June 2021 blog

 

Let me begin with reflections from the past few weeks!

It has been wonderful to see 11 people completing the first SI course of the year at the Anderton Centre. Well done to everyone who attended and thank you to the Anderton Centre for hosting the course.

Furthermore, it was a joy to see just under 30 instructors attending CPD sessions for the sailing and windsurfing refresher days as we return to boating and training.

For myself personally, I am looking forward to my first competition since 2019, taking place later in May. I will be camping and sailing at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club for the GP14 Northern championships and am looking forward to racing again. Best of luck to everyone who has started racing again, and to those who will be in the coming months.

RYA Affiliated Clubs Conference

We are now starting to plan the content for both the Affiliated Clubs Conference and Club Development Sessions programme and we would really value your help with ideas for how we ensure these events remain useful and relevant to clubs. This is your opportunity to feed in the ideas that you have always wanted to learn more about so that you can improve the offering your club gives to its members or potential members.

There is no such thing as a bad idea at this stage, together we will find the information and ideas that you are looking for. Let us know what you think!

North West photography competition

Thank you to everyone who entered this competition which ran throughout April and the start of this month. Myself and the rest of the Regional team have been blown away by the number of entries and so have decided to choose 3 nominations (Dinghy, Yacht/Keelboat and Mood) with one overall winner.

Congratulations to Dave from Bolton sailing club who has won the overall prize with his picture taken during Topper Girls training!

Given the fantastic array of images we have received, we have decided to run this again soon with a different prize up for grabs! Please keep watching our social media channels for more information and updates!

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CPD training

A gentle reminder about CPD sessions which are planned for the rest of the year. There are upcoming singlehanded refresher days and windsurfing refresher days which cost £25 a day, as well as OnBoard development days which are free to instructors to help support the return of junior training. These are all live to book and have begun in May.

https://www.rya.org.uk/projects/event-booking/Pages/RYA-North-West-Regional-Instructor-Courses.aspx

 In due course, there will be a personal watercraft instructor day and some Safety boat refresher days. These are not yet live to book, but the link will be available soon.

 Furthermore, the next SI course is taking place during the last two weekends of June at the Anderton Centre, 19/20 and 26/27, so please book if you have all the suitable pre-requisites.

 

Events

 It is fantastic that training is returning in full swing throughout the region, and I am delighted that two major events will be taking place this year – Bass Week will be going ahead at the end of July running into August, and the Lord Birkett Memorial trophy at the start of July at Ullswater Yacht Club. Well done to those two clubs for working hard and efficiently to ensure these events continue in uncertain times.

 

Covid-19 updates

As we move along the roadmap, I urge you to stay vigilant and keep checking the RYA websites for updates as to how outdoor sport will be affected by the next easing of restrictions. It is likely that there will be some change later this month but please keep watching this.

https://www.rya.org.uk/knowledge-advice/current-affairs/Pages/coronavirus-covid-19.aspx

 

Bi-monthly catch-up

I am pleased to announce that there will be a twice monthly catch up for clubs and training centres. This will be an opportunity for all the clubs and training centres to support one another and share good practice across the region, whilst getting regular updates from the RYA Regional Team. It would be wonderful to see lots of different clubs being represented at these meetings, and the first one will be in June.

Bookings for this will soon go live via the Club Development page:

https://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/events/Pages/rya-north-west-club-development-workshops.aspx 

Inspections

Inspection allocations are coming out now and training principals should be receiving information about 2021 and their allocated inspectors. If you have any queries about this, please contact your allocated inspector, or myself as your Regional Development Officer.

Lastly, your club would like a one-to-one chat with me to discuss any concerns or queries about returning to boating safely in the upcoming weeks and months, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by email.

Adam McGovern

 

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