Hello,
I hope everyone enjoyed a lovely festive break and is full of enthusiasm for the year ahead. 2024 is set to be a very exciting – we have so much in store and to look forward to! From the Olympics through to new RYA Connected events, and we kick off the year with lots of training and development opportunities to talk about.
Senior Instructor course
As mentioned last month, the first of our Senior Instructor courses is now ready to book onto. Please do let all your Dinghy Instructors know that an RYA Senior Instructor is taking place at Warsash Sailing Club over the weekends of 9/10 & 23/24 March. Book and more info here.
2024 OnBoard Development Day
Taking place at Chichester Yacht Club on Saturday 3 February 2024, the South’s OnBoard Development Day will be full of OB learnings, resources available to OB clubs, and a review of OB character attributes.
The day is being run for the benefit of clubs involved with the OnBoard programme, but if you are a non-OnBoard club and interested to know more then please do contact Polly Schafer to find out about this excellent programme.
Please book your place here.
RYA Connected winter forums
The winter forums are all about helping prepare your club for the future, and will examine Understanding and growing your membership in particular. We will consider the motivations and experiences of your members, both present and future, and will look at how you can increase your club’s confidence in welcoming and retaining new members from different backgrounds, to ensure the club’s future growth and development.
How people experience your club impacts the choices they make in the future. During the forums we will examine a range of possible reasons, including: will they rejoin next year and take part in club activity, through to will they volunteer and would they recommend your club to others.
The February date and locations are:
Wednesday 7th online, Channel Islands
Thursday 8th Emberton Park Sailing Club. Book here.
Wednesday 21st Lymington Town Sailing Club. Book here
Thursday 22nd West Oxfordshire Sailing Club. Book here.
Wednesday 28th Bosham Sailing Club. Book here.
Thursday 29th Gurnard Sailing Club. Book here.
March’s forums will be announced soon. Watch this space along with social media.
RYA Connected Calls
An online RYA Connected Call on Regional Junior Championships will take place with Duncan West on 27th February. More info to follow on social media.
South Regional Training Day 2024
The South Regional Training Day is on Saturday 16 March at Thorney Island Sailing Club. I’m very excited about the Day, as it encompasses the RYA Together on Water ethos. This means that sessions are designed to inspire those involved in delivering RYA programmes, including our training schemes, OnBoard and Sailability. With additional information on how to increase the accessibility of your activities.
The comprehensive tailored programme of workshops are also specifically designed for the South region, and will cover power, sail and boardsports.
New for this year is the Coaching Carousel, where you can select three 15-minute ‘pop-up’ sessions. Each focusing on the different aspects of delivering activity afloat, instructing, and coaching.
Read more information here and look out for booking details soon.
RYA Connect with Coaching webinars
There are still two RYA Connect with Coaching webinars to take place his winter. Science of Art, what guides your coaching is on 13 February, whilst Creative activity design is on 12 March. More info can be found here.
And finally…
Not long now till our fantastic RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show at Farnborough! As usual, the show is an excellent place to get everything you need to be kitted out for the year ahead. I, along with Duncan West and Leon Ward, along with a host of other experts and RYA staff will be there. Buy your tickets here.
Until next time,
Susie