RYA Membership: What's In It For Me?

langstonelayabout

langstonelayabout

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OK, apart from being the issuing authority for the ICC that I hold, what does the RYA do for me?

I mainly sail around the south coast in my sailing cruiser and also take the occasional sailing holiday in Greece. Am I getting out of being a member or should I be getting more out of them?

Discuss...
 
Icc is prob worth the membership on its own.

However, when I had a dispute over a 2nd hand engine, they saved me the £2k I'd paid for what arrive as one dead lump - not saying the supplier would not have refunded when the facts of the case were apparent, but as he was a RYA instructor (which incidentally was why I bourght from him in the first palace) a call from their legal team resolved the issue. That paid for a good few years membership.

So to answer your question, I think it's a good investment, even if only for the insurance factor.
 
Depends if you are thinking about direct or indirect benefit.

Directly I get somewhere to put my coat at the London Boat Show. Their discount is naff, I recently got an offer of 15% off some sunglasses with a RYA code - still could get them cheaper on Amazon!

They provide a very good training programme, if that is your thing. If you are into committees there are oodles and oodles of them where I am sure they provide really nice biscuits.
 
If you stay a member for 5 years you become a Gold Member and then you get a swanky looking membership card that you can wave around going "oooh! look at me." :cool:

... Actually, just looked at the membership benefits and recalled one of the things that made me join years ago was the issue of free sail numbers to members. I now see it is only free to gold members. Ordinary members only get a £10 discount. :(
 
I joined many years ago, partly for a few benefits such as use of the lounge when there was a Boat Show worth going to, and partly because I thought that they would represent my interests nationally. Since they now include jet-skiers and every Tom Dick and Harry in their remit, I am not so sure about their usefulness to me. (I have always accepted and approved of their role in dinghy and Olympic sailing). I now tend to think that the Cruising Association might suit me better.
 
Big discount at Cherbourg, Third party insurance for the sailboards , free legal advice ( took me a 6 months to get money back from Goacher but 2 weeks from RYA legal team)
plus knowledge that the RYA does stand up for the yachtsman on a wide range of issues that we rarely get to hear about, but without their involvement we would be lumbered
from MCZ's to windfarms. We might think their efforts minuscule but they do try -- sometimes
then there are the training schemes that are - whether you agree or not- widely regarded
training for youth etc
The list goes on
So if you look at it in a selfish manner, then directly it may not benefit you personally. But if you look at it as part of your hobby & sport then you get a lot for your money
So yes, I have been a member since I was 16 & will carry on being one for a bit longer --- I hope
 
Daydream believer said:
plus knowledge that the RYA does stand up for the yachtsman on a wide range of issues that we rarely get to hear about, but without their involvement we would be lumbered
from MCZ's to windfarms. We might think their efforts minuscule but they do try -- sometimes
then there are the training schemes that are - whether you agree or not- widely regarded
training for youth etc
The list goes on
So if you look at it in a selfish manner, then directly it may not benefit you personally. But if you look at it as part of your hobby & sport then you get a lot for your money
So yes, I have been a member since I was 16 & will carry on being one for a bit longer --- I hope
Click to expand...

Very true. I have attended several RYA local cruising conferences, at which there is invariably a session by Stuart and Gus from RYA HQ speaking on what they have been doing for 'us' in the wider sense. The list is huge and impressive. The individual benefits of membership may be few, ICC being almost the only one for me, but I do believe that all yachtsmen should be members for the overall good.
 
vyv_cox said:
Very true. I have attended several RYA local cruising conferences, at which there is invariably a session by Stuart and Gus from RYA HQ speaking on what they have been doing for 'us' in the wider sense. The list is huge and impressive. The individual benefits of membership may be few, ICC being almost the only one for me, but I do believe that all yachtsmen should be members for the overall good.
Click to expand...

++1 I've been a Gold member for a long time (ooh mum!). Only when I became involved with them through BORG did i begin to fully realise just how much they do for us behind the scenes. Our sport would be very much more lmited without them, and many of the freedoms we take for granted would have disappeared long since.
 
oldharry said:
++1 I've been a Gold member for a long time (ooh mum!). Only when I became involved with them through BORG did i begin to fully realise just how much they do for us behind the scenes. Our sport would be very much more lmited without them, and many of the freedoms we take for granted would have disappeared long since.
Click to expand...

