kimhollamby
Active member
I've been following the debates of recent days with interest and know without checking that some at Eastleigh will have been looking in as well. Given some fairly abusive comments in the middle of the more objective stuff (typing a few asterisks in a word starting with 'f' is hardly deferential to the Ts and Cs here - more like shoving a red hot poker up someone's posterior and then offering an ice cube for comfort) I suspect that they may have decided it is a bit of a loser to engage at this point in time. So, for what it is worth and owing nothing to any camp, here are my thoughts,
I'm an RYA member of many years; cannot even remember why I originally joined. I am not a club member and so have never had the traditional route to influential office within the RYA, even if I was seeking it. I have often been a critic, privately and sometimes in print. As the editor of a motorboating journal through the 1990s I had a natural concern that the cruising-oriented readers of my magazine seemed under-represented, particularly in the early part of that decade. I also didn't like what was happening with the handling of some pan-European negotiations (having a nasty suspicion that we occasionally applied the good old British 'shout-if-you-want-to-be-understood technique).
I feared for the RYA because it is very much an organisation in two parts: employees had a job to do but always had to blend skills, knowledge and motivation with the wishes of one or more elected committees made up of boatowners. Some members of the RYA's committees have been great boating people with much to offer; I'm pretty sure that others have been a dreadful drag on the association's ability to stay with the times. There's a democratic process of sorts in that of course but anyone who has operated in such an environment will know the downsides too.
I also feared for the RYA because its financial underpinnings were based around a lot of grant that came in direct connection with competitive activities; activities which do not represent the numerical majority of the membership but that, at least, have produced a lot of positive publicity for boating of late. It has always been obvious that the association needs to tread a very fine line between commercial (as in selling products and services) and members' interests if it is to maintain a serious presence when dealing with government matters and it could abuse its position if enthusiasm got the better of it. But are our interests best served by two enthusiasts sat in a home office or by a full-on structure with weight?
The one thing I didn't do is positively engage other than when invited to do so as the quasi head of a magazine. In a society of 97 per cent watchers and 3 per cent doers that is not untypical and in the RYA's case I was in any event unlikely to make it onto conventional committees because I didn't belong to a yacht club, because I didn't try to find other ways (because I had no desire to serve) and also perhaps because of my job.
Having got that out of the way I have also observed a lot of good in the RYA at all levels. It is not exactly a strange experience for any body with 80,000 members to get some things wrong and get hammered for it whilst rarely being praised for what is right. Especially perhaps in Britain where we like to build up only for the pleasure of breaking down (too many sandcastles built as kids?) and where we also increasingly like to chew at the good things we have as a nation rather than support them.
Strangely enough I now find myself, by invitation, on one of the working groups set up in the wake of the McKinsey findings. This is a report that the RYA appears to be taking very seriously indeed and at this moment in time I believe from my observations that the outcome is very much a work in progress with huge ramifications. Strategy is one thing but implementation is quite another and I certainly get the impression that there is a firm commitment for the process to be followed through to its logical conclusion.
For the record IPC magazines and websites owe the RYA nothing; in fact we even compete at the margins and occasionally joust over matters of mutual interest, so I have no commercial reason for suggesting support.
In fact if I had my way a few years back we might have been more obvious competitors. The business about the MCA spreading its Yachtmaster remit ought not to come as a shock to anyone; at least one set of people were talking to the MCA's predecessor (forget which set of initials it was then) way back in the early 1990s regarding the option of an alternative motorboat course. We got the impression then that the MCA never felt the RYA had a mutually exclusive arrangement. We decided, for various reasons, not to go down that route but when you think about it, perhaps the RYA is better served as an independent voice by not being what some might have seen as the holder of a cosy 'exclusive' contract?
By the way don't knock too much what seems to be an increasing interest in Yachtmaster Commercial training; in some cases this activity is all that is keeping some sea schools anywhere near the right side of the balance sheet and if we don't have the infrastructure the voluntary training defence dies there and then.
In writing this very long post I don't deny that people have valid fears and reasons for complaint regarding the RYA and its activities. You'll notice I've left all of the posts alone even though some of them are a bit border line in terms of subjective abuse. But in an age where boating is arguably more threatened than ever before, it seems to me that passion such as that often expressed on ybw.com and in the letters pages of our magazines needs to be harnessed in as constructive way as possible. And I draw my personal conclusion that the RYA is an obvious way of doing that given its huge momentum.
We are told that ideas are the currency of the 21st Century. The RYA enjoys the subscribed support of more than 80,000 generators of ideas who come from all professional disciplines and walks of life; let's hope for all of our sakes that it proves possible to use that as a foundation for the future rather than as a cause for spectacular implosion. Ditto for that matter the Cruising Association and all other similar bodies.
Having witnessed the crash of a few yacht clubs and even a minor association or two over the years, mostly because of inability to see the bigger picture beyond differences of opinion, I fear the alternatives.
