OnBoard news round up - November 2019

Nominate for the RYA Regional Youth Awards!

Nominations for the RYA Regional Youth Awards 2020 are now open!

These awards recognise and celebrate the notable achievements across the breadth of activity within sailing, windsurfing and powerboating activity. The vision is to inspire the next generation of boaters through youth awards (under 18) and the awards are a fantastic opportunity to reward those who are making an impact in boating through performance, volunteering, instructing, coaching or adventure. 

The nominees' achievement/contribution to the sport should also have had impact on other young people from their club, class association, centre, youth organisation organisation or more generally across boating. Find more information and make your nomination here - RYA Regional Youth Awards.

Would you like a safeguarding children workshop at your club?

Bring your volunteers’ knowledge of safeguarding up-to-date by running a ‘Safeguarding and Protecting Children’ (SPC) workshop at your club.

The three-hour UK Coaching course, developed with the NSPCC and the RYA, has a small group of experienced tutors in England who can be booked by contacting safeguarding@rya.org.uk or calling 023 8060 4226.

The subsidised price of £300 plus VAT for between 10 and 20 people, includes the tutor’s fees and expenses and a course book for every participant. Could you partner with other neighbouring clubs or centres to make it more cost-effective? Find the full details here - Safeguarding children workshops

Sign up for our volunteering webinar

Is your club one of the 52% who have told the RYA that volunteer demand and shortages are the key issue for growth? Or perhaps you have a small number of people at your venue who are doing the majority of the work?

The RYA has just taken an extensive research project to find out why this is often the case and what we can do about it. We will be sharing these findings from through an access-for-all Volunteering webinar on Thursday 5 December (7-8pm).

The webinar will delve deeper into the findings and recommendations of the research project, and include the experiences of clubs who have managed to successfully increase their numbers of volunteers. We will be joined by an expert panel and you will have the chance to ask questions. If you can’t join us please sign up anyway and you’ll be able to hear the recording after the live show - register for the webinar.

Free winter service from Topper Sailboats

The end of the season is always a time when we all take stock and start the planning process for next year. And our official OnBoard partners, Topper Sailboats, are here to help to you. Topper are offering to arrange a free visit to your club where we can help you with any of your plans for next season.

Amongst other things, they can help you with:

• Fleet maintenance advice
• Repair advice
• Repair workshops (including How To.. re-weld plastic boats)
• Making School specific boat modifications
• Re-activation of boats that may have been forgotten at the back of your dinghy park
• Updating club spec Toppers to full Racing specification

Topper Sailboats are launching a new dinghy in 2020 that is an ideal club and school fleet boat. The new Topaz RANGER is simple enough for virtual novices, has decent capacity and offers the potential for club racing

If you would like to book a winter visit to club please email Jon Manners (Topper Sales Manager) at jon.manners@toppersailboats.com or call on 01233 648013. They would also love to bring the new RANGER or any other boat from their range for you to try at your club.

Welcome OnBoard!

This year no fewer than 37 clubs and centres have signed up for OnBoard - whoop whoop! These are the latest we have welcomed to the programme, we're delighted to have you along...

• Welland Yacht Club, Lincolnshire
• Dartmouth Yacht Club, Devon
• Royal Dart Yacht Club, Devon
• Salcombe Dinghy Sailing, Devon
• Stoke Gabriel Boating Association, Devon 
• Port Edgar Watersports, Scotland (find out more about their story here
• Elemental UK, Cornwall

RYA Training Centre information and dates for your diary 

We're coming into 'Conference season' as planning and preparation for next season starts to ramp up and as RYA Training Centres there is plenty for you and your instructors to get involved in.

From the RYA Training Conference, regional Instructor Training Days and a forthcoming survey to Training Centre Principals, get all the information you need here - Calling all training centres.

There are still a few RYA Affiliated Clubs Conferences to come so check out the dates and agendas and get signed up if there is one in your region - RYA Affiliated Clubs Conferences

Feva Frenzy

Keen young sailors from clubs around Devon and Cornwall took part in the ever-popular and hotly-contested annual South West Feva Frenzy 2019 at Roadford Lake in October.

The youngsters, aged between 11 and 16, enjoyed a unique fleet racing event - each club entered two boats, but it was the combined score of the two, not individual results, that mattered. Competitors had to make sure their partner boats did as well as their own.  Find out what happened here - Young sailors in a Feva Frenzy

Join us for the Club Briefing and Open Legal Forum at the RYA Dinghy Show 

If you’re planning to attend the RYA Dinghy Show, get hold of a complimentary ticket and join us for the Club Briefing and Open Legal Forum on Saturday 29 February.

At the Club Briefing, RYA staff present on a range of topics to inform and update clubs to help make the season a success. You can send up to two representatives, with tea and coffee served from 10am - register your interest in attending the Club Briefing now.

There will also be an opportunity to share your club's challenges with the RYA Legal Team and other clubs at this session taking place straight after the Club Briefing - find more information and register your interest here.