I agree in every respect with OldHarry. I have also been a member of the RYA for some years, and in more recent years have discovered how much they do in the background. They have an active parliamentary lobby with Gus Lewis, Head of their Government Affairs dept., who also oversees their legal department.

The foreshore around most of UK is owned by the Crown Estates, not by your local harbour authority, many of these authorities are only really interested in revenue and that means shipping. They can overstep their powers and often do.

If your local club has a legal problem, the RYA legal department, is brilliant. And where else will you find really good legal advice from lawyers who know about maritime law and the rights of navigation, who understand our boating interests, have an active and respected parliamentary lobby and do not cost you an arm and a leg.

They also, as mentioned by others, do a great deal to help our pressurised sport, through training etc.

It is my opinion that all of us, who mess about in boats and use the water for pleasure, should be members of the RYA.
 
This is all very good to hear, but on the surface of things, ie their promotional and membership literature, one gets the impression that they're more racing and general boating oriented than yacht cruising.
 
Babylon said:
This is all very good to hear, but on the surface of things, ie their promotional and membership literature, one gets the impression that they're more racing and general boating oriented than yacht cruising.
Click to expand...

Surely the provision of all the training schemes for competent crew upwards are for cruising. As is ICC etc. All the representative work around the coasts is fairly cruising orientated is it not? The advice available for cruising abroad & what to do when entering various countries is readily available. I would say that there is a very even balance if one is actually prepared to look. They can only do so much to make it available
It really depend on what one wants & if one realises what might help. ie if one is going to a foreign country for the first time one might forget to look on the RYA website. But having done so then one sees what is actually there & how much they actually provide. But you have to take the trouble to look first.
 
Up until last year, I would have said the members lounge at the Boat Show, but last year they put it in the back of beyond and I ended up having a cone of chips for lunch. If they do it again this year, I think I'll cancel my membership - I don't make use of any of their other services.....
 
Daydream believer said:
Big discount at Cherbourg, Third party insurance for the sailboards , free legal advice ( took me a 6 months to get money back from Goacher but 2 weeks from RYA legal team)
plus knowledge that the RYA does stand up for the yachtsman on a wide range of issues that we rarely get to hear about, but without their involvement we would be lumbered
from MCZ's to windfarms. We might think their efforts minuscule but they do try -- sometimes
then there are the training schemes that are - whether you agree or not- widely regarded
training for youth etc
The list goes on
So if you look at it in a selfish manner, then directly it may not benefit you personally. But if you look at it as part of your hobby & sport then you get a lot for your money
So yes, I have been a member since I was 16 & will carry on being one for a bit longer --- I hope
Click to expand...
Agreed & a member since 1974
 
Daydream believer said:
Big discount at Cherbourg, Third party insurance for the sailboards , free legal advice ( took me a 6 months to get money back from Goacher but 2 weeks from RYA legal team)
plus knowledge that the RYA does stand up for the yachtsman on a wide range of issues that we rarely get to hear about, but without their involvement we would be lumbered
from MCZ's to windfarms. We might think their efforts minuscule but they do try -- sometimes
then there are the training schemes that are - whether you agree or not- widely regarded
training for youth etc
The list goes on
So if you look at it in a selfish manner, then directly it may not benefit you personally. But if you look at it as part of your hobby & sport then you get a lot for your money
So yes, I have been a member since I was 16 & will carry on being one for a bit longer --- I hope
Click to expand...

+1. Thats my perception. Look on the RYA as a trade association for yotties - individually there are some benefits but not a lot. As a group there are rather more benefits because they talk to government for us. They fight the likes of the RSPB and the Ramblers and the environmentalists. Without them our view would simply not be represented at all.
 
15% off and free postage on chart folios! beat any other price I could find. Excellent packages of documents and advice for buying and selling a used yacht. Didn't know about the Cherbourg discount, thanks for that
 
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