Sailing Director

 Job Summary/ Description:

The West Vancouver Yacht Club is a private yacht club dedicated to offering a lifetime of enjoyment with family and friends around our shared passion for boating including celebrated competition, exceptional cruising, learn to sail education and junior race team, quality facilities, fine food and friendship. The Club has a history as one of the top yacht clubs in the Pacific Northwest, and its team is dedicated to delivering the highest value for its members and the communities in which it works, while exhibiting a strong commitment to promoting environmental stewardship and corporate responsibility, underscored with a strong value of volunteerism.

Reporting directly to the General Manager and taking guidance from the Board Director of Junior Activities and Sail Training (JAST) and the Fleet Captain, the Sailing Director will work club staff and volunteers to deliver strong Junior Activities and Sail Training and Fleet Racing Programs. Ensures Club sailing programs are safe, engaging, effective, fiscally responsible, sustainable and fun.

The Sailing Director plays a strong leadership role at the club, creating a safe, positive, fun, engaging, and learning environment. Models, sponsors and champions a culture of respect for all participants, for each other as well as for

the club, and its assets. 

Duties, Responsibilities and Key Accountabilities:

Programming. WVYC has a strong suite of programs relating to learning, growing and supporting the sport of sailing. With the support of volunteers and paid club staff, the Sailing Director is responsible to develop, organize, promote, manage, coach, and improve the following programs:

Summer Junior Learn to Sail- Our cornerstone program with approximately 500 sailors attending over the summer, providing the community with great access to safe, quality fun boating opportunities for youth. 

Junior Race Team- Runs year-round and currently consists of a team of approximately 60 athletes who range from entry level to elite National racing prospects. Oversees the program to ensure high standards and work with coaches to develop goals for athletes in the program. Ensures the environment supports youth, a high-performance culture, strong team participation, strong coaching, growth for coaches, fostering great collaboration, and parental engagement. Success is about building sailors for life and supporting them in their journeys to adult

sailing paths such as competitive dinghy sailing, keel-boat racing, and cruising.

Keelboat Fleet Racing

Programs - Provide support to the Fleet Captain, Fleet Committee and its volunteers with respect

to Club racing activities which may include: the creation of Notice of Race, Sailing Instructions, race officiating, staffing paid club staff roles, equipment preparation, publishing of results, registrations and payments.

School Programs- with strong positive working relations with local schools and teachers, promote, improve and sustain the Schools and Youth (e.g. Scouts & Guides) Programs to encourage positive introductions to the sport of sailing, support our club contributing to our local community, and encouraging interested sailors in returning for more.

Adult Learn to Sail/Race

Programs – While smaller than our Learn

to Sail and Schools programs, this is an important area to support adults in

learning to sail and learning to race. We offer adult learn to sail

programs in both keelboats and dinghies and are looking to launch a learn to

race program. 

Member Access to Club Boats – Administer and

oversee the assessment of members’ qualifications and competency to be able to

take-out club boat sharing vessels. 

Emerging Programs – Our

club is a progressive one and we support the initiation of new programs as

demand arises and when our club can offer a quality program as a

result. For example, our club has an emerging Foiling program. 

Provide other support as required to Club events.

Safety – the Sailing Director champions, models, supports and leads a Safety First

culture: 

 o       Regulatory compliance – Be knowledgeable of applicable occupational health and safety

regulations (WorkSafeBC; Workers Compensation Act.). Ensure JAST and Fleet

staff training programs include content supporting New and Young workers,

giving/receiving constructive feedback, conflict resolution skills, incident

reporting and guidelines for initial response to critical incidents/emotional

stress.

 o       Safety Compliance - Be knowledgeable of the Club’s security, fire, and life safety systems, and

ensure safety standards are being upheld in the highest regard. Drive an

injury- free workplace culture by facilitating safe work habits, hazard

recognition, risk assessment, peer to peer feedback, and proper use of safety

tools such as WHMIS. Ensure staff are trained on how to respond to emergencies.

