountain of knowledge.

It's not all work and no play! Days off give the time to explore this stunning island we call home, and stunning is definitely the right word. Around every twist and turn in the village you come across something new, usually a picturesque view that looks like it came straight out of Mamma Mia. Although on the odd occasion it could be a camel spider or a scorpion.

My favourite view so far is a cliff top looking down onto the crystal blue waters of the Aegean and East down onto the village I am lucky enough to call home.

This may sound like a whole adventure already but this is only the start..........................

Last updated 16:58 on 12 October 2024