Obviously we all love being on/in the ocean. And for a lot of us we’re always trying to get more water time. For me personally and I suppose most others earning a living is the biggest hand break on getting quality water time. (Other than those with family/kids)
So if you all had your time again what career path would you take to maximise your time in the water? Before someone jumps on an says professional surfer/kite/wind/waterman. I’m sure 99% of us on this forum dreamt of this. But I’m trying to be realistic here, or otherwise I’d just win the lotto.
From what I can see at my local the tradies seem to have it best. Early start, early knockoff. Hard work especially the ones working for themselves. But then these guys also seem to be able to book around the cranking waves/winds…
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
For windsports - teacher. knock off most days at 3:30 and most of summer off!
Obviously never been a teacher then. Knock off at 3.30 pfttttttt, in your dreams 
^^^ Have to do some work at night or start early in morning, for sure 
but I see plenty leaving at 3:30 on half their days
but having the best part of summer off, and only ever working about 13weeks at a time, and every weekend off has gotta be appealing!
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
For windsports - teacher. knock off most days at 3:30 and most of summer off!
LOL, my wife is a teacher. She leaves home at 6:40am in the morning, and gets home at 6:00pm, and then spends 2 to 4 hours each night doing prep work and lot more than that on weekends. Basically if she isn't eating, she's working. During school holidays, minimum 4 hours a day, but usually 6+.
Definitely a self employed tradie. Most the guys that sail mid week on Botany Bay are tradies, with their board hanging from the roof of their van. Get off the job at 4pm, and are at the beach rigging up just as the sea breeze really picks up.
The one thing the careers advisor at school never told me was how being an engineer would impact on my sailing time. 
If I had my time again, I'd definitely become a sparkie. Even thinking about it now.
Garbage collector. That was in the days before the wheelie bins. I don't know if garbage truck drivers enjoy the "start early, knock off early" routines anymore.
Commercial Electrician on an EBA.
With a good company you will get 2 rostered days off per month.
The RDO'S accumulate pretty quickly, so you can get 2 decent holidays every year chasing waves , wind or women.
My wife is teacher as well - it is every night after the groms are in bed, couple of hrs most weekend.
Sales type roles are hands down the best job for waves. I work for a bank so start later - 9ish which combined with no daylight savings can give me over 3 hrs in the surf before work & still be contactable.
I see the tradies / or those early starters/ finishers and they get about hour in the morning when it's offshore & arvo when it's onshore.
Also need flexibility & good technology so that you don't need to be sitting in the office to do "work".
My territory is Gold Coast / Ballina - got the odd break I need to drive past to go to meetings.
Most tradies in Sydney finish at 3pm,
that involves one break of 15 min.
Really worth while to beat the traffic and get home earlier.
Select to expand quoteHarrow said..
Mark _australia said..
For windsports - teacher. knock off most days at 3:30 and most of summer off!
LOL, my wife is a teacher. She leaves home at 6:40am in the morning, and gets home at 6:00pm, and then spends 2 to 4 hours each night doing prep work and lot more than that on weekends. Basically if she isn't eating, she's working. During school holidays, minimum 4 hours a day, but usually 6+.
sounds like she is too committed. It's a Govt job, slow down. I am now thinking roofing - knock off it is windy. :)
Cauncy wins I think.
Nurse?
7wks off a year, and the arvo shift starts at 1:00pm... early knocks off at 3:00pm...
Select to expand quoteHarrow said...Mark _australia said..
For windsports - teacher. knock off most days at 3:30 and most of summer off!
LOL, my wife is a teacher. She leaves home at 6:40am in the morning, and gets home at 6:00pm, and then spends 2 to 4 hours each night doing prep work and lot more than that on weekends. Basically if she isn't eating, she's working. During school holidays, minimum 4 hours a day, but usually 6+.
I know a lot of teachers and admin at various schools over australia (but i'm sure you do to ) but your wife has to be one of the few doing that much work? It's not the norm. How long has she been teaching for? I only know 2 teachers who put in that much effort in OT and it wasn't school work they were doing.
Teachers, especially K-7 have it sweet. 80-100k to work Mon-fri until 4pm each day. Add in 12 weeks of holidays a year (plus sick leave) and life is dandy. It's a sweet gig.
Select to expand quoteMDSXR6T said..
Harrow said...
Mark _australia said..
For windsports - teacher. knock off most days at 3:30 and most of summer off!
LOL, my wife is a teacher. She leaves home at 6:40am in the morning, and gets home at 6:00pm, and then spends 2 to 4 hours each night doing prep work and lot more than that on weekends. Basically if she isn't eating, she's working. During school holidays, minimum 4 hours a day, but usually 6+.
I know a lot of teachers and admin at various schools over australia (but i'm sure you do to ) but your wife has to be one of the few doing that much work? It's not the norm. How long has she been teaching for? I only know 2 teachers who put in that much effort in OT and it wasn't school work they were doing.
Teachers, especially K-7 have it sweet. 80-100k to work Mon-fri until 4pm each day. Add in 12 weeks of holidays a year (plus sick leave) and life is dandy. It's a sweet gig.
Teachers, especially K-7 have it sweet. 80-100k to work Mon-fri until 4pm each day. Add in 12 weeks of holidays a year (plus sick leave) and life is dandy. It's a sweet gig.
Except they have to deal with the little f#*ckers day in day out!
Select to expand quotehargs said..
MDSXR6T said..
Harrow said...
Mark _australia said..
For windsports - teacher. knock off most days at 3:30 and most of summer off!
LOL, my wife is a teacher. She leaves home at 6:40am in the morning, and gets home at 6:00pm, and then spends 2 to 4 hours each night doing prep work and lot more than that on weekends. Basically if she isn't eating, she's working. During school holidays, minimum 4 hours a day, but usually 6+.
