RYA North East blog - February 2024
Booking is now live for all three of our RYA Regional Training Days in the North!
These days are open to anyone involved in delivering activities on the water at your club, including all levels of instructors, along with race coaches and volunteers.
Every event will have something for everyone but some of the venues will also have particular kit or sessions allowing for different highlights at each of the three days.
- On Saturday 23 March at Welton Waters Adventure Centre there will be a wide variety of powerboats for you to try, including a tiller-steered Wheelyboat. There will also be winging and it’s the only one of the three Regional Training Days to offer a keelboat activity.
- Just over the border on Sunday 24 March at the Anderton Centre there will be a range of spinnaker boats for anyone keen to develop those skills, with other activities again including winging. There will also be a shorebased session with top race official Chris Hoppins talking about safety management at events – ideal for clubs hosting open meetings, regattas or championships, who might want to send someone along specifically for this session.
- There will also be a whole range of sessions on Saturday 13 April - Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club, including for those who may be keen to focus particularly on windsurfing, with the club having a good range of both starter and intermediate kit available for the day.
In addition to these highlights, each venue will have a range of on and off-water activities to choose from. Bookings are already rolling in and the Regional Training Day at Welton Waters Adventure Centre is a quarter full already, so don’t leave it until the last minute to secure your place!
You can check out the options online to help you choose whether you’d like to attend your nearest event or perhaps travel further with a specific activity in mind. Book now for our RYA North Regional Training Days.
Monthly forum
Our monthly evening forum will take place on Thursday 29th February. As ever will be a chance to get together for updates but this month’s focus – aptly given the date – will be how you can get a leap on the fleet off the startline! It’s open to all and I’ll be sharing my insights into ‘winning the start’ both from my perspective as a race coach and also as I plan my GP14 campaign towards competing at the worlds in Pwllheli this summer. Join me and British Youth Sailing Windsurf Coach Paul Adams to pick up some tips! Register for our RYA Connected North Forum.
Discover Sailing
The RYA Discover Sailing Shop is now open and for RYA Affiliated Clubs, there is an invitation to order up to £75 worth of free resources to promote your ‘learn to sail’ offer, whether that’s a big open day, a smaller targeted event or bookable taster sessions.
Whatever you have in mind to encourage your local community to give sailing a go, the RYA’s Discover Sailing campaign resources are available to help, and if you choose generic wording without including a date, you will be able to re-use them again in future years.
Whatever you want to do to help people Discover Sailing at your venue, get online and make sure you make the most of our Discover Sailing resources!
Get OnBoard
A reminder that we have our at OnBoard event for you at Ripon Sailing Club on Saturday 2 March 2024, which will be a fun and sociable onshore day for anyone involved in delivering youth and junior activities at their club or centre.
It’s a great opportunity to bring together volunteers and instructors from clubs across the region to get fired up for the season ahead. We’ll be sharing updates and ideas and exploring how to make the most of the fantastic OnBoard resources we have available to support you.
Tickets are free, lunch is included, and the feedback we’ve had from our other OnBoard days in the North has been really good so don’t miss it! Book now for the RYA NE OnBoard Networking Day.
Youth & junior events
The latter as ever will have Rookie, Coached Regatta and Championship fleets, and for the Rookie fleet you can either bring your own boat or borrow one – making it a great opportunity for first time travellers to experience their first big event away from their home club.
Please do share these events with the youth and junior sections at your club and follow our social media @RYANorthEast on Facebook and/or X for updates and announcements.
And finally...
I’ll be at the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show at the end of the month and I’m really looking forward to the RYA Club of the Year Awards on the Saturday (24 February 2024) to support our incredible North East region finalists. Read what makes Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club and the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club special and if you’re at the show, come and join us.
I’ve also been asked to talk at the Show both afternoons at 1.15pm, when I’ll be hosting a panel discussion with Lee Timothy titled: Revitalise Your Club Racing. We’ll be chatting to special guests - including a young sailor from my home club and SailJuice founder and sailing commentator Andy Rice – and inviting audience questions. Come along and listen or catch me at the show to say hi!
Adam.