RYA, why bother?

solent clown

solent clown

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Having been fiercely independent small boat people for a long time, stepping up now to a bigger yacht has got us considering once more joining the RYA.
Last year I tried twice online but the payment gateway kept crashing, and we kind of neglected to do any more about it.
I like the idea of swelling the ranks of a group that seems to be active in preserving the freedoms we have - and looking at the inland waterways now it seems all the more important.
Of course there are doubtless other benefits of membership. I was wondering about people's personal experiences of being RYA members.
 
New year and all that old boy, trying to do things a little more "right"
Same reason I post so many irritating threads, to gain from the combined knowledge of others. It has saved us a lot of time and trouble - and if the only way we can repay that at the moment is to raise a smile or two then I hope we manage that from time to time :)
 
Up to you to make your own decision as you will find opposing views from others. Useful if you are wanting an ICC as it is "free" to members which effectively pays one year's subscription in 5.
 
I think it a perfectly reasonable question, though I might reframe it along the lines of 'what use do you make of belonging to the RYA?' In my case, my answer would be 'not much'. I have used their services for such as SSR and sail numbers, and the lounge at the Boat Show was sometimes pleasant, but nowadays I read the magazine, and like to think that by supporting them I am supporting the interests of my sport generally, though the CA could be viewed as an alternative.
 
johnalison said:
I think it a perfectly reasonable question, though I might reframe it along the lines of 'what use do you make of belonging to the RYA?' In my case, my answer would be 'not much'. I have used their services for such as SSR and sail numbers, and the lounge at the Boat Show was sometimes pleasant, but nowadays I read the magazine, and like to think that by supporting them I am supporting the interests of my sport generally, though the CA could be viewed as an alternative.
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Yes, maybe the why bother was badly worded !
 
I suspect that this thread will provoke opinion similar to that of best choice of anchor ?

I’ve been a member of RYA for as long as I’ve been sailing and consider it appropriate to support the body governing the recreational activity of my choice.

I’m also a member of BSAC and BMFA for the same reason.

RYA is by no means a perfect organisation but nothing else comes close and I believe that we should support them in order to keep the Bogey Man away.
 
solent clown said:
Of course there are doubtless other benefits of membership. I was wondering about people's personal experiences of being RYA members.
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I'm sure you've checked out the web site for the list of benefits. I first joined about 5 years ago when they were doing membership at the boat show for a discount rate. I don't personally think that individual membership is cost effective. family membership looks better value. For me:
* never needed ICC: Not found anyone who required one of those over YM
* bought my sail number before joining the rya
* don't find the magazine particularly exciting. It's just extra weight to pick up from my mail drop
* Find the RYA lounge at the boat show a waste of time (maybe geared to their typical member?): food is expensive and not vegetarian friendly
* rya discounts seem to be the same as offered to members of any other organisation, e.g. cherbourg marina give the same discount to members of the westerly owners association (and probably the tufty club if you ask) as they would to rya members

Benefits I have used:
* bought a couple of (the admirably concise yet authoritative) RYA books at discount.
* the boat show tickets they now give are very welcome and effectively give you half the membership cost back if you go to both boat shows.
* Vague feelings of comfort that no-one can guilt trip me about not supporting yachting in the UK
 
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davidjackson said:
I suspect that this thread will provoke opinion similar to that of best choice of anchor ��

I’ve been a member of RYA for as long as I’ve been sailing and consider it appropriate to support the body governing the recreational activity of my choice.

I’m also a member of BSAC and BMFA for the same reason.

RYA is by no means a perfect organisation but nothing else comes close and I believe that we should support them in order to keep the Bogey Man away.
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That is my main rationale/motivation. In my field of work regulation in the last two decades has impacted hugely - mostly in a negative way to legislate against the few idiots out there. It is industry, and club organisations that have campaigned to help shape and take the rough edges off some of the legislation.
Until now we have quietly got on with out sailing adventures by ourselves, and jolly fine it has been. But joining this forum, and having received so much help has made us consider the bigger picture.
I might be a pain in the butt on here with all the questions I ask - but at least once the yacht is finished you will have less daft questions from me.
For the first time I feel a sense of community with the yachting fraternity beyond a casual wave on the water, and I guess that must be a good thing. That was the reason for the question.
 
