Robs round up July

This is the month when sailing gets some real media focus, and here in the south-west we are not only cheering on our Olympic hopefuls  but we also hosted the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Plymouth last weekend.

Census

We know that your statistics are a bit ‘all over the place’ after last year, but please do your best to fill in the RYA’s annual census. Don’t hesitate to contact me for help or if you can’t find your ID number, which was emailed to you earlier this year with the form.

Inspections at Training Centres

A number of Training Centres haven’t yet made contact with their inspector. If this includes yours, please ensure that you do so and if you haven’t seen the email that was sent out in April, please contact me.

We have noticed, amongst the centres that have been inspected, a trend regarding safety boats that don’t have all the correct equipment in them. This is probably as a result of the boats not having been used much in the past year – paddles have disappeared, flares are out of date etc., so here’s my friendly reminder to check things out before your inspector arrives, so that you’re less likely to end up with an avoidable action plan!

Please use the powerboat check list on the training support section of the website; you can use the document finder to search for this.

OnBoard fleet for Regional Junior Championships

As we’ve mentioned before, the Onboard Fun Fleet at the Regional Junior Championships is a fun event with games, activities and prizes, all focused around sailing but not out-and-out racing.

The Championships take place at WPNSA on 25 /26 September (see below) and we’re very keen that any OnBoard sailor can come to the event, regardless of their abilities, physical or mental.  Please bring all your young sailors, and get in touch in advance if you have any youngster who needs additional support to take part.

Unique to this region is that nobody needs to bring their own boat for the OnBoard Fleet – all boats are provided at the event. All they need is a wetsuit.

Bookings will go live shortly on the website. 

Junior racing news from Regional Performance Manager, Duncan West

Regional Training Groups

The Selection Policy has now been published for the Regional Training Groups and dates and venues will be confirmed soon.

Regional Training Groups are central to the RYA’s plans to reinvigorate junior racing by placing more emphasis on regional and club racing. RTGs promote inclusive and accessible training across the English regions with the ultimate goal of encouraging more young sailors to take up and stay in the sport.

Over six weekends of on-water coaching and off-water workshops, over 500 young sailors will be developing their skills which they can then put to the test at class events, the Eric Twiname Championships or the RYA Regional Junior Championships.

British Youth Sailing Regional Junior Championships

The 2021 BYS South and South West Regional Junior Championships (RJC) for dinghy fleets will be held at WPNSA on 25/26 September. We will be running the OnBoard Fleet, Coached Regatta Fleet and the Championship Fleet in RS Feva, RS Tera (Sport Rig), Topper and Optimist classes. New for this year, the Bic Techno windsurfers will have their own event on 18 and 19 September at WPNSA.

For 2022 the event will move to 18/19 June to make the most of warmer weather and longer daylight hours so that we can develop the Championships as a true festival of junior sailing.

RYA Youth National Championships

The postponed RYA Youth National at Mount Batten Centre, Plymouth is all set for this summer for 9 to 15 August. The classes attending will be 29er, 420, ILCA6 ILCA7, windfoiling and Nacra15. (The kite surfing will be held at Exmouth on 17 to 19 August.)

Notice of race https://youthnationals.rya.org.uk/en/default/races/race

After a long winter of training and limited events we hope this will be a great week of sailing in Plymouth Sound and will also be a selection event for the World Sailing Youth Worlds and the BYS Youth Performance Squads.

Changes to the windsurfing pathway

We have some exciting changes and updates to the Team15 programme, to try and give greater alignment for sailors starting and progressing in the windsurfing pathway, and their parents.

Current Team15 clubs will be adopted into our British Youth Sailing (BYS) Recognised Club programme and will be given the status of BYS Recognised Windsurfing Club. I will be offering support to them to guide, advise and develop windsurfing activity within their club.

This year will see a transition of organisation of the Interclub events and regional series from the RYA to the Bic Techno 293 Class Association.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.