Photo – Keelboat sailing at the OnBoard development day. Credit Simon Winkley.
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Affiliated Club Conference
Delegates from 48 clubs in our region enjoyed sharing ideas with other clubs, reconnecting with one another, catching up with local headlines and opportunities, and attending workshops led by expert speakers across a wide range of club development topics, at the conference on 28 November. If you missed it, well, you missed a lot of great information not to mention a free lunch, or possibly two free lunches given the amount of food available. But all is not lost, because…..
Online workshops
……..if you missed the conference you can still catch the following informative workshops on line. All start at 7.30pm and last an hour.
- 5 December – What are the needs and motivations of your club members and how can you provide an experience that’s right for them? Book now
- 6 December – What can you do to make your volunteers experience meaningful? Book now
- 7 December – How can the RYA’s new Club Management Compliance Toolkit help you manage your club? Book now
- 8 December – How to secure the funding you need for your club? Book now
- 9 December – How can you make your club welcoming to a wider range of members? Book now
- 11 January 2023 – How can you increase yacht racing participation at your club? Book now
Volunteer Awards
Congratulations, well done and thank you to our region’s volunteers who received awards from HRH the Princess Royal at the awards ceremony on 11 November: the Turner family, Helen Hofmann, Steve Town and Stuart McAdam. And not forgetting all the other volunteers who weren’t nominated for awards.
Photo – the Turner family receive their award. Credit Paul Wyeth
Club of the Year 2023
King George SC and London Corinthian SC are among the finalists for the RYA 2023 Club of the Year and voting is now open, so please read more and vote for them
OnBoard Development and 50 not out!
Following on from the successful OnBoard Development Day at Queen Mary SC on 12 November we’re planning OnBoard resources sessions. Please follow our regional Facebook or Twitter for more details shortly.
Welcome OnBoard Surrey Docks Watersports Centre, Bough Beech Sailing Club, and Sea Cadets-Welsh Harp who have recently joined RYA OnBoard, the Sea Cadets becoming the 50th OnBoard provider in our region.
If you’re not already involved find out more about OnBoard, which makes sailing and windsurfing easier to access for young people and has introduced over 1,000,000 young people across the country to sailing and windsurfing.
Photo – the gang at the OnBoard Development Day. Credit Simon Winkley
Watersports Centres Meeting
…at the Ahoy Centre on 15 November attracted 38 Centre Managers and Senior Instructors from 20 centres across our region. RYA Sport Development shared regional and national trends, and challenges, opportunities and threats were explored.
It was great to see so many people and it was a delight to spend the day (and evening) chatting about the watersport industry. The strength of the day continues to be the size and diversity of our network and the willingness everyone has to share ideas. Initial feedback has been very positive so it feels the day continues to offer a valuable opportunity for us all to meet up.
A big thank you to Nick and Zak at the Ahoy Centre for making their facility available and helping to feed us all – the venue was excellent.
If your club can’t meet the demand for training potential new members please talk to the watersports centres in your area with a view to referring learners to them, and them referring trained people looking for a club back to you.
Instructor courses
We often hear of a shortage of instructors so please plan ahead and save the dates for the following courses. Booking links and costs will be live soon.
Dinghy Senior Instructor
Bewl Water Outdoor Centre 22/23 & 29/30 April 2023
Queen Mary Sailing Club 7/8 & 14/15 October 2023
Power Boat Instructor
Dover Seasports 25/26 February & 4/5 March 2023
Arun Yacht Club 23-26 October 2023
Instructor workforce development
We’re currently applying for funding to the Together Fund and Active Thames for an instructor workforce development programme. Watch this space.
Regional Training Day
A Regional Training Day (formerly Instructor Training Day) will be held on 11 March at Queen Mary Sailing Club. Please save the date, and look out for more information on our Facebook and Twitter from January.
Photo – regional training
Race Coach Development
The RYA Race Coach Development team is hosting a series of online development workshops between November and March, for RYA instructors, race coaches and trainers. The format for each workshop will provide participants the opportunity to develop their knowledge and discuss topics that support their coaching. Find out more and book
Facilities and Utilities survey
We want to understand how cost increases are affecting clubs and centres centres. Please help us by completing this survey The closing date has been extended to 12 December.
Funding
If you’re looking for funding please take a look at Funding Opportunities page even if you’ve done so previously – now there’s a great new Funding Finder section. Scrolling further down the same page you’ll find the RYA and Sport England Together Fund has been awarded a further £195,000 of this National Lottery funding to help venues in England support communities and organisations affected by the cost-of-living crisis, which has an application deadline of 7 March and projects must be delivered by September 2023. Find out more and apply
Complimentary RYA member tickets for the Dinghy Show
……at Farnborough on 25-26 February so please apply now
News from our region
Herne Bay Sailing Club welcomes Ukrainian family
Get set for Winter Match Racing Series
Winter training for Oppie sailors
Photo – Winter Oppie training
Share your stories
We’re always looking out for stories to pop on our web site and send to your local media, and snippets (two or three sentences) to promote your events or show what you’ve been doing, with photos (landscape format) and links. Or why not send us a short video (15-100 seconds, landscape format) done in one take on your ‘phone to share on our social media. All should have some RYA/regional connection. Other clubs can enjoy your achievements and benefit from your experience. Send us your story