Finally, on one of the recent forum threads there was a rallying call for ybw.com to interview a leading light at the RYA 'Paxman-style'. Well, how about we invite such a person to be available on Scuttlebutt or a special forum at a set time late afternoon and into the evening for a full and frank Q nd A session? Let me know if you would like to see this happen and I will do the persuading if there is support (we could set up a chat room for this but a forum would preserve the comments for later reading).
kim_hollamby@ipcmedia.com
I'm an RYA member of many years; cannot even remember why I originally joined. I am not a club member and so have never had the traditional route to influential office within the RYA, even if I was seeking it. I have often been a critic, privately and sometimes in print. As the editor of a motorboating journal through the 1990s I had a natural concern that the cruising-oriented readers of my magazine seemed under-represented, particularly in the early part of that decade. I also didn't like what was happening with the handling of some pan-European negotiations (having a nasty suspicion that we occasionally applied the good old British 'shout-if-you-want-to-be-understood technique).
I feared for the RYA because it is very much an organisation in two parts: employees had a job to do but always had to blend skills, knowledge and motivation with the wishes of one or more elected committees made up of boatowners. Some members of the RYA's committees have been great boating people with much to offer; I'm pretty sure that others have been a dreadful drag on the association's ability to stay with the times. There's a democratic process of sorts in that of course but anyone who has operated in such an environment will know the downsides too.
I also feared for the RYA because its financial underpinnings were based around a lot of grant that came in direct connection with competitive activities; activities which do not represent the numerical majority of the membership but that, at least, have produced a lot of positive publicity for boating of late. It has always been obvious that the association needs to tread a very fine line between commercial (as in selling products and services) and members' interests if it is to maintain a serious presence when dealing with government matters and it could abuse its position if enthusiasm got the better of it. But are our interests best served by two enthusiasts sat in a home office or by a full-on structure with weight?
The one thing I didn't do is positively engage other than when invited to do so as the quasi head of a magazine. In a society of 97 per cent watchers and 3 per cent doers that is not untypical and in the RYA's case I was in any event unlikely to make it onto conventional committees because I didn't belong to a yacht club, because I didn't try to find other ways (because I had no desire to serve) and also perhaps because of my job.
Having got that out of the way I have also observed a lot of good in the RYA at all levels. It is not exactly a strange experience for any body with 80,000 members to get some things wrong and get hammered for it whilst rarely being praised for what is right. Especially perhaps in Britain where we like to build up only for the pleasure of breaking down (too many sandcastles built as kids?) and where we also increasingly like to chew at the good things we have as a nation rather than support them.
Strangely enough I now find myself, by invitation, on one of the working groups set up in the wake of the McKinsey findings. This is a report that the RYA appears to be taking very seriously indeed and at this moment in time I believe from my observations that the outcome is very much a work in progress with huge ramifications. Strategy is one thing but implementation is quite another and I certainly get the impression that there is a firm commitment for the process to be followed through to its logical conclusion.
For the record IPC magazines and websites owe the RYA nothing; in fact we even compete at the margins and occasionally joust over matters of mutual interest, so I have no commercial reason for suggesting support.
In fact if I had my way a few years back we might have been more obvious competitors. The business about the MCA spreading its Yachtmaster remit ought not to come as a shock to anyone; at least one set of people were talking to the MCA's predecessor (forget which set of initials it was then) way back in the early 1990s regarding the option of an alternative motorboat course. We got the impression then that the MCA never felt the RYA had a mutually exclusive arrangement. We decided, for various reasons, not to go down that route but when you think about it, perhaps the RYA is better served as an independent voice by not being what some might have seen as the holder of a cosy 'exclusive' contract?
By the way don't knock too much what seems to be an increasing interest in Yachtmaster Commercial training; in some cases this activity is all that is keeping some sea schools anywhere near the right side of the balance sheet and if we don't have the infrastructure the voluntary training defence dies there and then.
In writing this very long post I don't deny that people have valid fears and reasons for complaint regarding the RYA and its activities. You'll notice I've left all of the posts alone even though some of them are a bit border line in terms of subjective abuse. But in an age where boating is arguably more threatened than ever before, it seems to me that passion such as that often expressed on ybw.com and in the letters pages of our magazines needs to be harnessed in as constructive way as possible. And I draw my personal conclusion that the RYA is an obvious way of doing that given its huge momentum.
We are told that ideas are the currency of the 21st Century. The RYA enjoys the subscribed support of more than 80,000 generators of ideas who come from all professional disciplines and walks of life; let's hope for all of our sakes that it proves possible to use that as a foundation for the future rather than as a cause for spectacular implosion. Ditto for that matter the Cruising Association and all other similar bodies.
Having witnessed the crash of a few yacht clubs and even a minor association or two over the years, mostly because of inability to see the bigger picture beyond differences of opinion, I fear the alternatives.
Finally, on one of the recent forum threads there was a rallying call for ybw.com to interview a leading light at the RYA 'Paxman-style'. Well, how about we invite such a person to be available on Scuttlebutt or a special forum at a set time late afternoon and into the evening for a full and frank Q nd A session? Let me know if you would like to see this happen and I will do the persuading if there is support (we could set up a chat room for this but a forum would preserve the comments for later reading).
kim_hollamby@ipcmedia.com
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