I know a lot of teachers and admin at various schools over australia (but i'm sure you do to ) but your wife has to be one of the few doing that much work? It's not the norm. How long has she been teaching for? I only know 2 teachers who put in that much effort in OT and it wasn't school work they were doing.
Teachers, especially K-7 have it sweet. 80-100k to work Mon-fri until 4pm each day. Add in 12 weeks of holidays a year (plus sick leave) and life is dandy. It's a sweet gig.
Teachers, especially K-7 have it sweet. 80-100k to work Mon-fri until 4pm each day. Add in 12 weeks of holidays a year (plus sick leave) and life is dandy. It's a sweet gig.
Except they have to deal with the little f#*ckers day in day out!
Haha! I can deal with kids. It's the dickhead parents that would do my head in..
For anyone in the know.. What are the chances of a 24 year old getting an apprenticeship? Seems most tradies are chasing 16-19 year olds. :(
For the young guys out there or even the more mature guys.
Complete the the pre apprenticeship course and the world is your oyster.
hint hint
Most employers want an enthusiastic employee, no matter what their age.
Select to expand quoteMDSXR6T said..I know a lot of teachers and admin at various schools over australia (but i'm sure you do to ) but your wife has to be one of the few doing that much work? It's not the norm. How long has she been teaching for? I only know 2 teachers who put in that much effort in OT and it wasn't school work they were doing.
Teachers, especially K-7 have it sweet. 80-100k to work Mon-fri until 4pm each day. Add in 12 weeks of holidays a year (plus sick leave) and life is dandy. It's a sweet gig.
She's been teaching 25 years. She teaches learning support K-12, so she'll be teaching maths, history, english, science, social studies, ESL, etc. every day, and prepares an individual program for every single kid with a learning problem in her school. She's basically doing the work of about 8 teachers.
Select to expand quoteHarrow said...
Definitely a self employed tradie. Most the guys that sail mid week on Botany Bay are tradies, with their board hanging from the roof of their van. Get off the job at 4pm, and are at the beach rigging up just as the sea breeze really picks up.
The one thing the careers advisor at school never told me was how being an engineer would impact on my sailing time. If I had my time again, I'd definitely become a sparkie. Even thinking about it now.
Funny - as a self-employed tradie I used to be working late at night to try and keep up with work and missed a sh!tload of TOW whilst mates that were employed in more technical areas (even engineers) had so much free time.
I guess it comes down to commitments and priorities vs lifestyle no matter what you do.
Select to expand quoteMrknownothing said..
Haha! I can deal with kids. It's the dickhead parents that would do my head in..
For anyone in the know.. What are the chances of a 24 year old getting an apprenticeship? Seems most tradies are chasing 16-19 year olds. :(
What about a 47 year old? I have an idea of getting into home automation, Cat 5,6,7, etc. How long until I could hang out my own shingle? A silly plan?
Complete an appreticeship,
Or more importantly a pre appreniceship course.
Employers want to see commitment to the trade.
The normal electrical apprenticesip includes data cabling.
After the mandatory 4 years it is up to you.
Do It
I'm going to put in a vote for teaching (I am a teacher, so I know what I'm talking about).
Yes sometimes the workload is big, and there is lots of evening work, but if you set yourself up properly so you have your lessons set, saved and just needing minor tweaking from year to year you are home and hosed.
I reckon you can pretty much catch any arvo wind for a kite sesh (esp during daylight savings) and if a really decent swell is coming you know about it so you can arrange your workload accordingly.
I'd also like to add - as a secondary teacher, you really only teach 30 weeks a year, because term 4 your seniors are mostly off on study leave or exams so you have 2 junior classes to teach, and you save up the fun stuff for term 4 so it's not too grueling.
Also helps if your boss surfs too, and tells you on the quiet that you are free to sneak off for a surf or kite any time you can fit in in.
Loving it
Select to expand quoteel tubo said..
Complete an appreticeship,
Or more importantly a pre appreniceship course.
Employers want to see commitment to the trade.
The normal electrical apprenticesip includes data cabling.
After the mandatory 4 years it is up to you.
Do It
Hmm, any idea what I'd be paid? I'm not living at mum and dad's anymore like most apprentices, and I still need to feed a family of 5.
State or federal Senator
Play it right you need 1% of the votes to get in. Guaranteed job for 6 years. No requirement to do anything, just be a useless senator. How many can you name ? Must be plenty just going through the motions and doing their time.
Then, when you leave free flights forever and a top notch pension.
With a trade behind you some guys work for 6 months
and spend the rest surfing.
the labour hire companies will fill you in how to get this sorted.
but if your priority is to get barrelled have a look at this option
Waste of time being a teacher. Now an Associate Principal all my tradie mates earn more and have more time off in off peak. Teachers get slammed by peak holiday rates.
Just got air con in, had to take a day off to be TA as apprentice was 'sick' and job was not going to happen. Sandwich maker was not impressed so I had to step up. 47 degrees in ceiling bugger. But the upshot was I saved $600 which is more than I am paid. So 4 yr Uni degree and 27 years service is worth less than a 2nd year fridgie apprentice! Work that out
A lifeguard at a good surf spot.
I used to be one, along with another guy, two of us on duty all the time, and had a great boss that would come out onto the pier, where our stand was, to check on us from time to time. He allowed one of us to be patrolling the water (on the water) whenever we wanted. Of course there is only one way to patrol the water, on a surfboard. And of course the rescue board was too big, bulky, and slow to adequately do patrolling. Four of the best summers of my life.
Need I say anything else? 