A safety procedures manual is to be maintained and distributed to all staff

under your charge.

 o       Ensures JAST and

Fleet staff are trained to operate the Club equipment in a safe and

professional manner, and that they all are appropriately certified to operate

Club equipment. In particular, all coaching staff are to remain up to date on

training for the safe and responsible use of the Club’s hoist, marine lift,

tractor, and powered coach boats and records must reflect the same. For

Race Committee and Markset, this includes training for safe deep sea markset

and Signals operations with the potential for BOT use. 

 o       Be observant of potentially hazardous conditions (particularly winter and storm conditions) and

respond accordingly. Ensure hazards are communicated to the General Manager and

Board of Directors.

Staffing- The Sailing Director identifies, trains, schedules and manages all coaching, instructing and other

staff required for the above listed programs and will support the staff in their development planning. The Sailing Director provides day to day direction to the JAST and Fleet staff, manages staff performance, reviews performance,

and undertakes any required discipline as needed The Sailing Director will make recommendations to support the General Manager who is responsible for hiring and terms of all employment for all employees.

The Sailing Director manages the recruitment and training of direct reports, to ensure the team meet the obligations required by the Club. The Sailing Director recommends all recruitment decisions to the General Manager. The Sailing Director ensures all necessary supporting documents, such as criminal checks, PCOC, First Aid and Sail Canada

qualifications, are collected prior to hire and maintained. The Sailing Director is responsible for annual performance reviews and quarterly goals setting for their team. The Sailing Director is responsible for ensuring all JAST and Fleet staff review and acknowledge the requirement to follow club policies (e.g anti-harassment, Race Team Code of Conduct, and social media). 

Financial Management

– The JAST and Fleet Programs require strong, deliberate, planful and prudent financial management to ensure they meet their financial outcomes in support of the club’s approach to sound and effective financial management. The

Sailing Director:

o       Works with the JAST Director and committee in creating the annual operating and capital budgets to

be approved by the Board of Directors, and work closely with Management and

Accounting to manage profit and loss.

o       Provides monthly analysis on financial results, forecast as well as programs’ enrollments.

o       Achieves financial and budget success. Meet or exceed financial targets.

o       Oversees record keeping, registration, and fee collection of all JAST programming.

Member and Stakeholder Relationships:

o       Maintains a high level of customer service skills. Must embrace a culture, where looking for ways to

go above and beyond and exceeding Members’ expectations is embraced. Must be able to manage complaint processes respectfully with effective conflict resolution skills.

o       The position includes regular contact with other Club race teams, as well as Provincial and National

sailing associations and the Sailing Director collaborates effectively to support WVYC contributing to the growth of the sport regionally, provincially, nationally and internationally. 

o       Works collaboratively with other organizations and programs (e.g. WeCANfoil) to further the goals of

the Club.

o       Liaises with harbor authorities to keep lessons and regattas safe from freighter and ferry traffic.

Maintenance

– The JAST and Fleet programs have a significant asset set to support strong programming. A strong, well planned and systematic maintenance program is key to the sustained success of the programs. The Sailing Director

is: 

Responsible for ensuring the overall maintenance of all of the club owed-dinghy’s, keelboats, RIBS, and trailers to ensure they are in good operating condition, left neat and tidy, with the appropriate safety and operational equipment in place and serviceable at all times. 

o Supports volunteers in the maintenance, storage, and upkeep of Club racing equipment including marks, anchors, line, flags, radios, and other RC equipment.

o Maintains and monitors the junior floats, the yachting center, dinghy storage areas, and the surrounding grounds daily, to ensure all areas are kept neat, clean, and secure.

o Teaches JAST and Fleet staff to perform minor repairs and maintenance such as repairing running rigging and completing minor fiberglass repairs, and performs repairs as appropriate. 

Communications – the Sailing Director works with their staff the JAST Coordinator on regular club reports relating to JAST and Fleet Activities. Updates website as required and ensure timely posting of race results. on regular (weekly) content for Club’s social media. Maintains regular, robust, and timely communication with Junior race team parents.