Although I don't agree with everything that the RYA is signed up to, I do support them and have done from the late 1960's.

They seems to be the only independent organisation that represent the sailing community at government and International level.

I'm fairly sure that they have helped fend-off a lot of the governments natural tendency to regulate, impose licensing and registration by promoting voluntary training and self sufficiency.

To me that's a good reason to support them, although I have also used there legal service, which weren't a lot of help, and got sail numbers from them, but found most of their members offers not much better than I could get by shopping around.

I don't support them for the direct benefits, but because the present a reasonably effective voice for the sailing community.
 
davidjackson said:
I suspect that this thread will provoke opinion similar to that of best choice of anchor ��

I’ve been a member of RYA for as long as I’ve been sailing and consider it appropriate to support the body governing the recreational activity of my choice.

I’m also a member of BSAC and BMFA for the same reason.

RYA is by no means a perfect organisation but nothing else comes close and I believe that we should support them in order to keep the Bogey Man away.
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I agree with that.Im also a member (horror of horrors:nonchalance:)of a trade union and feel the same about that.As individuals we have almost no power but as a member of a collective group we do have some voice.We would be worse off without these organisations and I feel I would be "freebooting" if I didn't support them.
 
I was a member for many many years, but sailing as I do, well away from the main yachting scene, and not even being a tiny bit interested in yacht racing or the Olympics, I realised that I was contributing nothing to the RYA, and it was contributing nothing to me, so I left.
 
NormanS said:
I was a member for many many years, but sailing as I do, well away from the main yachting scene, and not even being a tiny bit interested in yacht racing or the Olympics, I realised that I was contributing nothing to the RYA, and it was contributing nothing to me, so I left.
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This is exactly my view on any sports representative body RYA for sailing in the UK South African Sailing where I am. Both are afficicated to World Sailing so in my view mainly represent yacht racing. Both use the use the negotiation with regard to regulations which in the UK may help you from being controlled like we are. Once regulations come in as as we have to have our boats inspected every year and SAS has taken on that task which brings them an income of 40% of their total income but this then puts them in a conflict of interest being representing sailing to the authorities yest being a servant of the authorities and forcing ALL sailors and ALL yacht clube to be paying members weather they wish to or not.
 
davidjackson said:
RYA is by no means a perfect organisation but nothing else comes close and I believe that we should support them in order to keep the Bogey Man away.
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That's about it I think. I'm a member and every year when I see the dd notification that it's gone up again I have second thoughts, but in the end I suspect they've paid for themselves in fighting legislation that would've cost more. The compulsory registration and light dues a decade or more back is one example. That would've had to have been copied by Ireland if the UK had done it as Irish Lights cover both Ireland & NI.
 
Amongst other things I fly light aircraft. The representative bodies for light general aviation are pretty numerous, literally an alphabet soup. The end result is that they spend much of their effort struggling against each other rather than presenting a united front against the regulatory issues.
So for yachting the Eborder thing is pretty much dead - although Brexit will doubtless revive it somewhat. In aviation we have a rather stupid notification system - which we have to use or face action from the Border Agency - why, because the alphabet soup would not agree a common approach (because some of them were not affected) and so it went through.
Pay your membership and accept that although far from perfect, not having a powerful and well supported organisation would be a real problem!
 
Tranona said:
Up to you to make your own decision as you will find opposing views from others. Useful if you are wanting an ICC as it is "free" to members which effectively pays one year's subscription in 5.
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Was a member for 25 years until we moved out of UK ( got to use better bar for lunch at LBS/SBS apart from respecting their sterling works. My YC membership also was RYA affiliated. I rejoined to get my ICC renewed, not that I have ever needed it. I did my renewal from the USA on the ICC renewal application form that they emailed to me, no problems. Maybe their website is still on the holiday shutdown..
 
I originally joined the RYA because I had qualified as a Powerboat Instructor and it seemed the 'right' thing to do. I've remained a member ever since as I feel the RYA do as good a job as possible in representing our interests. I will continue to fork out annually until I'm no longer going sailing. And as others have said, freebie tickets and free ICCs give some return on the investment.
 
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