RYA North East blog - November 2023
It’s been fantastic to see so many of you booking on for our RYA Connected event for the North at the Anderton Centre, Chorley, on Saturday 18 November – we’re all set for an enjoyable day with a packed schedule and I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone!
For those that are unable to make this date or for whom it is too far to travel, there are still spaces available at our RYA Connected Clubs Gathering on Saturday 2 December at Sunderland YC, when we’ll be revisiting the key headlines and having a Q&A session.
It will be a good opportunity to network with other clubs in the North East and meet the regional team, with lunch included for what will again be a sociable day where we can all get together in person: find out more and book your free ticket.
Instructor boost for the region
Congratulations to all those who recently became RYA Senior Instructors following our course for the North region at Hollingworth Lake at the beginning of the month.
This course was full and the location enabled people to attend from across the RYA North East and North West regions, who will now be able to further support training activities at their home clubs and centres.
Another success saw 10 new RYA Dinghy Instructors following a course at Scaling Dam SC in North Yorkshire in October, with five attendees from the club itself and five from across the North East.
I also supported RYA Training with the latest RYA Sailing Scheme Trainer course in October at Plas Menai; congratulations to Harriot Pulman and Lee Taylor, our newest trainers for the North regions!
Other exciting news is that Welton Waters Adventure Centre near Hull is in the process of getting winging up and running and will be one of the first venues in the region offering this as an activity from the start of the new season in 2024.
A number of clubs and centres are interested in winging with a view to investing in kit or organising courses. If you’d like to find out more, let the team know via Sailing Development Officer Paul Adams or come along and chat to us at one of the RYA Connected events.
Looking ahead to 2024
We have an RYA Powerboat Instructor course, with a pre-requisite skills assessment day on Saturday 20 January and the course then taking place over the weekend of 9-11 February at Hollingworth Lake, which seems to be a popular NE/NW location - bookings will be live soon for this so save the date!
We also have another RYA Dinghy Senior Instructor course for the North over the last two weekends in February at the Anderton Centre, which is good for tea, coffee and heating in the colder months!
The intention is to run a Senior Instructor course three times a year for the region, so after this one in the Spring we’ll have another in the summer holidays in the North East, then a third one somewhere central for the south of the region in autumn.
That said, if your club has four or more people ready for an SI or any other instructor course, contact me and we can help you with the nuts and bolts of setting up your own course for your members/volunteers, with promotion to fill any spaces if needed.
Monthly get-togethers
Our monthly online forums for clubs, centres and OnBoard groups in the region will become a regular webinar for the North regions on Thursday evenings, starting on 30 November.
This month will be an opportunity for you to tell us all about your big club events, whether that’s the Sunrise to Sunset Race at Leigh & Lowton or the Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey. Look out for when registration opens for our forums by following our social media @RYANorthEast.
Basically, if you have big open events on your calendar over winter, we want to hear about it! Let us know so we can support and share the details to promote entries – hopefully between us we can encourage more people to stay on the water and engaged through the colder months!
OnBoard Development Days
Would your club like to host one of our tutors for an OnBoard Development Day?
If you run OnBoard or youth and junior activities in general, and would like to book in a training day over winter for your staff, instructors or volunteers, please get in touch.
Our OnBoard tutors are available to deliver a free day – on shore or on the water – to support your club or centre with new ideas for running Y&J activities, including learning more about our resources and how to use them for maximum benefit.
It’s a chance to upskill and keep your team involved and motivated over winter - and also lots of fun as we get to play the OnBoard games as well!
And finally…
It was great to reflect on the success of the 40th anniversary North East & Yorkshire Youth Traveller Series over the 2023 season.
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported the series, including the organisers and the host clubs, and the many volunteers and parents who have all helped along the way. Read our NEYYTs round up and get your diary out as plans are already underway for 2024!
In the meantime keep up to date with all the latest announcements by following us @RYANorthEast on Facebook and/or X (formerly known as Twitter).
Until next time, happy sailing!
Adam.