Hand on heart, who hasn't dreamed of turning their sailing hobby into a career and dealing with the issues day in, day out that otherwise only play a role after work, at weekends and on holiday? Having your own charter business, your own sailing school, being your own boss - that would be something.
But only a few take the plunge and have the extraordinary or at least good idea, the necessary talent and the stamina required to be successful as a young entrepreneur. And if they do succeed, what is behind the supposed dream job? Will it bring the self-realisation that you had hoped for?
How does starting a business in water sports work, how well can you make a living from it? And does your own hobby suffer as a result? We asked five sailors aged between 27 and 46 how their path to self-employment in sailing went - and whether they would do it again.
Jürgen Tracht, Managing Director of the Bundesverband Wassersportwirtschaft e.V. (BVWW), also gives tips in an interview on setting up a business in sailing. However, he also advises caution and emphasises that a love of sailing alone is not enough to be successful. "Many people want to do something in the charter sector, but there are already numerous providers. So you have to offer people on board and possibly also on land something that others don't have in their programme," he says and points out how important basic business knowledge is.
