RDO BLOG - FEBRUARY 2020

Booking is now open for this year’s RYA North East Instructor Training Day, which will take place on Sunday 15 March at Catterick Racecourse, offering a great opportunity to develop skills and know-how ahead of the coming season.

This new and more central location for the day aims to make it even more accessible for those travelling from the north and south of the region - and as in previous years there will be lots of workshops to choose from.

The team will be there to welcome everyone and will be providing regional updates on trends plus plans for the coming year, while Rachel Andrews, Chief Instructor Power, will be giving an overview of updates to the various RYA training schemes.

We’ll then have four rounds of workshops covering a diverse range of topics to cover all interests for instructors working across the sail, windsurf and powerboat schemes – helping instructors to develop their expertise and bring their skills right up to date.

One of the sessions on the Instructor Training Day agenda, for example, will be looking at how to deliver the coastal elements of the Powerboat Level 2 course at an inland venue, covering the pilotage topics now included in the certificate such as GPS, using a compass and following a planned route.

Another workshop will be for any instructors thinking about becoming a Senior Instructor, looking at what the course entails and how to prepare for it. Other sessions will include: First Aid refreshers; weather and tides; and how to grow youth sailing and windsurfing and keep participants engaged in regular activities.

Aside from the individual personal and professional development available from the day, another key aim is to help clubs in developing their volunteer base, including how to run Assistant Instructor training to support centres in gaining the skills to do this for themselves, within their own venues, and providing top tips for running Safety Boat training.

The team is really looking forward to seeing many of you there for what promises to be a busy but fun and rewarding day. There will be the usual discounts for under-25s and under-18s: check out all the details and book early here to avoid disappointment.

Club Development Forums

There’s lots going on in the region for clubs and online registration is also now open for the three Club Development Forums we have coming up in April, May and June.

These are free for RYA Affiliated clubs and centres and offer a great opportunity for networking. We’ll also have two key themes: how to increase satisfaction to reduce membership churn and making the most of club open days to increase membership, fill up training courses or simply raise awareness about sailing in your local area.

The three Club Development Forums will be at Whitby YC on 25 April, Ripon SC on 16 May and South Shields SC on 20 June, taking place from 10.30am-2.30pm, with lunch included! Book your place here and come along for a sociable and informative session which will enable you to take new ideas home to your club.

Latest courses

We now have a range of dinghy and windsurfing instructor courses available to book online in the North East region. At Welton Waters Adventure Centre near Hull there’s an RYA Dinghy Instructor course (pre-entry skills test 7 March) over the five days of 2-3 and 8-10 May, and a five-day Start Windsurfing Instructor Course 20-22 and 28-29 March.

There will be Dinghy Instructor Course at Tees & Hartlepool YC, with a pre-skills test on 28 March followed by the course over the weekends of 25-26 April and 1-3 May. Booking is also open for a five-day Start Windsurfing Instructor Course later in the year at Yorkshire Dales SC, Hebden, 24-28 October.

There’s been lots of interest in these courses so take a look and be sure to sign up as soon as possible by visiting RYA North East Regional Instructor Courses for all the details and booking.

Futures Webinars

If you were unable to catch the final Futures Webinar: Club Member Satisfaction, it is now available on this YouTube video - it’s just an hour long and well worth a watch, with some fascinating insights into why people join a club and love it, or perhaps find themselves less engaged than they expected. It’s a must-see for any club keen to understand what can be done to both recruit and retain members.

All six webinars in the Futures Series can be found here The webinars include input from various clubs about what they have tried and tested, with topics ranging from diversifying activities and pay on demand sailing, to volunteering and marketing. Take a look - they’re absolutely packed with information for clubs looking at ways of future-proofing themselves as they forge ahead into the 2020s.

RYA Dinghy Show

Many of you will be heading to the RYA Dinghy Show at the end of the month to catch up with friends and this year’s theme – A World of Opportunity: see where dinghy sailing can take you – will be a great way to start the new season, with heaps of classes and stalls to visit, inspirational speakers and all the usual interactive crowd-pleasers. There’ll also be a chance to listen to and meet many of our British Sailing Team sailors before they head off to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics.

Keep up with all the stories from the Show and from across the region until next time @RYANorthEast on Facebook and/or Twitter. 

Happy sailing!

Sam.