RDO BLOG - JANUARY 2020

We’re kicking off the New Year in the RYA North East region with an appeal for everyone to throw their support behind our 2020 Club of the Year finalist.

The overall winner of the RYA and Yachts & Yachting Club of the Year title will be decided by the public and voting is yet again expected to be close.

Please please vote for Yorkshire Dales to help us bring home the trophy and showcase to the rest of the country what fantastic clubs, sailors and volunteers we have in the region!

Yorkshire Dales SC represents all that’s great about sailing and windsurfing across Yorkshire and the North East: friendly and welcoming with a can-do attitude, the club has a great atmosphere  with a passionate membership driving it forwards.

The hard work of this deserving finalist has seen the club awarded both RYA Training Centre and RYA OnBoard recognition in the last year alongside its usual busy schedule of racing, coaching and courses, and hosting big events like the North East Youth Championships.

A huge thank you to those of you who have already voted for the club. If you haven’t already done so, cast your vote here - and tell all your friends and family to lend their support too!

Voting closes on Monday 27 January and the winner will be announced at the RYA Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace on Saturday 29 February.

Looking ahead with winter webinars!

Just as the darker nights are a great opportunity to catch up on all those TV boxsets, it’s also an ideal time for a little background research and reading for your club ahead of the rapidly approaching new season!

There have now been five ‘Future of Sailing’ webinars addressing current trends affecting boating and watersports. These thought-provoking sessions are designed to help clubs and classes and  feature the key findings from the Futures Project, commissioned by British Marine.

Topics include pay-on-demand boating, marketing and communications, and the diversification of club activity, plus the latest one which took place before Christmas, looking at the latest research and best practice when it comes to encouraging and retaining volunteers.

The whole webinar series to date is now available for you to catch up with here. You may also want to look out for the next webinar in the series - coming soon, date to be confirmed - which will have the theme Discover Sailing. This will be the re-branded title for the hugely successful annual Push the Boat Out campaign, which will this year enable clubs to hold their open days with RYA support across the season, rather than just under the ‘Try Sailing in May’ banner.

Some clubs, for example, may want to hold their open days earlier in the season to fill Easter courses, or in July ahead of the school summer holidays. A preview about the changes to the 2020 campaign was published in the monthly Club Room e-news for RYA affiliated clubs at the end of last season. Further details will be out soon! 

Diary dates - instructor courses & club forums

This year’s RYA North East Instructor Training Day will take place on Sunday 15 March, at a venue to be confirmed soon which will be central for delegates from across the region.

Dates and venues for a number of instructor courses are also due to be finalised by the end of the month, including Senior Instructor, Powerboat, Dinghy and Windsurf Instructor courses.

In the meantime there are courses are already booking at Welton Waters Adventure Centre near Hull: a Powerboat Instructor course 25-27 February, with a pre-entry skills test on 30 January, and an RYA Dinghy Instructor course (pre-entry skills test 7 March) over the five days of 2-3 and 8-10 May. Visit our page for RYA North East Regional Instructor Courses for details and booking.

There will also be three Club Development Forums across the region in April, May and June, which will be free for RYA Affiliated clubs and offer an opportunity to network whilst also benefiting from workshops. The key themes for these days will be:

• how to make the most of club open days to deliver an event which meets the needs of your club, whether that’s increasing membership, filling up training courses or simply raising awareness.
• increasing the satisfaction of members and reducing membership churn.

All of these dates for your diary are expected to be bookable by the end of the month – for all the latest news from the region, like and follow us @RYANorthEast on Facebook  and/or Twitter.

Happy sailing!

Sam.