RYA Midlands blog – July 2024

When I came into the job five years ago, my first ever blog was about my aspirations to connect people with people in the Midlands along with their collective knowledge.

Whenever we get together as a sailing and boating community, nine times out of 10 the person next to you might have a shared experience that resonates with your own pathway and aspirations, whether as an individual or as a club, association or centre.

A good example of this was at a recent RYA Midlands team engagement day at Rutland Sailing Club, which provided an opportunity for us all to meet with each other in person and with key stakeholders from different organisations around the region.

The two-way aim of this informal gathering was to highlight the work of the RYA and also hear about everyone’s activities and challenges – chatter which continued into the evening aboard the club’s RS21s as we shared our thoughts about how to create vibrant future across all aspects getting afloat from youth sailing to cruising and canal boating.

Among the discussions, representatives from Rutland SC Sailability told us how they had hosted other Sailability groups keen to know more about how they do things.

And when Burton and Blithfield sailing club’s recently went on the road together with one of our RYA Midlands event trailers, they too benefited from talking about their passion for the sport - not only with prospective members but also with each other.

The key message is that it doesn’t always have to be a major occasion or course to build knowledge or share best practice - simply visiting a similar venue or having a catch up with likeminded people can be worth its weight in gold.

RYA Connected

Our regional event – RYA Connected – will bring together clubs from across the Midlands and while as ever it will provide a one-stop shop of knowledge sessions and expertise, we’re also planning to allow more time for networking.

An essential element of these events is the chance to have a good natter with people from other clubs and time and again we discover that some of the most important conversations have happened during the coffee breaks!

This year’s RYA Connected event for the Midlands will take place at Brockington College in Leicestershire on Sunday 17 November 2024 - save the date!

Ben in a Boat

In the meantime, I’ve been continuing my Ben in a Boat visits to clubs around the region and was most recently at Swarkestone Sailing Club in south Derbyshire, where I delivered a session for a group of around 10 instructors.

These visits are not only about me supporting clubs but also, as on this occasion, about bringing together people from within clubs, who are then able to share their insights with each other as well as with me, which is just as valuable.

It’s well worth your club or centre thinking about whether you can enable your instructor / volunteer teams to come together at the beginning / middle / end of each season to likewise provide a shared supportive environment and shape your activities.

If you would like a Ben in a Boat visit, I’m now booking into autumn but please do get in touch with me if this would be helpful for your club towards the end of season.

Annual census

Continuing the ‘connected’ theme, we’re hoping that all clubs in the Midlands will share their vital statistics with us in our annual RYA Club Membership Census.

We know it takes a bit of time to complete, especially if your data isn’t readily to hand, but it’s important for us as an organisation to understand how your club is doing, and the trends and challenges at the grassroots of the sport.

The census returns we’ve seen coming in so far reveal a lot of variation between clubs and so we’re keen to get a 100% return to give us a meaningful overview.

Thank you to all the clubs who’ve already submitted their census information for 2024. If you’ve not got around to it yet, please try to submit your census at the same time as you completed it last year, or by 11 August at the latest.

Any questions? Please contact census coordinator Victoria Lenz.

Paris 2024

It’s not long now until the Paris 2024 Olympics and we’re looking forward to sharing the journey of the British Sailing Team and hopefully their successes along the way.

Please do join us in this – it’s the pinnacle of our sport and a fantastic opportunity to inspire not only your members but also raise the profile of your club or centre in the wider local community!

Visit our Paris 2024 Olympic Games hub for everything you need to know about the GBR sailing team - including Nacra sailor John Gimson of Rudyard Lake Sailing Club in Staffordshire - and find out how to follow all the action.

RYA Awards

My final ask for ‘sharing’ this month is a request for you to let us know about any clubs or individuals deserving of recognition in the 2025 RYA Awards.

These will bring together the RYA Club of the Year and Volunteer Awards into one celebration and it’s your opportunity to put those who go the extra mile in the spotlight.

Read more about the new RYA Awards and make a nomination.

Remember you can keep up with all the latest news and opportunities by following our social media channels Facebook and X and by bookmarking our RYA Midlands hub.­

Until next time, Ben.