July 2022
What a hub of activity the south-west is at the moment! I entered a racing event myself recently, and after such a long time, I’d forgotten how great travelling to race is – meeting up with old friends, interacting with the other sailors and being grateful to so many volunteers who make it all possible. Big thanks from me for everything clubs are doing!
Mind the gaps!
This is the time to check where you might be short of volunteers or instructors – it’s when you’re busy that the gaps are more obvious. If you find you’re short of particular skill sets, make notes now and use them in the winter, when I’d love to meet up with you and discuss your club development plans. Please contact me if you want me to come and see you.
Now is also the time to book up instructor and volunteer courses over the winter. Don’t forget that the Affiliated Clubs Conference (ACC) in Taunton will include a workshop about volunteering – put 05 November in your diary today.
RYA Club Census 2022
Thanks to all of you who have completed your Club Census forms – the responses are already up on last year, and the numbers so far confirm that there’s a huge amount of boating activity going on. If you haven’t filled in your documents yet, please do so as soon as possible so that we can get everything together for the RYA’s strategic planning, organise our support for you and show you what’s happening across the region when we meet at the ACC.
SailGP discount for RYA members
The Great Britain SailGP Grand Prix returns to Plymouth on the weekend of 30-31 July and all RYA members are eligible for a 15% discount off all on-shore tickets.
Tickets to the event include waterfront and on-water fan experiences, plus the ‘bring your own boat’ programme. If you’d like to cheer for Great Britain and watch identical Foiling F50 catamarans race at speeds exceeding 60mph then take advantage of this exclusive RYA member ticket offer.
There’s also a chance to win a visit from the SailGP team by holding a watch party around your club activity on the SailGP weekend. Find out how.
And to add to the local flavour, two young sailors (one male, one female) will be selected from each of ten local clubs paired with the SailGP teams. They’ll take part in Feva training and then get to participate in a sail-by, flying the national flags of the teams between the SailGP races. They’ll also get a tech tour and a VIP experience with a goody bag and a chance to meet the winning SailGP team. Good luck to all the sailors and the clubs involved!
Ukrainian scouts sail at Bowmoor
Bowmoor Sailing Club recently hosted a group of refugee Ukrainian scouts now based in London. The day was arranged together with a local sea scout unit, which raised the necessary funding and enabled the youngsters to enjoy the benefits some water-based activities. The club provided some boats and also a barbecue at the end of the day. There was enough funding left to make a donation to the Ukrainian scout troop, which they plan to put towards some SUP boards.
Look out on the RYA SW web pages and social media for a full write-up and photos soon.
Congratulations to Mylor Sailing & Powerboat School
Mylor Sailing & Powerboat School and its charitable arm Mylor Sailability have successfully passed rigorous assessments to be awarded Gold for both Accessible and Inclusive Tourism and Experience of the Year at all three stages of the Visit England Awards – Visit Cornwall, Visit South-West and Visit England, where they beat Alton Towers!
And as if that wasn’t enough for one year, the School has also been given a Trip Advisor Travellers’ Choice Award 2022.
Many congratulations to Tracey Boyne and her amazing team for once again winning multiple awards for their work, and setting a brilliant example.
Junior racing news from Regional Performance Manager, Duncan West
I was hugely impressed with the sailors’ efforts over the weekend of the Regional Junior Championships (RJC) at the end of last month. We had 275 sailors competing between the three fleets and there was enjoyment and perseverance in the challenging windy conditions - on the Saturday afternoon we saw some very strong gusts of 25 knots. The sailors coped really well and came ashore smiling and tired! Sunday saw slightly less wind and all the fleets spent a full day on the water. See the full results.
The RYA Zone Championships Club Trophy South-West Region, awarded to the sailing club with the most entries by 11 June, went to Parkstone Yacht Club, with Starcross SC second and Castle Cove SC third.
The BYS South-West Regional Junior Championships Development Trophy, awarded to the sailing club with the largest increase in entry numbers compared with the RJC 2021 by 11 June, went to Castle Cove SC with St Ives SC and Stoke Gabriel Boating Association in joint second place.
Next year the RJC for dinghies will be the SW only at Royal Torbay YC on 17/18 June 2023. The windsurfing event will be the weekend before, jointly with the South, at a venue to be announced.
Finally, don’t forget that applications for the 2022-23 British Youth Sailing Regional Training Groups are now OPEN. Early application gives us more time to plan, so get in there!
RDO Rob Howlett
07876 330374
rob.howlett@rya.org.uk