RYA Connected Conference - North
Book now to join the RYA Connected Conference in the North
Now’s your chance to come together with your local sailing community to learn, grow and connect. This exciting event is free to attend and you can send as many members of your team along as you’d like while there are spaces available.
This year, we’ll be welcoming speakers from Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club, Delph Sailing Club, Scarborough Yacht Club and Wallasey Beach Club to cover a wide range of topics including investing to improve participation and growing participation through broadening the activities you offer.
Here's what your day will look like
Date
14 November 2026
Time
09.15 - 16.30
Location
Lightcliffe Academy,
Halifax,
HX3 8TL
Here's what we'll be talking about
Your day will start with an opportunity to network, followed by an opening plenary. Across the rest of the day, you'll have further chances to network with other clubs and will have a choice of forums, learning from others sessions and workshops to attend before the closing plenary.
Forums are a chance to share your views on a given topic and hear the insight of others. Workshops are facilitator led, going in-depth on a subject with the chance to get hands-on with some activities and working with others.
You will have a choice of each of the sessions to attend. To help you plan ahead with your team, this is what we’ll be focusing on this year:
Forums
- Growing opportunities for disabled sailors
- Delivering better racing
- Getting more young people sailing
- Overcoming challenges in training
- Engaging and welcoming more women and girls into our sport
- Creating better blue spaces and reducing environmental impact
- Welfare Officers session with your local Sport Welfare officer
- Using digital tools to improve the running of your organisation
Presentations
- Accidents & Incidents:
- Get Wing Foiling:
- Safe recruitment: who is eligible for DBS checks
- Harnessing the Power of Content:
- Redesigning Learn to Sail: Building Capacity for Growth
- Bringing a Friend, Growing a Club: Lessons from the OnBoard Pilot
- Growing instructor and coach teams
- Supporting your race team
- Using AI
- Investing in participation: The Delph Sailing Club story
- Turning Facilities into Funds: Innovative Approaches to Club Income:
- More Than a Sailing Club: Building a Modern Watersports Community:
Workshops
- Handling complaints and safeguarding concerns with confidence
- Growing instructor and race coach teams
- Growing racing activity and race teams
- Getting it right for women and girls
- Funding Future Growth while keeping your club accessible and affordable
- Building programmes that get more young people out on the water
- Understanding and meeting members needs
Sessions led by your local clubs and centres
- Redesigning Learn to Sail: Building Capacity for Growth
Hear how Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club redesigned its Learn to Sail programme to increase capacity, make better use of volunteer time, improve the learner experience and how this is impacting membership and participation.
- Bringing a Friend, Growing a Club: Lessons from the OnBoard Pilot
Learn how the OnBoard Bring a Friend pilot helped clubs use peer-to-peer recruitment to attract new young sailors, grow junior activity and support more regular participation.
- Investing in Participation: The Delph Sailing Club Story
Delph Sailing Club has become one of the region's standout success stories, combining sustained membership growth with a track record of successful funding applications. By continually investing in boats, equipment and on-water opportunities, the club has strengthened its offer to both new and existing members.
- Funding Growth: The Delph Sailing Club Story
Discover how Delph Sailing Club has grown membership by securing funding and investing in boats, equipment and on-water opportunities to strengthen its offer for new and existing members.
- Turning Facilities into Funds: Innovative Approaches to Club Income
From Michelin-star dining experiences to 18th birthday parties, Scarborough Yacht Club has turned its clubhouse into a thriving community venue. Discover how the club has diversified its income, maximised the value of its facilities, and created new revenue streams that support ongoing investment and growth.
- More Than a Sailing Club: Building a Modern Watersports Community
Hear how Wallasey Beach Club evolved from a traditional sailing club into a vibrant multi-activity community, offering sailing, winging, kitesurfing and more. Discover how broadening the offer and creating a welcoming club culture has helped grow participation and community engagement.
For more detailed information on all the above sessions, download the full agenda.
Book now
All Connected events are FREE to attend for RYA Affiliates.
Many of our affiliates find they get most benefit from RYA Connected Conferences by sending multiple members of the team along to learn as much as possible and spur each other into taking action back at your venue. Attendees may already be on your board or involved in your operations, or they may be interested in doing so in future – an RYA Connected Conference is an excellent way to get them started.
There’s no limit to the number of people you can send, but please be aware that we expect this event to be fully booked so book now to avoid disappointment!
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