RYA Cymru Wales blog - get set for 2025!
The RYA Affiliation process for 2025 is now open and the key message to our clubs, centres and other organisations in Wales is that we are here to help!
Your main contact will have been sent a link with an invitation to log into their account on the RYA Affiliation portal to respond to our annual renewal questions.
The RYA will then add to the portal some bespoke recommendations so you can be confident that you have the right policies and procedures in place for your activities.
This will help you keep up to date with best practice to reduce risk, protect your volunteers and staff, and have the right documentation at hand when applying for funding.
The portal is like a ‘filing cabinet’ where you can upload all your important documentation to one place, and where you are able to easily update useful information like contact details.
There are not too many questions to answer and you can save your progress and complete it in bitesize chunks rather than feel overwhelmed at the thought of doing it all in one go. And remember, the more information you make available on the portal, the better we’ll be able to support you.
When you affiliate to the RYA you become part of the RYA family, a community of like-minded clubs and associations working with the RYA to ensure the ongoing success and growth of club and class activity and all forms of boating across the country.
Check out the benefits of RYA Affiliation and learn more about Affiliation 2025.
While these recent changes to the affiliation process may feel daunting, please don’t feel you have to navigate the portal on your own as I’m here to assist.
If you have any questions or would like a little extra guidance to help you complete the Affiliation questions by 31 March 2025, do feel free to get in touch.
Stay connected
Starting from 3 February 2025, there will be online RYA Connected webinars on the first Monday of each month from 7pm. Please do look out for these as they are a really useful way to spend an hour of your evening to pick up ideas and insights for your club or centre!
Mark Jardine – Managing Editor at Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com – will host the first three webinars of the 2025 series, which will be exploring the following topics:
- 3 February 2025: Growing club membership & activity
- 3 March 2025: Increasing racing activity
- 7 April 2025: Diversifying your offer & non-competitive activity
Find out more about these RYA Connected webinars and book your place!
Diary dates
As we look ahead to the new season, we’re also excited to be planning lots of our own in-person RYA Cymru Wales events to help you stay connected with each other and our fantastic sport.
Save the date for our Big Days Out for South & West Wales on Saturday 3 May 2025: Pembrokeshire Yacht Club will be hosting dinghy, keelboat and powerboat activities, while at Dale we’ll have opportunities such as windsurfing, winging and SwimSafe with Windswept and Celtic Sea Watersports.
The Big Weekend will then take place over the weekend of 11-12 October 2025 and will again be hosted by Plas Menai in North Wales, offering a whole variety of activities across all our watersports.
As ever the aim of this occasions is to gather everyone Together on our Waters for a fun and sociable way to stretch and refresh our skills or give something new a go. If you’d like to find out more, check out our impact round-up from The Big Weekend 2024. We’re looking forward to welcoming both familiar and new faces of all ages to these events in 2025!
And finally…
We have also released the dates for some of our biggest youth and junior sailing events:
- 21-22 June 2025: Welsh Regional Junior Championships at Dale
- 30-31 August 2025: Welsh OnBoard Festival at Bala
- 13-14 September 2025: Welsh Youth & Junior Championships at Pwllheli
Please do share these with the youth and junior section at your club or organisation.
To keep up to date with all the latest news and announcements from RYA Cymru Wales, remember to follow our social media @RYACymruWales on Facebook, X and Instagram.
See you soon!
Hester.